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¡Achtung!


Once again, the Achtung Berlin Film Festival has come upon us. And this year I'm so there.
I had completely forgotten the joys of sitting in a dark screening room for five hours on end at four on a sunny day. I had pushed to the back of my mind the schmoozing, the boozing, the sheer amount of socialising one does during these events. I thought I'd never want to do it again, after quitting the festival circuit five years ago. And yet… having a pass and time on my hands I've decided to attend this year and have, up to now, found it to be a most enjoyable experience! I've been watching quite a few films, so I'll break it down a bit, and introduce three films.

Here are the films I've enjoyed most up to now :


Tallulah & Killerhead:
A longish short film, coming in at about 18 minutes, this is a fun-filled romp into the times when we could live in our imaginations all day long and our friends were the most important thing to us. A mix of live-action, overlayed with some graphics, it has a very distinct visual style, is well- directed and a lot of fun to watch.
Directed by Isabell Suba (Whose name includes some nice eastern European diacritics), a HFF production.


Radfahrer:
A documentary about the GDR photographer Harald Hauswald, this is not a classical film with moving pictures. In stead, it juxtaposes the pictures against Hauswalds' STASI (East German Secret Police) file. The pace takes a bit of getting used to, but the idea and execution are very nice (even if the sound designer did apologize about the volume. Directed and Produced by Marc Thümmler, from my Alma Mater, the FH Potsdam.


Wüste/Aussen/Tag:
A beautifully shot and scripted film about a relationship and seashells. One of those films you can let yourself float on, and feed your eyes with, this one definitely made my day! Directed by Mia Grau, produced by Urte Fink for the HFF.

Apart from that I can recommend the shorts reel, while it's still on, or just getting a ticket and sitting down to watch a random movie. If you're a filmmaker, you'll know what else to do! And if you're not in Berlin this year, next year will come around!

And as usual, the title will take you directly to the webpage of the 24-pictures a second fest.
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Comments

Anonymous said…
Hi there. Thank you very much for your message in the guestbook also for the short and very nice advertisment on your blogg. i like it a lot! your blogg i mean. anyway i try to contact you but i couldnt find a link, im too stupid maybe...but i liked the same films like you on the achtung berlin festival. so im happy you enyoj the film and get back to the feeling once you was in a cinema... so what are you doing? best regards isabell suba
21/5/09 14:39
caramk said…
Hello Anonymous Isabell!

I'm the one who should be thanking you for giving me a movie that I wanted to write something about, even if it was brief… it was an enjoyable trip into the time when I used to make up half the world out of paper and a few stones of lego… What I'm doing… as in right now, generally or "what the hell are you doing, you stupid little @$$?
21/5/09 18:13
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