15:00
1 Nopember 2007
Europe on Screen 2007
Free ticket available 30 min before opening
Centre Culturel Francais (CCF) - Capacity: 43 seats
Jl. Salemba Raya 25 - T 390 8585, 390 8580
Away from Home
Semih Kaplanoglu, 2001, 110 min.
Turkey. 2001. Drama.
Turkish/English/Russian with English subtitles.
Three main characters are the core part of this film. Nasuhi who is returning to the homeland he left behind years ago. Selim who was selected in the lottery for American citizenship. And Olga, a Russian girl who has run away from home to search for her estranged father. Together these three strike out for the Aegean town that Nasuhi abandoned 50 years ago. So, let the drama begins.. [European Film Festival]
“Europe on Screen” Secretariat
c/o Goethe-Institut Jakarta
Jl Sam Ratulangi 9-15, Jakarta 10350
Tel +62 21 2355 0208
Fax + 62 21 2355 0021
E-mail: prakt1@jakarta.goethe.org
Website: http://www.uni-eropa.org/film
Thursday, November 1, 2007
Herkes Kendi Evinde (Away from Home)
Zozo
15:00
1 November 2007
Europe on Screen 2007
Free ticket available 30 min before opening
Pusat Kebudayaan Italia
Jl. HOS. Cokroaminoto No. 117 - Menteng - T 392-7531
Zozo
Josef Fares, 2005, 103 min.
Sweden, Drama. Swedish/Arabic with English subtitles.
Zozo has been put forward as Sweden's contribution to the forthcoming Oscar nominations in the Best Foreign Language Film category. Left orphaned by the Lebanese civil war, young Zozo’s determined to join his grandparents in Sweden. Once he arrives, his adjustment is complicated by cultural barriers and haunting memories.
ZOZO depicts the physical and psychological journey of a ten year old boy. From a raging civil war in Beirut in which he loses all his family, to Sweden, an unknown country where he faces a complex and completely different type of society. Sweden does not become the paradise that Zozo has dreamt of. Zozo’s journey reminds us that there is a dramatic personal story behind every entry in the refugee statistics, stories containing often-unimaginable experiences.
However, Zozo’s story also shows us the world from a child’s perspective where imagination blends with reality and dreams sometimes can be a haven from sorrow and despair. [Picture: Svenska Film Institutet]
“Europe on Screen” Secretariat
c/o Goethe-Institut Jakarta
Jl Sam Ratulangi 9-15, Jakarta 10350
Tel +62 21 2355 0208
Fax + 62 21 2355 0021
E-mail: prakt1@jakarta.goethe.org
Website: http://www.uni-eropa.org/film
Kalteva torni (The Leaning Tower)
15:00
1 November 2007
Europe on Screen 2007
Free ticket available 30 min before opening
Goethe Haus - Capacity: 301 seats
Jl. Sam Ratulangi 9 – 15, Menteng, Jakarta Pusat - T 2355 0208
Yah… Begitulah Kehidupan
Kurnia Harta Winata, 2006, 4 min.
Indonesia, Animation
The Leaning Tower
Timo Koivusalo, 2006, 96 min.
Finland, Comedy, Finnish with English subtitles.
It is the story of a benevolent man who does not know he has multiple personalities. His greatest fear is that he will not be able to see the Leaning Tower of Pisa before it falls.
THE LEANING TOWER is a film about a turning point where dreams become memories. There are five billion people in the world and as many ways of surviving in life. This is one of them. What happens when two people live inside one man, but only one of them is aware of the other? A kind man, who suffers from a life-curtailing personality disorder, is building a leaning tower from wooden discs in the park of a mental hospital. An older woman, a former ballerina who once toured Europe’s opera stages and wants to see the scenes of her early life’s dreams. In the search of her past, she promises to take her granddaughter to see the leaning tower in Italy. Thus, begins an incredible journey in which the threesome ends up in the middle of Europe. [Picture: www.skandinavische-filmtage.d]
“Europe on Screen” Secretariat
c/o Goethe-Institut Jakarta
Jl Sam Ratulangi 9-15, Jakarta 10350
Tel +62 21 2355 0208
Fax + 62 21 2355 0021
E-mail: prakt1@jakarta.goethe.org
Website: http://www.uni-eropa.org/film
Vidange perdue (The Only One)
15:00
1 November 2007
Europe on Screen 2007
Free ticket available 30 min before opening
Erasmus Huis - Capacity: 350 seats
Jl. H. R. Rasuna Said Kav. S-3 - Kuningan - T 524 1069
Klayaban
Farishad I Latjuba, 2005, 15 min
Indonesia, drama
The Only One
Geoffrey Enthoven, 2006, 88 min.
Belgium, Drama
"Vidange Perdue" is a Belgian expression which is best translated as "empties are not refunded" This movie is the story of an old man who can't accept that he's growing older and who revolts against the absurdity of life.
To an outsider he's just another grumpy eighty-year-old who is often extremely cantankerous and obstinate and of little or no interest at all. What others fail (or don't even bother) to see is that this man cannot accept the fact that there is a constant negation by others of his own unique personality and that the elderly in general are constantly patronized by their immediate surroundings as if they suffered from an ever increasing form of dementia.
