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A TimeOut Full of Action

2/17/2019

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by Marina Brafa
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The Berlinale TimeOut organizers, comprised of the Female Filmmakers Festival Berlin crew and their London-based partner Shorts on Tap, had a difficult time before the actual event took place last Tuesday, February 12, because they were (fortunately) inundated with submissions. In the end, they decided on eight short films which they screened in a speakeasy-style movie theater in the very center of Berlin, the Z-Bar.

An international crowd of filmmakers escaping the Berlinale craze and interested visitors who were just dropping by gathered in the cozy backroom for two hours of short films. The selection proved that the oft-neglected genre deserves more attention. One might think that 20, or even 2 minutes is not enough time to “show” something. You can probably already guess my reply to this assumption: No, it’s not. The time limit is a challenge that can spark truly innovative and inspiring films: You want to get your - often complex - points across while delivering a compelling plot and original cinematography. You work with allusions, metaphors, symbols, ellipses and meaningfully composed images to do so. 

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The films screened at Berlinale TimeOut were a representative selection that showcased the relevance, diversity and potential of short films. For example, New Feelings by Russian filmmaker Anastasia Nechaeva is a sci-fi dystopian film located in her native country. In her future, humans can have their hearts cut out and still live on but with altered feelings. Do we want such a society? Eaglehawk by Shannon Murphy equally plays with our imagination. The plot of this Australian film is based on a Aboriginal legend of a monster living in the forests. Is it real or “just” an old story?
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Two films stood out because of their alluring pictures: Swiss film Seelenwelten by Flurina Marugg and Stigma by Helen Warner from Ireland. In these two short films, the landscapes, mise-en-scène, lighting and colors play a significant part in the story. Seelenwelten explores the soul - inner landscape - of an adolescent woman. Viewers enter her subconscious which is very colorful and populated by pink things in the shape of drops that hang from the ceiling (if there actually is a ceiling). It is often not clear what the different “things”  mean but it becomes obvious that the film is drawing on Freudian ideas of the id, ego and super-ego. In Stigma too, the landscape plays an important role - in this case the external one surrounding the characters. The film’s plot evolves into a grey, Catholic village on the harsh Irish coast. The waves break strongly and unforgivingly on the reef and the strong current drags a dress onto the beach. It belongs to a disappeared woman no one speaks of - until they are forced to do so. In contrast to Seelenwelten, this film is dark and leaves the viewer with an uncomfortable feeling in their stomach. Interestingly, in both films the actors speak their regional dialects which contributes to the realistic style.

It was hard to compare the Berlinale TimeOut films and to choose a favorite. However, the evening was set up as a competition, with the winning film opening the Female Filmmakers Festival Berlin in June. So the stakes were high! The audience chose Girl Fact (Mael G. Lagadec, 2018). This 17-minute short film is a mix of documentary and staged scenes with a difficult yet highly relevant topic: it’s a “teenage guide to sex slavery” (own title) in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The female narrator shares her “rules” on how to survive as a sex slave. In doing so, she shares her personal story that is the same for so many females in African countries: Girls are kidnapped by paramilitary groups and have to “serve” as wives. They are raped daily, often several times. They get pregnant and give birth to a child that they love and reject at the same time. They are stigmatized and traumatized for the rest of their lives. The offenders usually never face a charge.
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Natalie MacMahon reveals the winning film, Girl Fact.
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Girl Fact shows neither brutal reenactment scenes nor the rapist’s perspective, but rather provides a space for female voices. The women are strong in spite of their suffering. Women of different ages comment and add to the main narrator’s story. Sure, in 17 minutes the film cannot portray the complex political and historical situation in which these crimes take place, but it can provide viewers with the women’s point of view and raise awareness for such crimes still going on in 2019. This film leaves you affected and full of amazement and respect for these women. Opening the festival with Girl Fact, the Female Filmmakers Festival lives up to its claim of supporting female perspectives in film and filmmaking.  

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Take a TimeOut and meet fellow filmmakers!

