freie Generation Reporter 2021

Wednesday morning I was able to talk to the director Venice Atienza whose film “Last Days at Sea” is screening at this year’s Berlinale. Since she is currently based in the Philippines we arranged a Zoom meeting that would take into account the 6 hours of time difference. An inspiring talk emerged that started with her special way of filming and lead to a discussion of vulnerability that is needed for these films. fGR: Would you like to introduce yourself shortly? My name is Venice Atienza. I initially studied cinema, but before that I actually wanted to be a chef. One day, when I was 16 or 17 years old, I was watching a Korean drama and I asked my mother: “What job makes people feel things?” and she replied by asking me “Why don’t you become a film maker?”. After applying for the second time I finally got into film school. I really always knew I wanted to make documentaries but did not know how. A friend of mine then told me about the project Doc Nomads which I got accepted at. ...

an interview with the director of „La Mif“ The cinema is slowly filling up and the joyful voices of the crowd are giving me a feeling I haven't felt for a long time in the last months of lockdown. Finally it is possible again to celebrate a Berlinale film together. The film team of La Mif is welcomed with loud applause when they arrive at the cinema. Everyone of the crew - the director Fred Baillif, a few of the actresses and family and friends - is smiling and radiates pure joy as they’re walking up to the photo wall. I wait until they’re done with all photos and take the chance to sit down with Fred Baillif for a few minutes before the film starts. What interests me the most about this quite special topic is why Baillif chose it to portray it in one of his films. Fred Baillif: „Because I used to work as a social worker and studied it when I was younger. In the beginning i wanted to tell a story about sex abuse and then I thought the best place to talk about such a subject wou...

Interview about the film Cryptozoo The open-air cinema Rehberge is filling up more and more. The director of the film "Cryptozoo" Dash Shaw is invited on stage to receive the honorable mention for the best feature film from the international jury. After he says a few words about his film and leaves the stage, it gets quiet and the film starts. We walk out of the film with Dash Shaw to ask him a few questions: fGR (free generation reporter): The whole movie is really incredibly special animated. So first of all, I wanted to ask how was the process of the animation? Dash Shaw (director): It was first storyboarded. So then the storyboards kind of become the division of labor of how everything is organized. And then there's a casting process of casting different artists to do different backgrounds. Then it kind of becomes a collage process where you're taking different things painted by different people and trying to arranging it to make it. They look different from eac...

A review of Jong chak yeok Four young schoolgirls who are part of a photography club are given the task of taking a photo of the end of the world with old-fashioned cameras over their summer vacation. They come up with the idea to drive to the end of a train line to take the photos there. But the trip turns out differently than planned, as the end of the train line doesn't really look like the end of the world. Thus, their trip extends throughout the day, and the four friends wander through rural Korea - laughing, persistent, and inquisitive. Jong chak yeok is one of those kinds of films that - festival goers and skilled strays of the film landscape aside - most people are unaware of. Films with no real structure, no certain points in character development to check off, no real goal - a film that simply tells a story of life. Here, unlike other representatives of this type of films, still equipped with a certain principle, a supposed end point, the film shuttles along, managing to...

A review to Last Days At Sea Sound of the sea and impressive nature shots. Many off-screen conversations, painted by other images. In Last Days At Sea, we join director and cinematographer Venice Atienza as the young Reyboy spends his last days at sea in his isolated village before moving to the city for secondary school. From the beginning, there is a feeling of family and comfort. The villagers welcome Venice openly and warmly, so that the audience also quickly feels at home. It is not the plot that is convincing in this film, but the observing. A feeling of summer and lightness arises. For a little over an hour, we escape from everyday city life and end up by the sea. Digging our feet into the sand, going for a swim, basking in the sun, eating Filipino cuisine and feeling the love and respect of our fellow human beings. But it is not an easy life to depend on fishing, this is also made clear. The seas are almost emptied by commercial fishing and the fishermen have to go further a...