Lucien Knops' struggle against all these preconceived notions regarding old people is courageous but also comical at times as is illustrated by his letters of pure outrage to the newspaper and his attempts at amorous escapades.A real turning point in his life is his encounter with his neighbor.
This lady not only prompts him to go on being his true self but opens doors for him to the future which he himself would never have thought of unbolting. When at the end of the movie he visits his favorite grand child in Paris, he knows the future will remain uncertain.
He sees himself on a long voyage or maybe even spending his remaining days as a tramp. Whatever the future holds in store, he will confront it as he himself: the unique Lucien Knops.
The movie was filmed in short alternating scenes and all the actors, without exception, deliver a high quality performance. [Picture: Bergamo Film Meeting]
“Europe on Screen” Secretariat
c/o Goethe-Institut Jakarta
Jl Sam Ratulangi 9-15, Jakarta 10350
Tel +62 21 2355 0208
Fax + 62 21 2355 0021
E-mail: prakt1@jakarta.goethe.org
Website: http://www.uni-eropa.org/film
Polleke
17:00
1 November 2007
Europe on Screen 2007
Free ticket available 30 min before opening
Pusat Kebudayaan Italia
Jl. HOS. Cokroaminoto No. 117 - Menteng - T 392-7531
Metu Getih
Heru C Wibowo, 2006, 10 Min
Indonesia, Drama
Polleke
Ineke Houtman, 2003, 95 min
Netherlands, drama
Polleke is an ordinary 11 year old girl, wich makes her life and thoughts so extraordinary.
Polleke is an ordinary 11 year old girl raised by her single mom and always defending her drug-addicted dad. She wants to be a poet and is in love with Mimoun, a Maroccan boy in her class, with Africa eyes.
Take the time to see this film and you won't regret it: It's funny, moving and full of great characters and even greater dialogue. It's a love story, a coming of age story, a feel good movie and an educational one .[Written by Sillysil Picture: Deutsches Filminstitut]
“Europe on Screen” Secretariat
c/o Goethe-Institut Jakarta
Jl Sam Ratulangi 9-15, Jakarta 10350
Tel +62 21 2355 0208
Fax + 62 21 2355 0021
E-mail: prakt1@jakarta.goethe.org
Website: http://www.uni-eropa.org/film
Pregi (The Welts)
17:00
1 November 2007
Europe on Screen 2007
Free ticket available 30 min before opening
Goethe Haus - Capacity: 301 seats
Jl. Sam Ratulangi 9 – 15, Menteng, Jakarta Pusat - T 2355 0208
Still
Lucky Kuswandi, 2005, 15 min.
Indonesia, Fiction
The Welts
Magdalena Piekorz, 2004, 91 min.
Poland, Polish with English subtitles.
Poland's 2005 Oscar submission, the beauty and moral weightiness of the golden age of Polish cinema.
In some ways, Magdalena Piekorz's The Welts isn't much different from The Holy Girl and other films by female directors Jones cites in his review—like Claire Denis's L'Intrus and Chantal Akerman's Demain on démenage—in its unmistakable stubbornness, except the film doesn't so much adhere to private rules or logic but to the dictates of stick-it-to-daddy melodramas like Shine, Swimming Upstream, and Affliction, and if I didn't know The Welts was adapted from the stories of Wojciech Kuczok, I would have gathered that the whole experience of making the film was an exorcism for the director. To its credit, I can't think of another film so perfectly split in half: The first half of the film (the story of a boy and his horrible relationship to his abusive father) and the second (how that boy becomes exactly like his father and how his rage gets in the way of everything he does) evoke the pages of a book pressed so tightly together that the ink from one side has left an imprint on the other.
As for the image that divides the two parts (a close-up of the adult Wojtek, played by Micha Ebrowski, looking into a bathroom mirror), it's like the glue that bonds these two halves. Which is to say that the film, true to its title, understands the impression the past leaves on the present. Piekorz's incredible flair for contrast is all over two shots wherein pigeons evoke the relationship of the main character to the world around him, but in spite of The Welts' formalist rigor and attention to the honesty of the relationship between abuser and abused, the film talks down to its audience. Like the overpraised Affliction, it strains to trace the sins of the father in the sins the son: Like the toothache that plagues Nick Notle in the Paul Schrader film, it's as if Ebrowski's Wojtek never knew he was like his father until the day he catches himself brushing his teeth until his gums bleed. And if the main character's narration makes for poetic self-reflection, it's not a loveliness that's matched by the one female character in the film, Tania (Agnieszka Grochowska), who exists only to play the role of psychologist and savior. Grochowska is a fierce performer, but she's scarcely the type that lives only to save broken men. Martel, and Jones for that matter, wouldn't be pleased. - Ed Gonzalez | © slant magazine, 2005. [Picture: slant magazine]
“Europe on Screen” Secretariat
c/o Goethe-Institut Jakarta
Jl Sam Ratulangi 9-15, Jakarta 10350
Tel +62 21 2355 0208
Fax + 62 21 2355 0021
E-mail: prakt1@jakarta.goethe.org
Website: http://www.uni-eropa.org/film
25 degrés en hiver (25 Degrees In Winter)
17:00
1 November 2007
Europe on Screen 2007
Free ticket available 30 min before opening
Erasmus Huis - Capacity: 350 seats
Jl. H. R. Rasuna Said Kav. S-3
Kuningan, Jakarta Selatan
T 524 1069
Peronika
Bowo Leksono, 2004, 13 min
Indonesia, short film
25 Degrees In Winter
Stephane Vuillet, 2003, 92 min.
