¡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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