That’s right, it’s a New Year, the holiday movie lull is over, and the festival circuit is set to begin. The Sundance Film Festival is just a few weeks away and next month, the Berlin Film Festival will mark the the start of the international festival season and nearly half of the fifty-strong lineup of the festival’s Panaroma sidebar has been announced, and it boasts some intriguing titles.
Most notable is “The Devil’s Double” the latest from Lee Tamahori, his first film since 2007’s “Next.” Starring Dominic Cooper and Ludivine Sagnier, the ’80s set film is based on the autobiography of Latif Yahia, an Iraqi army lieutenant who is blackmailed into being the body double of Uday Hussein. Cooper will pull double duty playing both Uday and the bodyguard, while Sagnier plays Sarrab, Uday’s concubine and an ally in his attempt to escape. Sounds very, very interesting though we hope the film is more “Once Were Warriors” and less “xXx 2.”
Also scheduled to unspool is Abe Sylvia’s 80s-set drama “Dirty Girl” starring Milla Jovovich, Juno Temple, William H. Macy and Dwight Yoakam. The film follows a notorious high school slut who runs away with her closeted gay class partner to drive from Oklahoma to California to find the father she’s never met. It already premiered at TIFF last year but Berlin will mark its international bow.
Also of note, Jose Padilha (recently contending for “Tales Of The Gangster Squad” over at Warner Bros.) whose gritty “Elite Squad” won the Golden Bear in 2008, returns with the sequel “Elite Squad 2 — The Enemy Within.” Meanwhile, new features from Russia, Macedonia, Germany and Korea round out the features while on the documentary side, “The Advocate For Fagdom” should gain attention as it boasts interviews with Gus Van Sant, John Waters, Bruce LaBruce and more.
It’s a venerable lineup and you can check out the complete list below. [Berlin Film Festival]
Panorama Main Programme + Panorama Special
Bu-dang-geo-rae (The Unjust) by Seung-wan Ryoo, Republic of Korea
with Jung-min Hwang, Seung-bum Ryoo, Hae-jin Yoo
Chang-Pi-Hae (Ashamed) by Soo-hyun Kim, Republic of Korea
with Hyo-jin Kim, Kkobbi Kim
Dance Town by Kyu-hwan Jeon, Republic of Korea
with Mir-an Ra, Seong-tae Oh
The Devil’s Double by Lee Tamahori, Belgium
with Dominic Cooper, Ludivine Sagnier
Dirty Girl by Abe Sylvia, USA
with Juno Temple, Milla Jovovich, William H. Macy, Dwight Yoakam, Mary Steenburgen, Jeremy Dozier
Fjellet (The Mountain) by Ole Giæver, Norway
with Ellen Dorrit Petersen, Marte Magnusdotter Solem
The Guard by John Michael McDonagh, Ireland/Great Britain/Argentina
with Brendan Gleeson, Don Cheadle, Mark Strong
Majki (Mothers) by Milcho Manchevski, Macedonia/France
with Ana Stojanovska, Vladimir Jačev, Dimitar Gjorgjievski, Ratka Radmanović, Salaetin Bilal
Mishen (Target) by Alexander Zeldovich, Russian Federation,
world premiere
with Maksim Sukhanov, Justine Waddell, Danila Kozlovsky, Daniela Stoyanovich, Nina Loshchinina
Rundskop (Bullhead) by Michaël R. Roskam, Belgium
with Matthias Schoenaerts, Jeroen Perceval, Jeanne Dandoy, Barbara Sarafian, Frank Lammers
Tropa de Elite 2 – o inimigo agora é outro (Elite Squad 2 – The Enemy within) by José Padilha, Brazil
with Wagner Moura, Sandro Rocha, André Mattos, Maria Ribeiro, André Ramiro
Über uns das All by Jan Schomburg, Germany, world premiere
with Sandra Hüller, Georg Friedrich, Felix Knopp
Die Vaterlosen (The Fatherless) by Marie Kreutzer, Austria, world premiere
with Andrea Wenzl, Philipp Hochmair, Andreas Kiendl, Emily Cox, Marion Mitterhammer
Panorama Dokumente
The Advocate For Fagdom by Angélique Bosio, France, world premiere
with Bruce LaBruce, Gus Van Sant, John Waters
The Black Power Mixtape 1967-1975 by Göran Hugo Olsson, Sweden/USA
with Stokley Carmichael, Angela Davis, Erykha Badu, Harry Belafonte
BRASCH – Die Widersprüche sind die Hoffnung by Christoph Rüter, Germany, world premiere
Coming Home by Tomer Heymann, Israel, world premiere
homo@lv by Kaspars Goba, Latvia
House Of Shame / Chantal All Night Long by Johanna Jackie Baier, Germany, world premiere
with Chantal Lehner, Andreas Schwarz, Joey Arias, Sherry Vine, Gloria Viagra
Die Jungs vom Bahnhof Zoo (Rent Boys) by Rosa von Praunheim Germany, world premiere
with Sergiu Grimalschi, Lutz Volkwein, Wolfgang Werner, Peter Kern, Master Patrick
Khodorkovsky by Cyril Tuschi, Germany, world premiere
with Mikhail Khodorkovsky
Mondo Lux by Elfi Mikesch, Germany, world premiere
with Isabelle Huppert, Ingrid Caven, Wim Wenders, Rosa von Praunheim, Monika Keppler
!Women Art Revolution – A Secret History by Lynn Hershman Leeson, USA
with Yvonne Rainer, Judy Chicago, Guerilla Girls, B. Ruby Rich, Carolee Schneeman
We Were Here by David Weissman, USA
with Ed Wolf, Paul Boneberg, Guy Clark, Eileen Glutzer, Daniel Goldstein