Belgium, Drama, French with some dialogues in Spanish, Russian and Dutch with English subtitles.
25 Degrees In Winter is a rarity - a family film with an edge, a love story without sugar, a screwball comedy without rolling of the eyes, and a multi-layered look at how migrants are used, abused and ultimately necessary in today's society.
Miguel (Jacques Gamblin) is a single Belgian dad working for his brother's travel agency. But while he's definitely the lone parent in his home equation, he lives in hope that his wife will one day return after she's sought her fame and fortune as a singer in America. She doesn't write (to him), she doesn't call, and deep down Miguel knows that she's chosen a better life over her family. But if for not other reason than to keep his daughter's spirits up, Miguel maintains the lifestyle of a man waiting for his wife to come bak from holiday.
That is, until he encounters a woman (Ingeborga Dapkunaite) hiding in the backseat of his van. Her name is Sonia, and she's recently escaped from detention on the evening she was supposed to be deported back to her native Ukraine. Sonia wants to find her husband who, like Miguel's wife, left years earlier in search of a better existence elsewhere.
Miguel may be a screw up, but he's also a decent guy, so before long he's taking Maria all over town in search of her long lost man, as his mother (Carmen Maura) and daughter cling to every word in the back seat, while his boss roars down the cell phone, his gangster landlord hunts him down for rent, and the cops seem to be around every corner in search of Sonia.
25 Degrees in Winter is a beautiful movie that continually threatens to get out of hand, yet never does. Throwing together a variety of peopple from all walks of life, it succeeds in showing the audience not only how awfully migrants are treated in many countries, but also how we're all migrants from somewhere. As Miguel's mother casts aspersions at Sonia for being an illegal, Miguel points out the she herself was in the exact same situation once, while at the same time Miguel's boss is rushing his own illegal staff members out the back door to avod the 'workplace inspectors'.
To be able to paint both the heroes or the piece and the supposed villains as all being victim of the same situation, director Stephane Vuillet and writers Pedro Romero and Stephane Malandrin have weaved the kind of story that makes an audience not only laugh along and cheer in theright spots, but also look at themselves and wonder whether this imaginary line that separates us all really does make 'us' better than 'them'. When a migrant gets their papers and becomes 'one of us', don't they then look down on those who have yet to make the same journey? And those of us looking down on the newly arrived or those on the other side who long to be amongst us, aren't we simply the result of people like them who got here first?
To think that a country as 'civilized' as Belgium has the same problem with people longing to leave for the next big step up as, say, the Ukraine does, really makes you think about the world. What makes our home better? And do we really appreciate what we have and what our ancestors went through to get us there? After 25 Degrees in Winter, I sure as heck do. Great stuff. [byChris Parry]
“Europe on Screen” Secretariat
c/o Goethe-Institut Jakarta
Jl Sam Ratulangi 9-15, Jakarta 10350
Tel +62 21 2355 0208
Fax + 62 21 2355 0021
E-mail: prakt1@jakarta.goethe.org
Website: http://www.uni-eropa.org/film
Tytto sina olet tahti (Beauty and the Bastard)
17:00
1 Nopember 2007
Europe on Screen 2007
Free ticket available 30 min before opening
Centre Culturel Francais (CCF) - Capacity: 43 seats
Jl. Salemba Raya 25 - T 390 8585, 390 8580
Find a Beautiful Place
Vera Lestafa & Dwiandhika CD, 2006, 15 min
Indonesia, Documentary
Beauty and the Bastard
Dome Karukoski, 2005, 102 min.
Finland, Musical Drama
An aspiring singer and a dejected DJ find their tenuous relationship may benefit them both if they can look past their creative aspirations far enough
Finnish musical drama "Beauty and the Bastard," about opposites attracting, is plagued by its own internal conflicts. Strong in verbal content but romantically naive, the film seems destined to have trouble finding its targeted teen viewers. Best bet for this hip-hop Romeo and Juliet is an American remake, which, wouldn't seem out of the question given its familiar musical genres and dramatic motifs, and roles that would appeal to tyro Hollywood stars.
