photos: Erika Lust Films.
Yeah yeah yeah, sex sells. What kind of sex though? When you watch recent music videos, a lot of them could be a trailer for a dirty flick, for sure. Sex is a part of pop culture and sneaks in everywhere, making suggestions, taking advantage.
The porn industry – despite the millions of free films online – is still a billion-dollar industry. Somehow, it is also a barometer of how society thinks about sex, I guess. Depending on what new genres come up, it says a lot about where the culture stands, what’s up and coming – pun intended.
Erotica for women is a rather newer genre. Erika Lust is – no pun intended this time – the shooting star of it, you could say.
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by Frank | Movies
Short films are an earnest and undervalued approach to storytelling, evoking emotions and provoking ideas. Having curated a part of our third Berlin Film Night with Mobile Kino, we know that Interfilm does it best when it comes to providing a platform for independent films, and this year, we’re welcoming the 30th round of Interfilm’s International Short Film Festival, from November 11th-16th. Berlin’s enthusiasm for interdisciplinary art forms make it the perfect city to host this festival, so let’s embrace the beauty of the short!
We’re stoked to experience Interfilm’s most expansive festival to date, where they will be screening a record of 630 films in 60 programs, with films from 70 countries and 10 competitions with €45,000 of rewards. The featured short films boast an impressively expansive array of aesthetic styles and narrative techniques, with weird and wonderfully controversial themes. Some films defy reason and rationality while others set out to shine a light on truths we’ve been sheltered from. Highly anticipated by cinephiles and casual movie-watchers alike, live-action, animations and documentaries will be gracing the screens in 9 cinemas across Berlin, to enthusiastic audiences who share a value for the short film format in its own right. Find the programs and our festival highlights after the jump.
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by Skylar | Movies, Videos
illustration: Beck O’Brien
Since we love all things cute and colorful we were enthusiasts of Pictoplasma from its first events on. During the past decade the Pictoplasma project has hosted, encouraged and pushed forward a unique, playful and amazing portfolio of visual artists. To celebrate the 10th anniversary edition the festival for character design starts with the Pictoplasma Portrait Gallery at Kaufhaus Jandorf, an exhibition presenting original works by the 100 artists who have most influenced the festival in the past (open from May 1 to May 11). Just like in the past years you can wander around town and plunge into the Character Walk enjoying numerous exhibitions by emerging and established artists. The freshly graduated alumni of the first Pictoplasma Academy, held in October 2013, will present their works at Urban Spree. On three nights the Babylon Mitte brings unique animations to the big screen and on Saturday night everything culminates in the inevitable Big Birthday Party at Urban Spree. Plenty of opportunities to discover your playful side and celebrates creativity and fantasy. More pictures of what you can expect after the jump.
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by Claudio | Art
photo: Annique Delphine
The Oscars are a great opportunity to analyze the gender roles in the film business. Nominees in the important gender neutral categories like Best Director, Best Screenplay, Best Film are mainly white men; while the red carpet is dominated by the sparkly robes of the ladies. When Kathryn Bigelow picked up the Best Director Oscar as the very first woman in 2010, 81 men already had one of those super Oscars at home.
So there’s plenty to be done for women in the world of film and the Berlin Feminist Film Week has set out to do just that…
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by Lia | Movies
Curfew
While we normally show you short films on Sundays we are making an exception today for a special screening event series starting on Tuesday hosted by our friends from Mobile Kino and shorts.tv. Spread over several venues in different districts of Berlin they will be screening the Oscar-Nominated Short Films of 2013. As a special treat they will have the winners from last year virtually present the new films. In the first part of the screening series that happens this coming week you will get to see the 5 nomated live action films including Asad, Buzkashi Boys, Henry, Death of a Shadow and Oscar winner Curfew. The program starts on Tuesday in Mitte at Naherholung Sternchen, continues on Wednesday at Mindpirates in Kreuzberg and on Friday at Villa Neukölln before the final screening on March 31 at Babylon Mitte. We’ll give you an update about the second part – the animated films – next Sunday right here. Check out the trailers for the first batch of short films after the jump.
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by Frank | Movies
Together with the film curators of Mobile Kino our movie expert Lia compiled an amazing selection of Berlin-themed short films of all genres for our first Berlin Film Night that took place a month ago at out 5th Anniversary event at Naherholung Sternchen. The screening was a big success, so many of you came and we were very happy with the selection of films and the response to them. One of the perks of participating in this screening was the chance to be selected for a week-long screening in the program of the Babylon Cinema in Mitte. Out of the selection made by Lia and the Mobile Kino guys from all the submissions the creative director of the Babylon has now picked the film that will be shown on the big screen. We are very proud to finally announce the winner: Forever Passing Through by Mody Al Khufash and Thomas Sabel of Mothom Studio.
The film combines the genres of fashion and dance in a very unique and unexpected way. Shot at the iconic Haus der Kulturen der Welt with fashion design by Berlin-based label Issever Bahri it is inspired by Isidora Dunken’s dance philosophy. It’s about the freeing of the female body, moving away from rigid ballet technique and towards what she perceived as natural movement in connection with emotions. If you haven’t seen it yet you can enjoy the film in our Cinéma de Mode and soon at the big screen of Babylon Mitte. Congratulations to Mody and Thomas!
by Frank | Fashion, Movies, Videos
skull by Basquiat
Who dares to host a party right after New Year’s eve? In fact the city seems busy as never before. A day before New Year’s eve and again two days after I passed the Weekend club staggered at the sight of a long qeue. Nasty tourists all over. Nicer places after the jump:
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by Suz | Party
