The festival team’s „foster-films“
A wonderful concept and a harmony-creating idea that we gladly took on from Stuttgart last year: the foster-film programme. In Stuttgart it is already a longstanding tradition that awakened a desire in us to make sure that films, which were either much loved or discussed by us but didn’t make it into the final festival programme, don’t completely disappear. This is a selection of “saved” films, whereby each member of the festival’s organisational team has taken on the role of “foster parent” for their favourite film, which they will introduce personally. Enjoy these films while you tuck into some breakfast!
5 recuerdos (5 Memories)
Spain 2009, 12 min, DigiBeta, 35 mm
Directors: Oriana Alcaine, Alejandra Márquez | Screenwriter: Alejandra Márquez | Producer: Enrique Flores | Cinematographer: Andrés León Becker | Editing: Yibrán Asuad Mújica | Music: Pedro “Zulu” González | Cast: Ireri Solís, Olivia Rossetti, Katia Acevedo, Yanni Torres, Patricio Solís
Who has never had the experience of forgetting something that is totally obvious? Irma, for example, can’t think of the fifth and last ingredient of her well-loved fish soup. So she embarks on a journey to her subconscious that proves to be wonderfully surreal, playfully imaginative and colourful.
Foster parents: Julia, Alexandra
Sense & Innocence
Germany 2009, 4 min, Digital
Director/Screenwriter/Producer/Editing: Nicolaas Schmidt | Cinematographer: found footage | Music: Xuan Mai
Though this footage film is realised in a comparatively simple manner, yet the Vietnamese song and the chipmunk, swaying and dancing between slap-stick-like despair and ambition, leave a lasting impression – and enable a catharsis in four minutes: astonishment, rapture, compassion and, finally, redemption.
Foster parents: Marija, Daniel
Alienadas
USA 2009, 11 min, HD
Director: Andrew Barchilon | Screenwriters: Daniel Margulies, Andrew Barchilon, Kitao Sakurai | Producers: Edouard Getaz, Gaston Solnicki | Cinematographer: Kitao Sakurai | Editing: Angelo Corrao | Music: Lev Zhurbin and HEALTH | Cast: Daniel Margulies
Andrew Barchilon accompanies a young doctor through an old mental asylum in Buenos Aires. The collection of conserved human heads and medical documents from the last century creates an oppressive mood and lets long forgotten fates come to the surface once more. Creepy.
Foster parents: Eva, Michael R.
Historia o braku samochodu (A Story of a Missing Car)
Poland 2009, 12 min, 35 mm, Digital
Director/Screenwriter: Grzegorz Jaroszuk | Producer: Polish National Film School Łódź | Cinematographer: Michal Wladyniak | Editing: Barbara Snarska
Hooligans, a burning car, a boy and his guitar. Sparse pictures of a Polish suburb tell a story about growing up, brimming with charm and subtle humour. A touch of Eastern European eccentricity by the young director Grzegorz Jaroszuk from the film academy in Łódź.
Foster parents: Hanna, Tobias
Eulogy
Australia 2009, 7 min, Digital
Director/Screenwriter/Editing: Ben Claremont | Producers: Ben Claremont, Leslie Oliver | Cinematographer: Mark Tipple | Music: Patrick Nellestein | Cast: Joe Brook
An old man chases pigeons in the park in hyper-slow-motion. Time is put into perspective, for it is a whole life that is packed into just a few minutes. The camera and technology enable almost choreographical detail that one would never notice otherwise. A visual delight.
Foster parents: Lisa-Maria, Wolfgang, Michael L.
First Kiss
UK 2009, 16 min, DigiBeta
Director/Screenwriter/Editing: Matthew Huston | Producer: Charlotte Walls | Cinematographer: Dan Stofford Clark | Music: Patrick Jonsson | Cast: Mariana Melo, Jordan Southwell, Joseph Mitchell, Charlotte Asprey, Teresa Araujo
Eleven-year-old Carla confesses to having killed someone – but, as it seems, not on purpose. First Kiss takes immigration and associated breaches of communication as a starting point from which to spin an atmospheric and forcefully narrated tale.
Foster parents: Simone, Raimund
Edward’s Turmoil
UK 2009, 10 min, BetaSP
Director: Kim Albright | Screenwriters: Kim Albright, David Goo | Producer: Trent Simpson | Cinematographer: John Watters | Editing: Mark Edinoff | Music: Mean Poppa Lean | Cast: Christopher Fairbank, Raphael Coleman
A congenial and incisive film with a nice and earthy humour: the grandfather, a course and cranky guy, has to spend the afternoon with his well-bred grandson. What really gets on his nerves to begin with, develops and takes an interesting turn after a few expletives...
Foster parents: Franka, Milena
Elephant Graveyard
Israel 2008, 14 min, BetaSP
Director/Screenwriter: Avi Belkin | Producers: Anat Belkin, Alon Karton | Cinematographer: Avi Levi | Editing: Avigail Breitstein | Music: Dodi Oren | Cast: Nissim Nissimov, Nir Shalmon, Inbal Lori
Still believing himself to be Tarzan, 80-year-old Johnny Weissmüller sits in a psychiatric department. Time and again his thoughts wander off into the jungle, memories and reality become blurred. Avi Belkins comic adaptation about this actor’s possible end makes for smiles and knows how to touch the heart.
Foster parents: Kim, Elena