Nelli (Pamela Tola, frosty), a talented, privileged brat looking to be the next Beyonce meets Sune (Samuli Vauramo), a promising but uncompromising rap DJ in the offices of a major record companyBut the characters are not sympathetic enough to drive a love story; when opportunity knocks, their instincts are to climb over each other to answer.Dishearteningly, Sune who at first resists the siren song of commercialism eventually comes 'round to Nelli's point of view. Compromise, after all, is what love is all about. Tech credits are unremarkable. [Jon Anderson]
“Europe on Screen” Secretariat
c/o Goethe-Institut Jakarta
Jl Sam Ratulangi 9-15, Jakarta 10350
Tel +62 21 2355 0208
Fax + 62 21 2355 0021
E-mail: prakt1@jakarta.goethe.org
Website: http://www.uni-eropa.org/film
Nous nous sommes tant haïs (After Years of Hate)
19:30
1 November 2007
Europe on Screen 2007
Free ticket available 30 min before opening
Goethe Haus - Capacity: 301 seats
Jl. Sam Ratulangi 9 – 15, Menteng, Jakarta Pusat - T 2355 0208
After Years of Hate
Franck Apprédéris, 2006, 120 min
EC, Post‑war Franco‑German reconciliation - historical drama
The action unfolds between 9 May 1950, the day of Robert Schuman's declaration, and 10 August 1952, when Jean Monnet was appointed president of the European coal and steel community's governing body, the forerunner of today's EU. It was also the wedding day of Marie and Jürgen, a young Franco-German couple.
The film adroitly mixes fact (Jean Monnet, Robert Schuman, Konrad Adenauer, etc.) and fiction (Marie, Jürgen, their families and friends). The constant interplay between these two aspects mirrors the difficulties at that time of overcoming the obstacles to reconciliation between the two European nations.
Dealing with the birth of modern Europe, the film shows us the extent of the struggle by men and women on either side of the Rhine that led to the peace and freedom we enjoy today.
Modern Europe was born 50 years ago. "How we hated each other!" is an appointment with this watershed moment in European history.[Picture: European Commission]
“Europe on Screen” Secretariat
c/o Goethe-Institut Jakarta
Jl Sam Ratulangi 9-15, Jakarta 10350
Tel +62 21 2355 0208
Fax + 62 21 2355 0021
E-mail: prakt1@jakarta.goethe.org
Website: http://www.uni-eropa.org/film
Life and Lyrics
19:30
1 November 2007
Europe on Screen 2007
Free ticket available 30 min before opening
Erasmus Huis - Capacity: 350 seats
Jl. H. R. Rasuna Said Kav. S-3
Kuningan, Jakarta Selatan
T 524 1069
Free as a Bird
Dessy Darmayanti, 2006, 8 min
Indonesia, Documentary
Life and Lyrics
Richard Laxton, 2005, 75 min.
UK, Musical Drama
Less 8 Mile, more 8 Mile End, this is an enjoyable, if predictable drama, with a superb performance by Walters.
Ashley Walters (from Bullet Boy) stars as DJ Danny Lewis, the leader of The Motion Crew, a group of South London rappers who are looking forward to besting their hated rivals the Hard Cash Crew in an upcoming rap battle (or rap off) in the prestigious Mic Masters competition. However, Danny complicates matters by falling for Carmen (Louise Rose), a singer who turns out to be related to the Hard Cash Crew.
Walters is superb, proving once again that he's one of Britain's most exciting young actors. There's also strong support from Chris Steward as Fable, Danny's best friend, who has a surprisingly moving subplot in which he tracks down his (white) mother, who gave him up for adoption.
Unsurprisingly, the music is excellent and the scenes of Danny and his crew jamming are exhilarating. Similarly, as with 8 Mile (the film's most obvious inspiration), the rap battle scenes are terrific and include quality slap-downs such as Let that go, you're in breach of your ASBO. [The ViewLondon Review]
“Europe on Screen” Secretariat
c/o Goethe-Institut Jakarta
Jl Sam Ratulangi 9-15, Jakarta 10350
Tel +62 21 2355 0208
Fax + 62 21 2355 0021
E-mail: prakt1@jakarta.goethe.org
Website: http://www.uni-eropa.org/film
L’aria Salat (Salty Air)
19:30
1 November 2007
Europe on Screen 2007
Free ticket available 30 min before opening
Centre Culturel Francais (CCF) - Capacity: 43 seats
Jl. Salemba Raya 25 - T 390 8585, 390 8580
Dear My Daughter
Billy Christian' 2005, 18 min.
Indonesia, Fiction
L’aria Salat
Alessandro Angelini, 2006, 86 min.
Italia, Drama
Fabio is a social assistant in a Roman prison. When a new prisoner arrives, he recognizes his father who abandoned the family when he was a kid. From that moment on he has to reconsider their relationship. An emotionally riveting study of abandonment, remorse and father-son relations.
