Fri, 24 May 2013 14:24 PM (HKT)

Asian blockbusters head for Berlin

Asian blockbusters head for Berlin

By Patrick Frater

Mon, 19 December 2011, 21:11 PM (HKT)

Festival News

Asian films account for three of the first five films announced in the competition section of the 62nd Berlin International Film Festival (9-19 Feb 2011).

These include the world premiere of Captive, a film that marks the first of two Asian collaborations by French actress Isabelle HUPPERT. It is directed by Filipino director Brillante Ma. MENDOZA and set up as a co-production between The Philippines, France, the UK and Germany.

Indonesian auteur Edwin appears in competition with Postcards from the Zoo Kebun binatang (2011), a Hong Kong-Indonesia-Germany co-production about a girl who was raised by a giraffe-trainer.

ZHANG Yimou 張藝謀's The Flowers of War 金陵十三釵 (2011) also appears in the competition section, but plays out of competition.

Big-budget Bollywood action film Don 2 (2011) is also set to play in a separate showcase section, Berlinale Special. The Shah Rukh KHAN-starring film is an India-Germany co-production and was extensively shot in and around Berlin.

 
BERLINALE 2012 – COMPETITION SELECTION (INCOMPLETE)

Captive
Dir: Brillante Mendoza (France/Philippines/Germany/Great Britain)
Cast: Isabelle Huppert, Katherine Mulville, Marc Zanetta

Dictado (Childish Games)
Dir: Antonio Chavarrías (Spain)
Cast: Juan Diego Botto, Barbara Lennie, Mágica Pérez

Extremely Loud And Incredibly Close (Out of Competition)
Dir: Stephen Daldry (US)
Cast: Tom Hanks, Sandra Bullock, Max von Sydow, Thomas Horn

The Flowers Of War (Out of Competition)
Dir: Zhang Yimou (China)
Cast: Christian Bale, Ni Ni, Atsuro Watabe

Postcards From The Zoo (Kebun binatang)
Dir: Edwin (Indonesia/Germany/Hong Kong)
Cast: Ladya Cheryl, Nicholas Saputra

 
BERLINALE SPECIAL EDITION (INCOMPLETE)

Death Row (Documentary)
Dir: Werner Herzog (US)

Don 2 (aka Don: The King Is Back)
Dir: Farhan Akhtar (India/Germany)
Cast: Shah Rukh Khan, Priyanka Chopra, Boman Irani, Om Puri, Florian Lukas

Keyhole
Dir: Guy Maddin (Canada)
Cast: Jason Patric, Isabella Rossellini, Udo Kier, Brooke Palsson

La Chispa de la vida
Dir: Álex de la Iglesia (Spain)
Cast: Salma Hayek, José Mota, Fernando Tejero, Blanca Portillo, Juan Luis Galiardo

Marley (Documentary)
Dir: Kevin Macdonald

Related Reviews

  1. Captive
    Long hostage trek through the jungle, without dramatic shape or human drama.
  2. Don 2
    Okay action blockbuster, with Shah Rukh Khan in Berlin.
  3. The Flowers of War | 金陵十三釵
    Good-looking but dramatically weak Nanjing Massacre drama, with a miscast Christian Bale.
  4. Postcards from the Zoo | Kebun binatang
    A pretentious collection of dreamy images with no content and little to involve the viewer.

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