Chinese film to kick off Berlin festival
Quebec documentary about lives of seniors to screen
Last Updated: Tuesday, January 19, 2010 | 2:25 PM ET
CBC News
Chinese director Wang Quan'an admires the Golden Bear he won in 2007 in Berlin. (Associated Press) A film by Wang Quan'an, the Chinese director who won the Golden Bear for Tuya's Marriage, will open the Berlin International Film Festival in February.
His new film, Apart Together, follows the fortunes of lovers separated when one, a soldier, flees to Taiwan in 1949 to escape the Communist revolution. They reunite 20 years later. Festival organizers hailed Wang, 44, as "one of the most important Chinese auteur film-makers of the younger generation."
The festival will be bookended by Asian films with a contemporary drama by veteran Japanese director Yoji Yamada — About Her Brother (Otouto) — closing the festival.
Asian films have traditionally had a strong presence in Berlin and the Forum documentary program, also announced Tuesday, includes a strong slate of films from Japan, Taiwan, Korea and China.
A scene from the Quebec documentary, La Belle Visite. (Les Films de L'Autre) Quebec director Jean-François Caissy is debuting his documentary, La Belle Visite (Journey's End) in its international premiere in the Forum program at Berlin.
La Belle Visite is a meditation on the final years, following the lives of two dozen seniors over five seasons in a beautiful Quebec community by the sea. Caissy, raised on the Gaspé Peninsula, is the director of 2005's La saison des amours (Mating Season) and has previously screened La Belle Visite at the Montreal Documentary Film Festival.
Imani, by Ugandan director Caroline Kamya, the story of the lives of a former child soldier, a breakdancer and a young maid, was shot in Canada, Sweden and Uganda.
The Forum program announced a full slate of 34 films. Among them:
- Head Cold by Gamma Beck of Berlin.
- Sunny Land by Aljoscha Weskott and Marietta Kesting of South Africa.
- Au revoir Taipei by Arvin Chen of Taiwan.
- Black Bus by Anat Yuta Zuria of Israel.
The Berlin Film Festival is scheduled to screen The Ghost Writer, the film Roman Polanski has been working on while under house arrest in Switzerland awaiting possible extradition to the United States on charges of unlawful sex with a 13-year-old girl.
Martin Scorsese's new thriller Shutter Island, starring Leonardo DiCaprio, and My Name is Khan, starring Bollywood heartthrob Shah Rukh Khan, are also in the program.
The Berlin festival runs Feb. 11-21.
Share Tools
FILM REVIEW: Men in Black 3 by Eli Glasner May. 25, 2012 11:40 AM Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones are back in the action sequel Men in Black 3, a third instalment of a series now 15 years old. Though new addition Josh Brolin manages some amazing mimicry as a younger version of Jones, the story doesn't measure up to the weird and wonderful charms of the original, says film reviewer Eli Glasner.
Top News Headlines
- Aylmer triple stabbing leads to first-degree murder charges
- The estranged partner of a young mother who was stabbed to death along with her parents at their home in Aylmer, Que., has been charged with first-degree murder Friday. more »
- Wildfires, high winds put northeastern Ontario on alert
- It's going to be a tense weekend in northeastern Ontario where strong, shifting winds have been fuelling a forest fire that has blanketed the Timmins area with smoke and ash. more »
- Labrador fire out of control
- A forest fire continues to burn out of control in Happy Valley-Goose Bay today, according to provincial firefighting officials. more »
- The risks and responsibilities of taking on Mt. Everest
- The deaths of five climbers last weekend on Mt. Everest, with more summits underway this weekend, fuels the debate about the risks and responsibilities of high altitude climbing. more »
Latest Arts & Entertainment News Headlines
- Modern and traditional art scores at Joyner auction
- Both traditional and modern works fared well at Joyner Waddington's spring art auction in Toronto, with buyers snapping up lots by Group of Seven members as well as more contemporary artists. more »
- Prophetic Cosmopolis premieres at Cannes
- David Cronenberg says he didn't anticipate the Occupy Wall Street movement as he prepared to shoot Cosmopolis, his new film which made its world premiere Friday at the Cannes Film Festival in southern France. more »
- Jennifer Egan's newest story debuts on Twitter
- The latest short story from Pulitzer-winning writer Jennifer Egan is emerging 140 characters at a time via Twitter. more »
- Miller Brittain sketches restored by museum
- Canadian artist and social satirist Miller Brittain's larger than life chalk drawings may once again hang in Saint John. more »
Q Blog
Toni Morrison on her two selves May. 25, 2012 5:57 PM Jian speaks with the celebrated African American author and academic about her two conflicting selves, and her new novel, Home.
CBC Books
Talking about war May. 25, 2012 4:57 PM The public conversation around war has always been complex and thorny. How does Canada's military approach differ from that of other countries? Are we a society of peacekeepers or warriors? These are some of the questions that Noah Richler explores in his new book What We Talk About When We Talk About War.
- Aylmer triple stabbing leads to first-degree murder charges
- Everest victim's husband says family not seeking government help
- B.C. premier unhappy with disgraced Mountie's transfer
- Canada ending 'Buffalo shuffle' for visas, closing consulate
- What a Greek euro exit could mean for Canada
- Third B.C. salmon farm quarantined
- RCMP officer charged in fatal crash
- Police probe Halifax homicide after shooting
- Ottawa man in hospital after lightning strike