A young prison officer has the task of deciding whether inmates are allowed temporary release from jail, due to particular personal circumstances. In the course of one such assessment, the young man is shocked to discover that the inmate he is interviewing is apparently his long lost father. The father is a gangster who is imprisoned for murder and the prison officer is torn by mixed emotions as to whether to reveal the truth and try to build some form of new relationship with his missing parent. Although there are undoubtedly some prison genre crime movie elements to L'aria salata, this is not in any sense a clichéd thriller, rather a subtly nuanced, confidently realised and superbly performed drama about father and son relationships in extreme circumstances. So, when the prison officer makes the decision, against the wishes of the rest of the family, to engage with his father, the results are by turns rewarding, frustrating and emotionally challenging. A small but perfectly moulded story that marks a confident debut for its director and a reward for those who discover it. [Picture: seattlefilm]
“Europe on Screen” Secretariat
c/o Goethe-Institut Jakarta
Jl Sam Ratulangi 9-15, Jakarta 10350
Tel +62 21 2355 0208
Fax + 62 21 2355 0021
E-mail: prakt1@jakarta.goethe.org
Website: http://www.uni-eropa.org/film
Europe on Screen 2007
19:30
1 November 2007
Europe on Screen 2007
Free ticket available 30 min before opening
Pusat Kebudayaan Italia
Jl. HOS. Cokroaminoto No. 117
Menteng - T 392-7531
11:59
Johan Kramer, Netherlands 2004, Short 8 Min
Caspian Bride
Veit Helmer, Germany 2005, Short 8 Min
Tragic Story with Happy Ending
Regina Pessoa, Portugal 2005, Short 7 Min
League of Legends
Jeffrey Elmont, Netherlands 2004, Short 12 Min
Mozart Minute
Austria 2006, Short 30 Min, Various Directors
11:59 — Khalid, a young Dutch-Moroccan man, makes a decision at 11:50 one morning that will change his life forever. The film is inspired by ongoing negative media attention on young Arabic people. Superhuman SteadyCam operator Tamas Nyerges shot 11:59 in a single, nine-minute take — setting a new record for European filmmaking.
Caspian Bride — A lonesome man takes a ride to a dump in search for usable things. Hidden under a lot of rubbish he finds an old mannequin. He takes her along to his hut, washes and clothes her and goes on a bike tour through the oil fields. When a group of children runs after him, he collides with a flock of sheep. The mannequin sinks in a puddle of oil. But at that moment he encounters his true love.
Tragic Story with Happy Ending — A little girl whose heart beat more quickly and louder than other people felt compelled to leave her house because she was disturbing her neighbours. She decided however to return to her home and she began noticing that little by little people got used to the beat of her heart…
League of Legends — This film is really just an excuse to show off the skills of its stars. And they are immensely talented, with quite magical skill.
A simple premise, perhaps inspired by TV adverts also starring Edgar Davids, but ultimately too simple, inadequately explored. I wanted more from the film than just showing off the talents of the cast. Those talents would be better served as half-time entertainment in the final of a major tournament.
There is minimal dialogue in the film; there's minimal acting really too. This sparsity helps focus on the skills on display; regrettably it also highlights how little happens in this short film.
Watch it anyway - or fly to Holland and seek out these people. They are something to behold.
Mozart Minute — 28 well-known filmmakers living and working in Austria were invited to produce associative miniatures on Mozart. They had to be one-minute art films.
The directors come from a broad spectrum of different backgrounds, ranging from animated, experimental short film to documentaries and features. As a result the Mozart Minutes represent an impressive cross section of the kind of films produced in Austria and a multifacetted sampler of formal and ontextual views of Mozart and his influence on modern society, art and culture.
[Picture: www.uni-eropa.org/film/]
“Europe on Screen” Secretariat
c/o Goethe-Institut Jakarta
Jl Sam Ratulangi 9-15, Jakarta 10350
Tel +62 21 2355 0208
Fax + 62 21 2355 0021
E-mail: prakt1@jakarta.goethe.org
Website: http://www.uni-eropa.org/film
Wednesday, October 31, 2007
A porcelánbaba (The Porcelain Doll)
15:00
31 Oktober 2007
Europe on Screen 2007
Free ticket available 30 min before opening
Erasmus Huis - Capacity: 350 seats
Jl. H. R. Rasuna Said Kav. S-3 - Kuningan, T 524 1069
Across the Universe
M Aprisiyanto, 2004, 12 min.
Indonesia, Fiction
The Porcelain Doll
Péter Gárdos. 2005. 75 Min.
Hungary. Drama. Hongarian with English subtitles.
Based on three fairytales by the Hungarian fabulist Ervin Lázár, the earthy, lovable farmers of PORCELAIN DOLL live by their own laws.
There was once a village, somewhere in Hungary. More precisely: in Europe. Even more precisely: on planet Earth. The villagers who lived in this village are amiable and simple, yet cunning. From time to time strangers will come to the Village.
And it is then that all hell always breaks loose because strangers always brought death to the village. And destruction. And hate. And jealousy. And vanity. And shame. And lies.
In this Village, strangers always cause trouble… [Text and Picture: Film Uni Hungary]
“Europe on Screen” Secretariat
c/o Goethe-Institut Jakarta
Jl Sam Ratulangi 9-15, Jakarta 10350
Tel +62 21 2355 0208
Fax + 62 21 2355 0021
E-mail: prakt1@jakarta.goethe.org
Website: http://www.uni-eropa.org/film
Il Caimano (The Caiman)
15:00
31 Oktober 2007
Europe on Screen 2007
Free ticket available 30 min before opening
Centre Culturel Francais (CCF) - Capacity: 43 seats
Jl. Salemba Raya 25 - T 390 8585, 390 8580
Nanni Moretti, 2006, 112 min.
