An interview with David Jansen telling us the journey of DÄWIT, from the Berlinale to the FFL Agency. It’s been almost one year since DÄWIT premiered in the Berlinale Shorts. What a way to start! Since then it’s been onwards and upwards for the animated short, directed by David Jansen, which has screened in festivals as diverse as […]
Filmmakers | Stories
Meet Benjamin Cleary, director of STUTTERER
We talked to Benjamin about his intention to make a film about stuttering, why he joined the FFL Agency and how he feels about potentially becoming an Academy Award winner… ‘It’s been a damn good month,’ Benjamin Cleary smiles. The Irish filmmaker is absolutely right. The great news for STUTTERER keeps on rolling in. Most notably, STUTTERER, his […]
Meet Liwaa Yazji
With its 8th edition, the prestigious Doc Alliance Selection Award moves to Locarno, Switzerland. There, one of the seven directors nominated for the award designed primarily for emerging documentary talents will receive the award on August 8. With her debut HAUNTED, Syrian native Liwaa Yazji enters this year’s competition. Read about the success of her film […]
Meet syrian filmmaker Jalal Maghout
Is Berlin the perfect place for foreign filmmakers to create their art? It’s certainly that way for Jalal Maghout, a FilmFestivalLife filmmaker from Syria who currently resides in the German Hauptstadt. Jalal Maghout discusses with us about his animated documentary SULEIMA and his film festival career. Working in the narrow genre of animated documentary, his […]
Meet Gabriele Urbonaite, Director of THE SWIMMER
The Berlinale is great for many things, but one of the most worthwhile arms of the festival is the Berlinale Talents. We had a chat with some of the participants this year, including Gabriele Urbonaite, a FilmFestivalLife writer-director, who is in Berlin to develop her thesis film at the Short Film Station. A short filmmaker with a penchant […]
Meet Réka Bucsi, from SUNDANCE to OSCAR shortlist
SYMPHONY NO. 42 sends you on an unexpected surreal and emotional journey. Réka Bucsi‘s graduation film from the MOME (Moholy-Nagy University of Art and Design) has definitely left a mark on the festival circuit. After premiering at the Berlinale last year, the unconventional animation begun a long festival run and it looks like it will not […]
Meet Stefano Casertano on the ‘THE LAST DAYS OF TACHELES’, crowdfunding and online distribution
The name Tacheles is one that hits a spot with any Berliner, native or not. That’s something that’s clear when I see the crowd assembled outside Mindpirates, close to our FFL HQ. The atmospheric, smoky den chosen for the German premiere of FFL filmmaker Stefano Casertano’s THE LAST DAYS OF TACHELES… Casertano’s film is one […]
Interview with FFL Member Petros Silvestros, Director of ‘MIKE’
Mike has to give up his Saturday plans to take his younger brother Jack to get a haircut. Instead of going with him, he decides to wait in the car, still trying to make the most of his afternoon. As minutes go by and night begins to fall, Mike starts to worry. Why is Jack […]
Meet Shekhar Bassi, Director of ‘NO LOVE LOST’
A muslim and a jew fall in love. You may think you’ve heard this one already, but NO LOVE LOST stirs up the plot by adding a third element to the party, someone who silently watches them, going unnoticed. Boy, girl, London. He is Jewish. She is Muslim. Together, they strive to be accepted by […]
Meet Dean Leon Anderson, Director of the Short Film ‘GRACE’
The short film GRACE by UK director Dean Leon Anderson is being screened at the Motovun Film Festival in Croatia (26-30 July). The 11-minute short film that premiered at the London Short Film Festival earlier this year follows Grace, a teenage girl – played by Natasha Kendall – who has a sexual encounter […]
Meet Barbara Ott & Simon Rühlemann on how ‘SUNNY’ became a festival hit
SUNNY isn’t the sunniest of flicks, but it’s a bona fide festival smash – that’s what! Here’s how ‘SUNNY’ became a festival hit… The story of an 18-year old father, Hajo, who has a new-born baby and is struggling with the transition between adolescence and adulthood, with potentially disastrous results. After winning the 2013 Deutscher […]
Meet Christian Koch on the Berlin film scene
Christian Koch on the Berlin film scene, Q&A culture and his film ‘Der Gast’ Perhaps it’s obvious, but witnessing FilmFestivalLife success stories is something we love to see. We love to speak with the big guns behind the festival circuses, but what about our filmmakers too? We got going by chatting with Christian Johannes Koch, whose […]
Meet Ari Folman’s new road to ‘THE CONGRESS’
Opening the Directors Fortnight section in this years Festival de Cannes with its world premiere Wednesday 15th May, the film is stirring serious but varied criticism on the Croisette. We sat in on the screening and the Q and A, only to find ourselves increasingly enrolled by his fearlessness to take on the industry so […]
Meet Damian Schipporeit on Scholarships, ‘LINE 102’ and distribution’s dirty work
‘Sorry, I have to eat something, do you mind…?’ A fuzzy-haired-head comes into the room and two big brown eyes look at me. ‘No. No, of course not.’ We are in a nice little cafe called ‘Marktkaffee’ in Linden, an upcoming area in Hannover, close to Damain Schipporeit’s company Filmblick. Filmblick is a production company […]
Bao Nguyen • INTERVIEWED
[decoline][details] [item title=”Age”]28[/item] [item title=”Country”]United States/Vietnam[/item] [item title=”City”]New York/Saigon[/item] [item title=”Profession”]Director and cinematographer[/item] [item title=”Website”]www.baominhnguyen[/item] [item title=”Latest”] WHERE HEAVEN MEETS HELL [/item][/details] [decoline] Please meet the great talent Bao Nguyen that we got to know during the Berlinale festival. The 28 year old photographer and filmmaker is currently based in both New York and Saigon. […]