News

Berlinale receives record number of submissions.

A total of 63 feature-length and short films produced or co-produced in 35 countries have been invited to participate in the two Berlinale (Feb 11-21) competitions Generation Kplus and Generation 14plus.

The programme, aimed at children and youths, was selected from around 2,000 feature-length and short films submitted to Generation this year, which is more than in any year previously.

The selected films shed light on and challenge the nature of contradictions such as being child-like and being an adult, what is forbidden and what is permitted or the difference between subjective and objective reality.

“Young people world-wide are constantly confronted by dystopic realities not of their own making,” said Maryanne Redpath, head of Generation. “In the diverse films of this year’s programme we see them taking matters into their own hands.”

Generation 14plus

Synopses provided by festival

Wp = World Premiere / IP = International Premiere / Ep = European Premiere

6A (Sweden) Wp

By Peter Modestij

Bullying...

An admiral at Annapolis Naval Academy waits outside for a meeting but has to call him when he person doesn't arrive. He and his Aide follow the ringing to a dumpster and find him inside. Ziva (Cote de Pablo) has her Us passport which she shows to McGee (Sean Murray). Tony (Michael Weatherly) doesn't seem interested for once. McGee compliments her passport photo which she took at the post office. Why does Ziva need a passport seeing as the vast majority of Us citizens don't have one? They use photo ID at airports since they're not flying out of the country. Tony's anxious about his father, Dinozzo Senior (Robert Wagner). He called him at 4am and Tony didn't pick up. At the Cs, Ducky (David McCallum) finds trace under the Vic's fingernails. Ziva calls Tony and McGee over to the dumpster as she doesn't want to go in there, it's filthy.

• Fango got word that Anchor Bay will release Julian Doyle’s Chemical Wedding, under the new title of Crowley, in late first quarter 2009. Doyle also scripted the movie with Iron Maiden frontman Bruce Dickinson.

The movie stars Simon Callow as a Cambridge University professor who becomes possessed by the spirit of notorious occultist Aleister Crowley. Kal Weber, Lucy Cudden, Jud Charlton, Paul McDowell and John (Mirrors) Shrapnel co-star. Disc details haven’t been solidified, but we’re told there will be an audio commentary and behind-the-scenes footage. The Bay also alerted Fango that it’ll put the 20th Anniversary Edition of Hellraiser out on Blu-ray in April, with all the extras from the DVD. And the company’s cover art for Gilles Paquet-Brenner’s Walled In, starring Mischa Barton and set to hit disc March 17, has surfaced; we’ll have the specs on that one soon.

• Tla Releasing sent along...