2/11/2019

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by Marina Brafa
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Berlinale TimeOut is both a one-evening short film festival and a networking meet-up that brings together (female) filmmakers from all professions in (but not necessarily from) Berlin. The event on  February 12, 2019, starting 8 pm at Z-Bar Berlin, will feature a total of eight selected short films created by female filmmakers from all over the world. After the screenings the audience will vote for its favorite short film - this one will open the upcoming Female Filmmakers Festival Berlin in June 2019.
For the Berlinale TimeOut, the Female Filmmakers Festival Berlin women teamed up with Shorts on Tap, a platform dedicated to independent short films and their creators. The London-based team organizes short film screenings, meetings and a screenwriting competition, and is active in Berlin and Tokyo.
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If you are interested in knowing more about the who and how behind the Female Filmmakers Festival Berlin and Shorts on Tap we have two recommendations: First, you can read our interview with FFFB co-founder Natalie MacMahon. Second, during Berlinale TimeOut you will have the chance to talk to Natalie and the other founders of the Female Filmmakers Festival Berlin as well as the heads of the Shorts on Tap community!

Berlinale TimeOut Essentials

Where: Z-Bar, Bergstraße 2, 10115 Berlin
Day: February 12, 2019
Time: 8pm
Fees: none but seats are limited! Registration.

Program

1st Slot
1. SEELENWELTEN 9 MIN- Director: Flurina Marugg
2. STIGMA 10 MIN- Director: Helen Warner
3. THE LIFE INSIDE ME 19 MIN- Director: Konstantin Egerndorfer
4. NEW FEELINGS 19 MIN- Director: Anastasia Nechaeva
//Break//
2nd Slot
1. LOVE 2 MIN- Director: Neda Shadanlou
2. GIRL FACT 17 MIN- Director: Maël G. Lagadec
3. EAGLEHAWK 21 MIN- Director: Shannon Murphy
4. EDGE OF ALCHEMY 17 MIN- Director: Stacey Steers

Voting for your favorite short film & networking time!
All images courtesy of Female Filmmakers Festival Berlin

Check out the scheduled short films:

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Are you looking for alternatives to the Berlinale?

2/5/2019

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by Marina Brafa
The Berlinale Film Festival kicks off on Thursday (Feb. 7th through 17th, 2019). It is Germany’s most prestigious and glamorous film festival and mentioned in the same breath as other renowned European film festivals like the ones in Cannes and Venice. As is the case with most of those festivals, its film(makers) selection (and whole set-up, for that matter) has been criticized for not including enough female, LGBTQ and minority filmmakers.

Although the festival organizers are trying to change this  -
one sign being the festival director Dieter Kosslick leaving after 18 years as head of the Berlinale - the festival is not representing the film industry’s diversity yet (which, admittedly, is no easy task). Especially in an open-minded city like Berlin that embraces and prides itself on accepting all kinds of lifestyles, there are many people who despise the Berlinale for being too much a part of the glittery glamour circus that is the film establishment and who are looking for alternative film festivals. 

Take these five as a start!

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Boddinale
The 7th edition will take place from February 7th to 17th, 2019 at Flutgraben. Movies will be selected in five categories: Feature, Short, Documentary, Animation, Music Video. As the festival makers state, there is “no limit in production year, no limit on styles, genres, topic, technique. As you know we dare to go at the edge of aesthetics and storytelling, as long as we get to watch it all together.” So if you are into discovering films and seeing film as a means of bringing people together you should come by.
Female Filmmakers Festival Berlin: Berlinale Timeout (pre-event)
Mark your calendars for the Berlinale Timeout on February 12th, 2019 starting at 8pm at Z-Bar Berlin, organized by the FFFB crew and London-based “Shorts on Tap”. This one-day-screening of short films gives you the chance to escape the Berlinale craze and get in touch with fellow (female) filmmakers. And that’s just the beginning. The actual festival will happen from June 13-17, 2019 in Berlin’s oldest cinema, the Moviemento. Berlin-based filmmaker Natalie MacMahon and her friends and colleagues set up this women-focused festival together (read our interview with her here). Their aim is “to support up and coming female talents from different ethnic backgrounds and nationalities, who have a unique story to tell.” So go for it!

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Berlin Independent Film Festival
Kicking off on Feb. 7th at the
Babylon Cinema (Rosa-Luxemburg-Straße 30), the festival exclusively screens low-budget European films  (runs until Feb 11th, 2019)..

Genrenale
The festival founders believe that German genre films are underrepresented in German TV and cinema. Therefore, they set up a festival taking place from May 2 to 5, 2019 to offer a platform for genre film screenings, debates about the films and networking event.

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Prenzlauer Berginale
The name of this festival references the Berlinale whose programme stretches over two weeks in February. The Berginale however, screens only one film on every Tuesday in March 2019. The program includes only films that feature or were shot in or are related to the eastern district of Berlin called “Prenzlauer Berg”. It used to be a working-class district and underwent a massive gentrification process after the Berlin Wall fell in 1989. The tiny festival will show pre- and post-reunification films.


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