Italia, Comedy/Drama,
A skewering of Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi.
Age is the great leveller. It's also a huge joke, not for the muggins suffering its many humiliations, but for those who watch and wait. Failure is also funny, which is why it is impossible to make a comedy about success that isn't saccharine sweet, or a big fat lie.
Nanni Moretti's Il Caimano takes a sideway swipe at Berlusconi, which has proved wildly popular at the Italian box office. However, like all his movies, things are never as simple as they look. There are issues, sub plots, additional storylines weaving and waving their way through the infrastructure.
Copy picture
Bruno Bonomo (Silvio Orlando) is infamous for producing B-movie quickies, with titles like Lady Cop In Stilettos. After marrying the star of his last, worst film, he hasn't made a thing for 10 years. Now he is attempting to finance a low budget epic about Columbus after America, using bathtub galleons and a cast of twenties.
When his backers show him the door and his director, who hasn't worked for 25 years, walks off the set in a huff and his loyal secretary, the only one with any organisational skills, tells him he's in debt to the tune of 40,000 euros and his wife (Margherita Buy) demands a separation, most people would turn their faces to the wall. Not Bruno. He dives deeper into denial and clutches at the only straw within his grasp.
That straw is a script, thrust into his hand by a girl (Jasmine Trinca) with a baby at one of his public screenings. It is an angry left-wing satire on Berlusconi's record as Italy's political leader. Despite being attacked by critics for fascist leanings in his films in the past, he agrees to work with her.
At the same time, he is doing everything to save his marriage, telling elaborately inventive bedtime stories to their two boys, keeping everything light and fun in the hope that the thought of upsetting the family unit will make his wife change her mind.
Orlando's performance is so expressive and heartfelt that Bruno becomes an immensely sympathetic character. There are no villains, only people with separate agendas, and there is no message, only notes from a mid-life crisis.
The script is intelligent and inconclusive on a journey that switchblades from despair to hope to self-delusion, without ever losing a child's talent for play. [Reviewed By: Angus Wolfe Murray]
“Europe on Screen” Secretariat
c/o Goethe-Institut Jakarta
Jl Sam Ratulangi 9-15, Jakarta 10350
Tel +62 21 2355 0208
Fax + 62 21 2355 0021
E-mail: prakt1@jakarta.goethe.org
Website: http://www.uni-eropa.org/film
Camaron: When Flamenco Became Legend
15:00
31 Oktober 2007
Europe on Screen 2007
Free ticket available 30 min before opening
Pusat Kebudayaan Italia
Jl. HOS. Cokroaminoto No. 117
Menteng - T 392-7531
Ijinkan Aku Bernyanyi
Ananto Wibowo, 2006, 10 min.
Indonesia, Documentary
Camaron: When Flamenco Became Legend
Jaime Chávarri, 2005, 86 min.
Spain, Drama - Performing Arts and Biopic
The life of famous flamenco singer Jose Monge Cruz, also known as "Camaron de la Isla."
The film is divided into three periods: the discovery, confirmation and the recognition and farewell.
In each of them, Camarón de la Isla is surrounded by personages from flamenco culture such as Paco de Lucía, Tomatito, Manolo Caracol, Antonio Mairena, Paco Cepero...
They are mixed in with real artists such as guitarist Juan Parrilla, Enrique Pantoja and Jerez-born clappers Chícharo, Gregorio and El Bo.
The part of the movie reflecting his most prolific period presents lights and shadows reflected in his love affairs, his national and international recognition, the recording of albums that revolutionized the performance of flamenco, his wedding with Dolores la Chispa, flirting with drugs and his physical deterioration at a very early age. [Flamenco-world]
“Europe on Screen” Secretariat
c/o Goethe-Institut Jakarta
Jl Sam Ratulangi 9-15, Jakarta 10350
Tel +62 21 2355 0208
Fax + 62 21 2355 0021
E-mail: prakt1@jakarta.goethe.org
Website: http://www.uni-eropa.org/film
Vadászat angolokra (Hunting for Englishmen)
17:00
31 Oktober 2007
Europe on Screen 2007
Free ticket available 30 min before opening
Erasmus Huis - Capacity: 350 seats
Jl. H. R. Rasuna Said Kav. S-3 - Kuningan, T 524 1069
Djedjak Darah
M Aprisiyanto, 2004, 12 min.
Indonesia, Fiction
Hunting for Englishmen
Bertalan Bagó, 2005, 86 min.
Hungary. Drama. Hongarian with English subtitles.
A hunting party has assembled in Hungary in 1839; it includes an English engineer who may be a spy for the British Foreign Secretary.
The characters in this story are gathered as a group for a hunt in a place called Hungary. The group includes an English engineer who settled in Pressburg. He has daring ideas with which to achieve Hongarian economic progress and thereby the country’s independence. His enthusiasm is further energized by a secret, romantic affection felt towards one of the woman in the group.
