Una mujer fantástica

Sebastián Lelio : 2017
A Fantastic Woman

Marina and Orlando are in love and plan to spend their lives together. She is working as a waitress and adores singing. Her lover, twenty years her senior, has left his family for her. One night, when they return home after having exuberantly celebrated Marina's birthday at a restaurant, Orlando suddenly turns deathly pale and stops responding. At the hospital, all the doctors can do is confirm his death. Events follow thick and fast: Marina finds herself facing a female police inspector's unpleasant questions, and Orlando's family shows her nothing but anger and mistrust. Orlando's wife excludes Marina from the funeral; she also orders her to leave the apartment – which on paper at least belonged to Orlando – as soon as possible. Marina is a transgender woman. The deceased's family feels threatened by her sexual identity. With the same energy she once used to fight for her right to live as a woman Marina, with head held high, now insists on her right to grieve. Sebastián Lelio's feature was winner of the Silver Bear for Best Screenplay and the Teddy Award for Best Feature Film when it premiered in competition at Berlin International Film Festival 2017.

69 Minutes of 86 Days

Egil Håskjold Larsen : 2017

Slowly we glide over the remains of life-jackets, torn travel bags and discarded shoes at an unnamed shoreline, establishing the tense political framework of this story. From here we pass on to observe groups of fellow travellers, still continuously moving forward. In the midst of the crowd a three-year-old girl, Lean, catches our attention. She is sitting on the shoulders of her father, with a Frozen backpack on her own back. The father is wearing a hoodie, an Adidas backpack and Nike shoes. This is a family like our own; these people are just like our neighbours. The only, but huge, difference is that they have lost their home and are on their way to a new one – one with their relatives who live in Sweden. There are no interviews or voice-overs; the filmmaker follows the family, which also includes Lean's mother and sister as well as her uncles, as they wait at the Macedonian border, then get into a car driven by a Serbian, walk through Hungarian fields, get on a train in Austria, and then board a bus in Germany. But these locations are not identified with narrative titles – the viewer can determine their geographical position only by means of road signs, railway station instructions or the language spoken in some of the scenes. Carefully we are getting into Lean's journey, and we get to know her outstanding character as she slowly makes her way through Europe with her family. She is strong, never cries and seems to grasp the seriousness of these circumstances. This film tells the story about childhood, family relations, hope and a world that is difficult to understand. Egil Håskjold Larsen's documentary, his first feature, premiered at Copenhagen International Documentary Festival 2017.

69 Minutes of 86 Days – trailer (vimeo)

Helle Nächte

Thomas Arslan : 2017
Bright Nights

Austrian civil engineer Michael lives with his girlfriend in Berlin. For years, he has barely had any contact with his 14-year-old son Luis. When Michael's father dies the two nonetheless travel together to the funeral which is held in the remote north of Norway. At the deceased's secluded home Michael begins to pack up his late father's personal items – watched in silence by his son. Two people who barely know each other are suddenly caught in an intimate situation. After the funeral, Michael surprises Luis by suggesting that they spend a few days together exploring the region. A road movie begins that is also a journey into their non-existent shared past. Being together turns out to be more difficult than expected. Never having spent any time with each other on a daily basis, they have trouble handling their relationship. Whilst Michael glosses over this situation, Luis can't hide how hurt he is. His father's long years of absence stand between them like a wall. When they are in the car together it feels like the calm before a storm. During the long days of the summer solstice, days when the sun never sets, Michael tries to break the repetitive cycle and find a joint way forward. Thomas Arslan's feature was winner of the Silver Bear for Best Actor when it premiered in competition at Berlin International Film Festival 2017.

Final Portrait

Stanley Tucci : 2017

Paris in 1964. Alberto Giacometti is the one who decides when it is time for work, drink, doubt, destruction, flirtation or laughter in his studio. An established artist whose works fetch record prices, he hides his earnings in his studio. This is just one of the causes of many an argument with his wife Annette, another being the fact that his mistress Caroline receives all his attention. His brother Diego, also an artist, is all too familiar with his idiosyncrasies. One day, Giacometti asks American art critic and biographer James Lord to pose for him. But their sittings, scheduled to take a week, are frequently interrupted by visits to the bistro or long car rides, with no end in sight. Lord postpones his return flight several times. The films peers into the workshop and personality of this famous Swiss painter and sculptor, two years before his death. It shows the artist with all his strengths and weaknesses and relates the chaos of his artistic output, doubts, and courageous ability to destroy and begin afresh. Stanley Tucci's feature premiered in competition at Berlin International Film Festival 2017.