Berlinale 2009 – Applause for the German film “Storm”

Much applause and recognition for the first German competition entry at the 59th Berlinale: Hans-Christian Schmid met with his political drama ‘storm’ the nerve of the cinema audience. The director of works, such as “Requiem”, “Crazy” and “Lights” in his thriller tells of the difficult legal processing of war crimes in former Yugoslavia. The audience at the Berlinale Palast took the shot with an international cast film in a first press on Saturday with a strong applause on.

The New Zealander Kerry Fox plays Hannah Mayard, a prosecutor at the war crimes tribunal in Den Haag. It creates it, a Bosnian living in Berlin (Anamaria Marinca) to convince that they were before the court against an alleged Serbian war criminal states. He has the command for mass rapes and executions of women desecrated.

Plea for the work of the UN Tribunals
Shortly before the crucial hearing against the former commander of the Yugoslav People’s Army lawyer Mayard noted that their opponents not only in the dock. Also in the judiciary does not seem all keen to be the real crime in all its magnitude uncover – and EU politicians are keen to host negotiations with Bosnia in addition to not aggravate.

His film is a plea for the work of the UN tribunal to understand, said Schmid. “We complain that the court so under time pressure.” The director called for an extension of the Tribunal beyond 2010. “The time pressure is primarily responsible for the witnesses very stressful.” When researching for the film had he and screenwriter Bernd Lange with judges in The Hague discussed.

Schmid tells the fictional story in chronological order, gives it a certain style form, but much momentum: “The entire film is more or less with hand-held camera shot,” said Schmid. He did so the actors the room to give themselves as freely as possible to move. Was filmed in English. In the role of an EU official is also the Swedish actor Rolf Lassgård to see in Germany because of his representation of the Commissioner Wallander popular.

Fox said she did want to know what the drive for human rights lawyers is. They impressed the Berlinale audience is already in 2001 Patrice Chéreaus erotic drama “Intimacy”, which had won the Golden Bear. Schmid is also a regular guest Berlinale. In the official competition of the Berlin International Film Festival in 2006, he was with the exorcism drama “Requiem” and in 2003 with the German-Polish border area playing works “Lights” represented.

At the Berlinale 2009 (until 15.2.) is the Bavarian-born director with another film this: In the forum, he made the documentary “The Wondrous World of Laundry.” It follows the path of Schmid wash dirt from Berlin hotel rooms in a Polish Large laundry and leaves the people to speak, through whose hands it goes.

Besides Schmid is another German director in the competition represented: Maren Ade ( “The forest for the trees”) will show on Monday (9.2.) Relationship with the tragicomic story “All other”. Birgit Minichmayr and Lars Eidinger play is an unlikely pair, set in a holiday in Sardinia with itself haunts. Overall, German films at this year’s Berlinale festival in different rows so strongly represented as never before. Of the nearly 400 works director from all over the world are 90 stripes German films and German co-productions.

Movies with Judi Dench and Gael García Bernal at the Berlinale
The Berlinale competition run on today’s Sunday the movies “Rage” with Judi Dench and Jude Law, and “Mammoth” with Gael García Bernal. Directed at the tragicomedy “Rage,” in a New York fashion house plays, led the British Sally Potter. The family history “Mammoth” staged the Swede Lukas Moodysson. The argentin director Adrian Biniez presented in the Berlinale competition “Gigante”, his first feature length film. On the evening will be a legend from directing expects France: Claude Chabrol is a Berlinale Camera award.