A comment on La Mif Loud arguments and fights, but also joyful table football games and conversations about their fears, sexuality and random things. "La Mif" portrays a group of young girls living together in a children's and youth care. Each has her own story and problems, but they all have one thing in common: they cannot live with their parents. The caretakers do their best to give them a safe home and have to deal with a lot of problems and difficulties on their way. Partly fictional, partly documentary, director and writer Fred Baillif tells about the life in a childrens care by showing the problems and emotions of each girl one by one and giving the story time to grow. In between, the storyline returns to Lora, the manager of the care, who tries to solve all the problems and do her best to be a person of trust for each girl. Like single threads the individual stories find their way through the film and become one unit, accompanied by peaceful Bach preludes. Whil...

A comment on Una Escuela de Cerro Hueso Ema's family stands out. They have white skin and are used to the life in a big city. Ema, the six-year-old dauthter, is not like the other children in her new school. Those who have read the film description already know: Ema has autism. A developmental disorder that is often revealed in social interaction and communication. However, this information is withheld from the audience until the last scene. Only then the autism is mentioned. In that way, director Betania Cappato creates an unprejudiced space in which the viewers can experience Ema's everyday life without any bias concerning her condition. Una Escuela de Cerro Hueso consists almost fragmentarily of segments, always separated by a few seconds of black screen: Ema in class, Ema at home, Ema's parents. They seem like associative thoughts that Cappato remembers from her own childhood. In the end it is explained that the film is autobiographical and based on the life of the d...

A comment on Ensilumi. Fairytale summer days, children's laughter, a happy and ideal world. In Ensilumi, the idyll of summer and a family that loves each other dearly are confronted with reality, which inevitably and threateningly announces itself. Ramin's family lives in a very small space, in a one-room apartment - close together with other refugee families. It is only a temporary shelter which they stay at in hope to be granted permanent asylum in Finland. The parents are full of love for their children and try everything to make the situation as comfortable as possible for them. They try to shield them from the worries of impending deportation. But in just one room, this is not always easy. Even the bathroom is only separated from the living area by a small curtain and is the only place for any intimate questions within the family’s home, for example when it comes to impressing girls. Friends from other refugee families come by all the time and are happy to stay for a small...

A comment on Ninjababy 23-year-old Rakel has a pretty normal life - she likes to party and enjoys the carefree lifestyle of a twentysomething. Until suddenly, out of nowhere, she finds out about being pregnant already in the 7th month. From one second to the other Rakel's life is turned upside down - instead of wondering what to eat today, where to party or what she wants to do with her life after dropping out of university, Rakel suddenly has to deal with finding the father and what to do after an unwanted pregnancy. Luckily, Rakel's roommate Ingrid and the aikido instructor Mos, who the two mistook for the father at first, support her on this emotional ride. Pregnancies of young people is definitely not a new topic in generation films. "Ninjababy", however, handles to find the perfect balance between comedy, complexity and emotions. By Rakel's imagination, the unborn child comes to life as a small comic character which Rakel draws and comments everything Rakel d...

A comment on Cryptozoo. Atmospheric, almost mystical sounds of a flugelhorn waft through the animated forest where two young adults pave their way for the beginning of this story. Soon they come across a fence. Is it a better life that’s waiting behind this fence? Perhaps even a utopia? In the “Cryptozoo" located behind this fence, Cryptids can live carefree. Cryptids are mythical creatures that often find their origins in Greek mythology. For example, there is a griffin, a combination of a lion and a bird of prey, as well as a manticore, a combination of a scorpion and a lion. Many of the Cryptids are half human, half mythical creatures. In the outside world, they are persecuted, murdered or exploited. According to the operators, Cryptozoo is a kind of "sanctuary," a place where Cryptids can live freely. Cryptozoo makes use of animation functionalities in order to emphasize important elements and leave out unimportant ones. Individual images and symbols accompany what i...