Berlin takes 'Notes,' '300'

Berlin takes 'Notes,' '300'

Variety.com

January 22,2007

BERLIN — The Berlinale has completed its lineup of 26 competition and out-of-competition pics, with 19 world preems in the selection.
Latest additions include Zack Snyder's tale about ancient Greece, "300," and Richard Eyre's "Notes on a Scandal," starring Judi Dench and Cate Blanchett, which both run out of competish.

In the running for the Golden Bear are David Mackenzie's "Hallam Foe," which stars Jamie Bell as a young man unable to cope with the loss of his mother, and Francois Ozon's English-language "Angel," which chronicles the rise and fall of a young woman who manages to break into the highest echelons of British society as an esteemed author. Romola Garai, Charlotte Rampling and Sam Neill star in the film, which closes the fest.

Latin America is represented with two films: the Brazilian-Argentine co-production "O ano em que meus pais sairam de ferias" (The Year My Parents Went on Holiday) by Cao Hamburger, about a 12-year-old boy growing up in Brazil in the seventies, whose parents are forced to go on a trip during the military dictatorship.

At the Berlinale with his second film after 2001's "Solo por hoy," Ariel Rotter presents "El Otro," an Argentine-French-German co-production about a man who decides to change his identity. Julio Chavez ("El Custodio") stars in the pic, which was backed by the Berlinale's World Cinema Fund.

Joseph Cedar's Israeli entry "Beaufort" is the story of the last military unit to be stationed in southern Lebanon prior to the troops' withdrawal from the country.

Among contenders from Asia are Zhang Lu's South Korean-French co-production "Hyazgar" (Desert Dream), about three people whose lives cross in a village on the Chinese-Mongolian border; the Chinese pic "Tu ya de hun shi" (Tuya's marriage) from director Wang Quan'an ("The Story of Er Mei"), about a woman's efforts to find a new husband; and "Ping Guo" (Lost in Beijing), Li Yu's Chinese film examining the longings, fears and values of several residents of Beijing.

From Canada and the U.S. comes the independent production "When a Man Falls in the Forest" from Ryan Eslinger ("Madness and Genius"), which depicts a group of people in an American village coming to terms with isolation and loneliness; Sharon Stone, Timothy Hutton and Dylan Baker star.

Fest runs Feb. 8-18.

BERLINALE MAIN LINEUP

"300," Zack Snyder (U.S.) (Out of competition)
"Angel," Francois Ozon (France/Belgium/U.K.)
"Beaufort," Joseph Cedar (Israel)
"Bordertown," Gregory Nava (U.S.)
"Die Faelscher" (The Counterfeiters), Stefan Ruzowitzky (Germany/Austria)
"El Otro" (The Other), Ariel Rotter (Argentina/France/Germany)
"Goodbye Bafana," Bille August (Germany/France/Belgium/U.K./Italy)
"Hallam Foe," David Mackenzie, U.K.
"Hyazgar" (Desert Dream), Zhang Lu (South Korea/France)
"In memoria di me" (In Memory of Myself), Saverio Costanzo (Italy)
"Irina Palm," Sam Garbarski (Belgium/Germany/Luxembourg/U.K./France)
"La Vie en rose," Olivier Dahan (France/U.K./Czech Republic)
"Les Temoins" (The Witnesses), Andre Techine (France)
"Letters From Iwo Jima," Clint Eastwood (U.S.) (Out of competition)
"Ne touchez pas la hache" (Don't Touch the Axe), Jacques Rivette
(France/Italy)
"Notes on a Scandal," Richard Eyre (U.K.) (out of competition)
"O ano em que meus pais sairam de ferias" (The Year My Parents Went on Vacation), Cao Hamburger (Brazil/Argentina)
"Obsluhoval jsem anglickeho krale" (I Served the King of England), Jiri Menzel (Czech Republic/Slovakia)
"Ping guo" (Lost in Beijing), Li Yu (China)
"Sai bo gu ji man gwen chan a" (I'm a Cyborg, but That's OK), Park Chan-wook (Sout Korea)
"The Good German," Stephen Soderbergh (U.S.)
"The Good Shepherd," Robert De Niro (U.S.)
"The Walker," Paul Schrader (U.S./U.K.) (out of competition)
"Tu ya de hun shi" (Tuya's Marriage), Wang Quan'an (China)
"When a Man Falls in the Forest," Ryan Eslinger (Canada/U.S.)
"Yella," Christian Petzold (Germany)




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