EXBERLINER Issue 163, September 2017

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DON’T MISS Chance 2000 HHHH A doc about art-maverick Christoph Schlingensief’s “Last Chance” party, which ran in Germany’s 1998 election. Among other actions, they invited Germany’s six million unemployed to bathe in the lake next to Helmut Kohl’s holiday house in the hope that the rising water levels would flood it. Remember when politics was fun? Starts Sep 7, Exblicks screening on Sep 11 with English subtitles and Q&A, Lichtblick Kino. Favourites Film Festival Returning for its seventh edition, this fest enforces an extremely high barrier to entry, programming only films that have won an audience award at a previous film festival. Sep 20-24, City Kino Wedding. Exblicks: Er Sie Ich Join us for a special screening of Carlotta Kittel’s gripping and formally playful doc, which sees the filmmaker indirectly reunite her parents, who parted ways shortly after her conception. Sep 25, Lichtblick Kino. Sebastián Lelio on his timely transgender tale A Fantastic Woman, in cinemas from September 7. By Paul O’Callaghan The Chilean writer-director follows 2013’s widely acclaimed Gloria with a vivid, deeply empathetic portrait of a trans woman named Marina (sensational newcomer Daniela Vega) coming to terms with the sudden death of her older lover (see review, page 30). It was a smash hit at this year’s Berlinale, winning both the Silver Bear for best screenplay and the Teddy Award for best LGBT film. What drew you to the subject of trans identity? It seemed exciting, potentially very moving, and a little dangerous. It has so many resonances with the broader political landscape. We’re always talking about frontiers, and wrestling with these questions of where we draw the line. Who defines which groups of people are legitimate, and which relationships? Are we willing to allow the continuation of a society that labels people, WHAT’S ON — Film “It’s a film that doesn’t want to be labelled.” and segregates them, and build walls? Or are we willing to learn from one another? These are the questions the film addresses, which hopefully gives it a certain urgency. How did you discover Daniela Vega, and how did you develop the character of Marina? Initially I was looking for a consultant. I had a general idea for the film, but I didn’t know any Chilean transgender women. I’d been living in Berlin, and felt a little detached from what was happening in Santiago. My initial meeting with Daniela came to define the film. She was mind-blowing – witty, sharp, graceful and complex. She accepted the consultant role, so we kept meeting, and the script started to absorb much of what we talked about – not biographical details, but elements of her experience. At the end of that process, I understood that I couldn’t make the film without a transgender actress, and that she was the one. Did you look to any other transthemed films for guidance? Not really. The films that inspired me had nothing to do with the subject – I was thinking more about Buster Keaton and Busby Berkeley! I really wanted this to be more than an “issue” movie. I think of the film as “transgenre”. Its identity oscillates, from romance, to ghost story, to musical. Just like its main character, it doesn’t want to be labelled. We learn very little of Marina’s back story. Why did you withhold this? The fact that we know little about her is crucial, because people are always projecting their own ideas and prejudices onto her. We see secondary characters judging her and defining her and calling her names. And sometimes she looks directly at the camera, as if to ask the audience what they see. It’s a film about point of view, about how looking and labelling defines the one who looks and labels, more than it does the one who is being observed. Marina remains a mystery, but in spite of this she wins our empathy. Like Gloria, this hinges around a single performance. Did the films have much in common from a production standpoint? The challenges were certainly similar, in that if the main character failed, then the whole film would collapse. Daniela’s a natural artist, but she’s also young and inexperienced, so it was risky. She’s on screen the whole time, and I asked a lot of her. She sings, she dances, she had to learn to drive. And on top of that she was working with very experienced actors. So it was harder than Gloria in many ways. You have a knack for capturing a sense of spontaneity and authenticity. I don’t like to rehearse too much, but I love to spend a lot of time with the actors before we start shooting, to create trust. It’s important that they know they can be foolish, and try new things, and that I’ll take care of them at the end. And while the dialogue was scripted for this film, there was freedom to change things. I believe cinema is about what can’t be written, but you have to write a lot in order to get there! n 32 EXBERLINER 163