The problem starts when the hunt got the attention of the Hapsburg secret service. It is 1839. It is nine years before the revolutions and wars of independence that will sweep through the continent, when Europe will again recognize a country that has always been around, but still doesn’t exist.
filmhu: How did the idea of this historic movie materialize?
B.B.: I found a memoir from the early 1800s by an English gentleman named Blackwall, who was visiting Hungary at the time. He was a railway engineer, he worked on the Trieste railway line, and he fell in love with Hungary and Hungarians – he even wrote a play about them. I found it very strange and interesting that an Englishman comes here and falls in love with this country: we’re in the 1830s, more than a decade before the revolution, when there was practically nothing here, it was a forlorn, backward country. That was my starting point – why did this Englishman come here? It was unclear whether had been sent here and was some kind of a spy – he was a relative of the English foreign minister at the time, so it is possible that he wrote his reports to him. We’re in the period following the Polish revolution crushed by the Russian tzar, when it was already clear that the wave of revolution will sweep over Europe – the political situation was quite tense in that period.
That was our starting point, we came up with a fictitious plot. The screenplay was written by Vilmos Csaplár, it is about an English engineer, who comes to Hungary because a count named a Falussy commissions him to construct a railway line leading to his stone quarry. The wife of this count is Polish by birth, she has a niece orphaned in the Polish war of independence, the Russian tzar had her entire family killed, so she comes to stay at the count’s estate in Hungary. They want to marry her to a Hungarian nobleman, Tarnai, but in the meantime, the English engineer arrives and the two fall in love. So we have a love triangle, plus the Austrian secret service is also spying on the inhabitants of the castle, since it is interested in the activities of rebel Hungarian noblemen.
filmhu: What did you find most interesting in this plot?
B.B.: I’m excited by everyhing that is old, classical, filtered by time – it had already happened, it’s past, nevertheless, if it still has similarities to the present day, it might hold a serious lesson for us. Like Cicero said: „history is the teacher of life.” We have a story from 150 years ago, which is so timely and topical that while you’re watching it, you realize that it could take place today, so it might have a stronger effect than making a film about a present-day political subject. The historic situation, the problems of society are very similar to the present, just as our relationship to Europe and the ways whe can develop. [Text and Picture: FilmHu]
“Europe on Screen” Secretariat
c/o Goethe-Institut Jakarta
Jl Sam Ratulangi 9-15, Jakarta 10350
Tel +62 21 2355 0208
Fax + 62 21 2355 0021
E-mail: prakt1@jakarta.goethe.org
Website: http://www.uni-eropa.org/film
Life and Lyrics
17:00
31 Oktober 2007
Europe on Screen 2007
Free ticket available 30 min before opening
Goethe Haus - Capacity: 301 seats
Jl. Sam Ratulangi 9 – 15, Menteng, Jakarta Pusat - T 2355 0208
Free as a Bird
Dessy Darmayanti, 2006, 8 min
Indonesia, Documentary
Life and Lyrics
Richard Laxton, 2005, 75 min.
UK, Musical Drama
Less 8 Mile, more 8 Mile End, this is an enjoyable, if predictable drama, with a superb performance by Walters.
Ashley Walters (from Bullet Boy) stars as DJ Danny Lewis, the leader of The Motion Crew, a group of South London rappers who are looking forward to besting their hated rivals the Hard Cash Crew in an upcoming rap battle (or rap off) in the prestigious Mic Masters competition. However, Danny complicates matters by falling for Carmen (Louise Rose), a singer who turns out to be related to the Hard Cash Crew.
Walters is superb, proving once again that he's one of Britain's most exciting young actors. There's also strong support from Chris Steward as Fable, Danny's best friend, who has a surprisingly moving subplot in which he tracks down his (white) mother, who gave him up for adoption.
Unsurprisingly, the music is excellent and the scenes of Danny and his crew jamming are exhilarating. Similarly, as with 8 Mile (the film's most obvious inspiration), the rap battle scenes are terrific and include quality slap-downs such as Let that go, you're in breach of your ASBO. [The ViewLondon Review]
“Europe on Screen” Secretariat
c/o Goethe-Institut Jakarta
Jl Sam Ratulangi 9-15, Jakarta 10350
Tel +62 21 2355 0208
Fax + 62 21 2355 0021
E-mail: prakt1@jakarta.goethe.org
Website: http://www.uni-eropa.org/film
Herkes Kendi Evinde (Away from Home)
17:00
31 Oktober 2007
Europe on Screen 2007
Free ticket available 30 min before opening
Pusat Kebudayaan Italia
Jl. HOS. Cokroaminoto No. 117
Menteng - T 392-7531
Away from Home
Semih Kaplanoglu, 2001, 110 min.
Turkey. 2001. Drama.
Turkish/English/Russian with English subtitles.
