35K

How can nature be dead? Portuguese director Catarina Vasconcelos raises that question in her debut film A METAMORFOSE FOS PÁSSAROS. It is a visual voyage through the history of her family. Catarina created cinematic sculptures that represent scenes of the Vasconcelos', including herself. It is a hybrid film: half documentary, half fiction, shot on 16mm and digitally. Premiered at Berlinale 2020.

What is it about? "Beatriz married Henrique on the day of her 21st birthday. Henrique, a naval officer, would spend long periods at sea. Ashore, Beatriz, who learned everything from the verticality of plants, took great care of the roots of their six children. The oldest son, Jacinto, my father, dreamed he could be a bird. One day, suddenly, Beatriz died. My mom didn’t die suddenly, but she too died when I was 17 years-old. On that day, me and my father met in the loss of our mothers and our relationship was no longer just that of father and daughter... In a way we were both semi-orphaned. By understanding how my father came to terms with the loss of his mother made me understand my own sense of loss better. It also brought us closer,” Catarina told Variety.
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The interview was conducted online on the 25.03.2021.
We spoke with Dea Kulumbegashvili about her debut film BEGINNING (130 Min, GE, 2020)

Film synopsis:
In a sleepy provincial town, a Jehovah’s Witness community is under attack from an extremist group. In the midst of this conflict is Yana, the wife of the community leader, whose familiar world is slowly crumbling around her. Meanwhile, a detective intrudes her home with devastating consequences...

About the film:
"One of the most striking debuts in recent memory, Dea Kulumbegashvili’s feature marks the revelation of an exciting new voice in cinema. Shot in luminous 35mm long takes that boldly evoke isolation and longing, it tells a profound story of a woman’s resilience facing communal hostility and violence." - MUBI

About the filmmaker:
Dea Kulumbegashvili was born and raised in Georgia. Dea studied film directing at Columbia University School of the Arts and media studies at The New School in New York. Her debut short film INVISIBLE SPACES was nominated for Palme D'Or at the Cannes International Film Festival in 2014.

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The interview was conducted online on the 11.03.2021.

We spoke with Pelin Esmer about her debut film THE COLLECTOR (Original Title: KOLEEKSIYONCU) (documentary, 47 Min, TR, 2002)
Synopsis: Passionate collector Mithat Esmer has been collecting everything you can imagine for 70 years. He lives in his own house like a guest of his collection and is always looking for new pieces to collect. As we witness Mr. Esmer's efforts to stop time, we get to know a very special person.
Pelin Esmer: “for me something is realistic, when I believe in it.”

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The interview was conducted in English at the cinema in the German Film and Television Academy Berlin (DFFB) on the 09.01.2020.

We spoke with Henner Winckler and co-writer Stefan Kriekhaus about their debut film -
KLASSENFAHRT ( 86 Min, DE, 2002).

Synopsis:
A schoolclass travels to the Polish Baltic Sea during off-season. The students do not find the vacation resort very exciting. Between table tennis, day trips and alcohol excesses, 16-year-old Ronny and his classmate Isa develop a cautious relationship. During a visit to a disco, they get to know a young polish man called Marek. Ronny quickly notices that Marek is more interested in Isa than in him. Ronny begins to challenge Marek again and again, until it finally comes to a test of courage.
"If KLASSENFAHRT were French, or better Asian, the whole world would immediately throw itself on the floor and shout "masterpiece," wrote Didier Péron for the French daily Libération. The film premiered at the International Forum of the Berlinale in 2002.

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The interview was conducted in German at the cinema in the German Film and Television Academy Berlin on the 28.11.2019.

We spoke with Angela Schanelec and DoP Reinhold Vorschneider about their debut film - DAS GLÜCK MEINER SCHWESTER
( 84 Min, DE, 1995).

Their debut marks the beginning of a long-lasting collaboration between the two. The film was awarded with the German Film Critics' Prize in 1996.
About the content:
The photographer Christian loves two women - Isabel, a translator, and her half-sister Ariane, a gardener. His attempt to build a life with Isabel and end the ménage à trois is boycotted by Ariane, who desperately fights for him.
Angela Schanelec: "For me it was clear that the language in this film is artificial and scripted, but on the other hand I knew I didn't want to manipulate the space. I was interested in what happens with this written language and these artificial figures that don't sit there and improvise, but that I placed there and say what I wrote down. But they do that in a space where everything else moves the way it would move otherwise." (this Quote is freely translated in to english).
A considerable part of the dialogue-rich film was made on the streets of Berlin, in the noise of car traffic and construction sites.

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