free Generation Reporters

2020 Berlinale Generation presents the Ukrainian documentary “The earth is blue as an orange” which already won the documentary directing award at this years Sundance film festival. In a loving way the film follows single mother Anna and her four children as they document their lives on the Ukrainian/Russian boarder trough their own film project. Director Iryna Tsilyk manages to draw a deeply touching portray of a family trying to bring normality and hope into a life marked by war. The outstanding camera work creates pictures that are able to transport a feeling of surrealistic normality in circumstances who are terrifying real. With her first documentary feature film Iryna Tsilyk reminds us that although the media presents is decreasing the war between Ukraine and Russia is still going on. In our interview she talks about her film, a surrealistic place and the power of cinema. THE FAMILY Iryna Tsilyk and the family portrayed in film got to know each other trough the Ukrainian pro...

Interview with Alexandre Rockwell and Lana Rockwell from Sweet Thing We meet the director of Sweet Thing and the actress of Billie Lana Rockwell at the CinemaxX. We are greeted warmly and go over to their hotel because at the CinemaxX it is too loud. We are very happy that the interview worked. We talk briefly about our blog and then the interview starts! Anna: Billie Holiday is a big topic in the film and Billie is also named after her. Why did you choose to include Billie Holiday in your film? Alexander Rockwell (director): There is kind of an aura about Billie Holiday. She has a lot of pain in her life but she’s such an elegant person, she is almost like a dream. There is something very beautiful and kind of dreamy about her but she suffered a lot. I thought she would be a great hero for the protagonist Lana. I thought having Lana named after her would connect her to her father because her father really admired Billie Holiday and he wanted his daughter to have his strength....

Although most of the film team of " La déesse des mouches à feu " unfortunately left the Berlinale already on Monday, I was pleased getting the opportunity to meet Robin L’Houmeau - who plays Keven in the movie - for an interview on Tuesday. I get a warm welcome when we meet at the CinemaxX and we are going to a little, cosy room in one of the Berlinale-buildings. After we chatted about the festival for a while Robin is ready for my questions. fGR: First of all, how did you come to the movie? Did you had a personal reason to be part of it? Robin: I came to the movie by an audition. Actually I auditioned for another character at first - for Pascal, Catherines first boyfriend in the movie. And then I ended up being chosen for the role of Keven. I hadn’t read the whole script before accepting, for me it was more a question of working with the director Anaïs Barbeau-Lavalette , cause I really like what she’s doing, her philosophy and her art of filmmaking. Also I knew the...

Las Niñas is a film in this year’s Generation program with a strong young female protagonist first becoming aware of the world’s inequalities between boys and girls and its injustices. It is set in the 90s in Spain. I was lucky enough to get in tough with the films director Pilar Palomero and ask her a few questions: freie Generation Reporter: Can you tell me a bit about the background of the film? Pilar Palomero: The film is not autobiographical, but a lot of my childhood experiences have flown into Las Niñas. A few years ago, when I was thinking about making a film about my education, I found my notebook from my religion class in grade 6. I read an essay, which is exactly the one that appears in the film, where the nun explains the girls sexuality. At the first moment I laughed at the thought of what kind of education we got but then I started to realise how contradictory it was. It was 1992 and they were talking to us about sexuality, chastity and only having sex in the marriage...

After Yuki & Nina in the 2009 Kplus programme, Nobuhiro Suwa returns to the Generation programme with another film. His new film Kaze No Denwa is in the 14+ programme. The day after the world premiere he takes a whole hour for Clara and me to answer our questions about the shooting process, the situation in Japan and other things. We make ourselves comfortable in the lounge of the Hotel Berlin, Berlin and exchange thoughts about Kaze No Denwa, Japan and the world with nice background music, while Isabelle kindly translates for us. Free Generation Reporters : How did the film team come together and how did you find Serena Motola, Haru's actress? Nobuhiro Suwa : It has been 18 years since I shot my last film in Japan. Since 2002, I have actually only worked with French producers. So I didn't know most of my new colleagues before. It was all very exciting and I was quite nervous, but everything went well. We did a casting for Haru, several girls showed up, but in the end ...

„They take the gold and throw away the chest. That chest is our country.“ Mongolia is considered to be one of the ten most resource-rich countries in the world. Foreign investors have transformed one fifth of Mongolia to mining areas. Nature is being destroyed, the daily life of local people is affected. Byambasuren Davaa, known for „The story of a weeping camel“, takes her new feature film „Veins of the World“ to this year's Berlinale Generation, in which she portraits a nomad family, living in a region that is about to become mining area. In strong cinematographic pictures, the film tells a story about a young boy and his big dream, about the loss of a father, about love to nature and the soul of Mongolian mountains. THE NATURE “Veins of the world” transports a feeling for Mongolian nature through its powerful visuals. Panoramas of Mongolian nature and mining areas alternate with close-ups of the nomads and their changing life. The man behind those strong cinematic pictures i...

Friday night - the Q&A of the opening film " H is for happiness " is over and the audience is swarming out of the cinema, crowding around the blue photo wall to get an autograph or photo of the two talents or to just enjoy the cheerful atmosphere. In the middle of excited kids and cameras Anna and I - waiting to meet the cast and director of the film for a short interview. Finally we discover the people we are looking for and are led to director John Sheedy, who takes a little time for us. fGR: "Congratulations to the movie. How was is for you to be the opening film of Berlinale’s Generation?" John Sheedy: "It is such a great honour to be the opening film. We love the Berlin film-festival and I always wanted the film to be part of it, so I thought it would fit in nice in this section. It’s my first time at the Berlinale and then to be told that we are the opening was even more exciting." fGR: "We enjoyed the landscape and nature very muc...