Preview Hounds of Love WHAT’S ON — Film Dispatches from Down Under Germany’s premier Antipodean film festival returns for its seventh edition. Taking over Kreuzberg’s Moviemento from September 13-17, Down Under Berlin is back with a streamlined showcase of the best in new Australian and New Zealand cinema. This year’s line-up comprises four fiction features, five docs, and five themed shorts programmes – many of the titles are European premieres, and most have yet to secure wider German distribution. Those of a strong constitution should check out Hounds of Love, an audacious debut by Perthborn filmmaker Ben Young. Depicting in unflinching detail the abduction of a teenage girl by a deranged white trash couple, Young ratchets up the dread to almost unbearable levels whilst sensitively exploring the psyches of his repugnant antagonists, ensuring that the film never feels cheaply exploitative. Further genre thrills abound in OtherLife, Ben Lucas’ stylish sci-fi yarn about a software engineer (Jessica de Gouw) who develops a nanotechnology-based drug capable of creating VR experiences that are “indistinguishable from the real thing”. It’s a pleasingly pacey affair with shades of Inception. On the non-fiction front, Barbecue is a mouthwatering and visually stunning survey of outdoor cooking from the Aussie outback to the Syrian border. Shorts-wise, you’ll want to catch the “Late Night Special” programme on Sep 16, where two horror-infused gems from New Zealand stand out: “Shmeat” is a witty dystopian fable told through charming animation, while “Feeder” is an evocative spin on the age-old legend that blues musician Robert Johnson sold his soul to the devil. Both feature slick effects and Twilight Zone-esque twists. At the other end of the cinematic spectrum, Jacobie Gray’s “The Aquarium”, part of “The Battle of the Shorts: Aus vs. NZ” showdown on Sep 14, is a simple, subtle portrayal of modern poverty and how it affects the children born into it. — POC/DM/AL/CL Down Under Berlin Sep 13-17 Moviemento, Kreuzberg LOFT.DE FACEBOOK.COM/LOFTCONCERTS TIMBER TIMBRE 21.9. HEIMATHAFEN NEUKÖLLN PORTUGAL. THE MAN 22.9. SUSANNE SUNDFØR 20.9. SILENT GREEN THE KING BLUES 21.9. BADEHAUS MR JUKES 27.9. MUSIK & FRIEDEN NEWTON FAULKNER 28.9. QUASIMODO All These Sleepless Nights KONNI KASS VERLEGT & VERSCHOBEN AUF DEN 2.10. INS BI NUU GAVIN JAMES 2.10. MUSIK & FRIEDEN DAN OWEN 5.10. BADEHAUS MATT ANDERSEN 13.10. QUASIMODO VERLEGT IN DIE COLUMBIAHALLE TICKETS: KOKA36(.DE) STU LARSEN 15.10. BI NUU JOSH PYKE 15.10. MUSIK & FRIEDEN MARIAN HILL 16.10. FRANNZ MHD 17.10. ASTRA JUSTICE 20.10. COLUMBIAHALLE KT TUNSTALL 20.10. FRANNZ HEATHER NOVA & BAND 21.10. COLUMBIA THEATER THE BREEDERS 24.10. HEIMATHAFEN NEUKÖLLN Berlin’s international job board All sectors, from start-ups to non-profits Updated daily Regular Berlin jobs newsletter SEPTEMBER 2017
Page 1 and 2: Berlin in English since 2002 163
Page 3 and 4: CONTENTS Exberliner 163 -September
Page 5 and 6: Berlin in English since 2002 €3.9
Page 7 and 8: BEST OF BERLIN — September 2017 B
Page 9 and 10: ELECTION 2017 Find your own Alterna
Page 11 and 12: ELECTION 2017 Bergpartei Slow anarc
Page 13 and 14: Members: 240 pre- and postmillenial
Page 15 and 16: ELECTION 2017 “It just works diff
Page 17 and 18: ELECTION 2017 Left: An SPD voluntee
Page 19 and 20: ELECTION 2017 And, even if they’r
Page 21 and 22: ELECTION 2017 “Schiller and Goeth
Page 23 and 24: ELECTION 2017 contract I’m paying
Page 25 and 26: WHAT’S ON — International Liter
Page 27 and 28: WHAT’S ON — International Liter
Page 29 and 30: WHAT’S ON — Russian Cosmism Fou
Page 31 and 32: WHAT’S ON — Al Gore but I would
Page 33: WHAT’S ON — Film Reviews punch,
Page 37 and 38: WHAT’S ON — Music Album release
Page 39 and 40: wonderful experience of actually se
Page 41 and 42: WHAT’S ON — Art ing (6-10pm), a
Page 43 and 44: WHAT’S ON — Art tions with Jero
Page 45 and 46: WHAT’S ON — Stage Interview “
Page 47 and 48: 6 QUESTIONS You once said breakdanc
Page 49 and 50: WHAT’S ON Through Sep 17. Starts
Page 51 and 52: ADVERTORIAL — The Berlin Guide U-
Page 53 and 54: ADVERTISING — The Language School
Page 55 and 56: COLUMN— The Gay Berliner Married
Page 57 and 58: REGULARS François Poilâne The 24-
Page 59 and 60: REGULARS APP TEST App to school Sum
Page 61 and 62: COLUMN — Ask Hans-Torsten Bills,
Page 63: Campaign by n e w f r o n t e a r s

EXBERLINER Issue 163, September 2017

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