By A.J. Goldmann - February 14, 2011
Last Thursday the 61st Berlin International Film Festival kicked off with a star-studded red carpet gala for Joel and Ethan Coen’s “True Grit,” the stateside hit (and Best Picture Oscar nominee) that was celebrating its international premiere here. The Coen’s revenge epic about a fourteen-year-old girl out to bring her father’s murderer to justice seemed an appropriate opening shot for a festival which, in its opening weekend, has included a fair number of films about children and adolescents in peril.
The Berlinale, as it is known here, is by far the most down-to-earth of the three main European film festivals. Compared to Cannes and Venice, it is a decidedly unglamorous affair partly due to the time of year it occurs, the general gritty aesthetic of the Germany capital and the eclecticism (and often obscurity) of the offerings.
It is also the...
Last Thursday the 61st Berlin International Film Festival kicked off with a star-studded red carpet gala for Joel and Ethan Coen’s “True Grit,” the stateside hit (and Best Picture Oscar nominee) that was celebrating its international premiere here. The Coen’s revenge epic about a fourteen-year-old girl out to bring her father’s murderer to justice seemed an appropriate opening shot for a festival which, in its opening weekend, has included a fair number of films about children and adolescents in peril.
The Berlinale, as it is known here, is by far the most down-to-earth of the three main European film festivals. Compared to Cannes and Venice, it is a decidedly unglamorous affair partly due to the time of year it occurs, the general gritty aesthetic of the Germany capital and the eclecticism (and often obscurity) of the offerings.
It is also the...
- 2/14/2011
- by Screen Comment
- Screen Comment
New Hollywood darling Hailee Steinfeld opened the Berlin Film Festival Thursday evening with her first film “True Grit,” which will show out of competition in Germany’s capital. The fresh-faced teenager may even win an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress come February 27, but it’s a seven-year-old Argentine named Paula Galinelli Hertzog who may bring home the Golden Bear—Berlin’s top award—for her debut drama “The Prize” (El Premio).
- 2/13/2011
- Speakeasy/Wall Street Journal
Opening on a long, single-take shot of a young girl attempting to roller skate on an overcast beach, competition entrant El Premio (The Prize) starts as it means to go on. It’s another piece of bleak, festival-friendly slow cinema with repetitive images and little dialogue or music. In the spirit of an international film festival, it’s a decidedly multi-national affair too, with the film preceded by so many different film funding logos that people began to laugh as each new one came up. In the end it’s listed as a Mexican/French/Polish and German co-production, although that seems like a dishonest description as it fails to mention that the film is set in Argentina and written and directed by Argentine Paula Markovitch.
It is a very specific Argentinian story in fact, based on the life of its author as a seven year old girl growing up in the 1970s.
It is a very specific Argentinian story in fact, based on the life of its author as a seven year old girl growing up in the 1970s.
- 2/12/2011
- by Robert Beames
- Obsessed with Film
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