Three main characters are the core part of this film. Nasuhi who is returning to the homeland he left behind years ago. Selim who was selected in the lottery for American citizenship. And Olga, a Russian girl who has run away from home to search for her estranged father. Together these three strike out for the Aegean town that Nasuhi abandoned 50 years ago. So, let the drama begins.. [European Film Festival]
“Europe on Screen” Secretariat
c/o Goethe-Institut Jakarta
Jl Sam Ratulangi 9-15, Jakarta 10350
Tel +62 21 2355 0208
Fax + 62 21 2355 0021
E-mail: prakt1@jakarta.goethe.org
Website: http://www.uni-eropa.org/film
Yes I am!
19:30
31 Oktober 2007
Europe on Screen 2007
Free ticket available 30 min before opening
Goethe Haus - Capacity: 301 seats
Jl. Sam Ratulangi 9 – 15, Menteng, Jakarta Pusat - T 2355 0208
Yes I am!
Sven Halfar, 2006, 104 min
Germany, documentary portraits in an impressive and sensitive way the three Afro-German musicians Adé Bantu, D-Flame and Mamadee.
When Flame was sixteen, he left his parents’ place to live in a home where he learnt the gangsta trade.
When Mamadee was ten, the GDR collapsed, dashing her dreams of wearing the Thälmann pioneers’ red scarf.
When Adé was fifteen, his father was killed and he left Nigeria for Leverkusen.
All three grew up as German children of black fathers, and all three grew up without their fathers. But their paths never crossed till a black African was brutally killed by three youths in a park in Dessau. Following the murder, more than twenty of the best-known afro-German musicians joined up to found the band project "Brothers Keepers". They recorded the maxi Adriano (Letzte Warnung) and the album Lightkultur on which they were partnered by their female counterpart, “Sisters Keepers”. And they visited schools in East Germany to talk to the kids.
The film tells the story of Flame, Mamadee and Adé and the story of the Brothers Keepers. It tells of the power of music and shows how good it feels to raise one’s voice as a group. [picture: Filmstart]
“Europe on Screen” Secretariat
c/o Goethe-Institut Jakarta
Jl Sam Ratulangi 9-15, Jakarta 10350
Tel +62 21 2355 0208
Fax + 62 21 2355 0021
E-mail: prakt1@jakarta.goethe.org
Website: http://www.uni-eropa.org/film
Europe on Screen 2007
19:30
31 Oktober 2007
Europe on Screen 2007
Free ticket available 30 min before opening
Erasmus Huis - Capacity: 350 seats
Jl. H. R. Rasuna Said Kav. S-3
Kuningan, Jakarta Selatan
T 524 1069
11:59
Johan Kramer, Netherlands 2004, Short 8 Min
Caspian Bride
Veit Helmer, Germany 2005, Short 8 Min
Tragic Story with Happy Ending
Regina Pessoa, Portugal 2005, Short 7 Min
League of Legends
Jeffrey Elmont, Netherlands 2004, Short 12 Min
Mozart Minute
Austria 2006, Short 30 Min, Various Directors
11:59 — Khalid, a young Dutch-Moroccan man, makes a decision at 11:50 one morning that will change his life forever. The film is inspired by ongoing negative media attention on young Arabic people. Superhuman SteadyCam operator Tamas Nyerges shot 11:59 in a single, nine-minute take — setting a new record for European filmmaking.
Caspian Bride — A lonesome man takes a ride to a dump in search for usable things. Hidden under a lot of rubbish he finds an old mannequin. He takes her along to his hut, washes and clothes her and goes on a bike tour through the oil fields. When a group of children runs after him, he collides with a flock of sheep. The mannequin sinks in a puddle of oil. But at that moment he encounters his true love.
Tragic Story with Happy Ending — A little girl whose heart beat more quickly and louder than other people felt compelled to leave her house because she was disturbing her neighbours. She decided however to return to her home and she began noticing that little by little people got used to the beat of her heart…
League of Legends — This film is really just an excuse to show off the skills of its stars. And they are immensely talented, with quite magical skill.
A simple premise, perhaps inspired by TV adverts also starring Edgar Davids, but ultimately too simple, inadequately explored. I wanted more from the film than just showing off the talents of the cast. Those talents would be better served as half-time entertainment in the final of a major tournament.
There is minimal dialogue in the film; there's minimal acting really too. This sparsity helps focus on the skills on display; regrettably it also highlights how little happens in this short film.
Watch it anyway - or fly to Holland and seek out these people. They are something to behold.
Mozart Minute — 28 well-known filmmakers living and working in Austria were invited to produce associative miniatures on Mozart. They had to be one-minute art films.
The directors come from a broad spectrum of different backgrounds, ranging from animated, experimental short film to documentaries and features. As a result the Mozart Minutes represent an impressive cross section of the kind of films produced in Austria and a multifacetted sampler of formal and ontextual views of Mozart and his influence on modern society, art and culture.
[Picture: www.uni-eropa.org/film/]
“Europe on Screen” Secretariat
c/o Goethe-Institut Jakarta
Jl Sam Ratulangi 9-15, Jakarta 10350
Tel +62 21 2355 0208
Fax + 62 21 2355 0021
E-mail: prakt1@jakarta.goethe.org
Website: http://www.uni-eropa.org/film