Wrapping the Berlinale.

The last echoes of the Berlinale resonate throughout all the German papers today; a lot of it is inside baseball stuff, and I'll spare you, but the excellent Perlentaucher, the indispensible feuilleton digest, has come across one bit in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung I just have to pass on.

When Fatih Akin bounced up on stage to collect his Golden Bear, jury prez Frances McDormand is said to have leaned over and whispered to him, "Your film is really rock 'n' roll." In a piece that's not online, FAZ critic Michael Althen comments:

Whoever's experienced the wonderful actress in Laurel Canyon will know that this sentence from her mouth is just about as valuable as the award itself. After all, when was the last time a German film won such praise? Rock 'n' roll is everything German cinema usually isn't: strong, energetic, forceful, loud, with rhythm in its blood. Akin can definitely nail that sentence over his bed post.

If you're interested in learning a bit more about Akin and his film, Deutsche Welle Eleonora Volodina has a short chat in English with him.

And finally, indieWIRE. They've been all over the Berlinale this year as well and, as the 54th edition wraps, Eugene Hernandez gathers festival director Dieter Kosslick's thoughts on the future and reviews the awards. I'm only just now catching up with the terrific reviews and news...

Posted by dwhudson at February 16, 2004 1:50 PM