Panorama 2019: First films announced

Section head Paz Lázaro and co-curator and programme manager Michael Stütz are delighted to announce the first 22 titles of the 2019 Panorama programme.

Kislota (Acid). Regie/director: Alexander Gorchilin. Foto/photo: © Studio SLON / Kislota

17 feature and five documentary films, representing a total of 21 production countries, have already been invited to screen at the festival. 14 of the films will be celebrating world premieres in Panorama. Nine of the selected works are first films, including directorial debuts from actors Jonah Hill and Alexander Gorchilin.

37 Seconds - Japan
 by HIKARI
 with Mei Kayama, Misuzu Kanno, Makiko Watanabe, Shunsuke Daitō, Yuka Itaya
 World premiere - Debut film
 37 Seconds tells the story of Yuma, a young Japanese woman who suffers from cerebral palsy. Torn between her obligations towards her mother and her dream to become a manga artist, Yuma embarks on an unexpected journey of self-discovery.

Dafne - Italy
 by Federico Bondi
 with Carolina Raspanti, Antonio Piovanelli, Stefania Casini
 World premiere
 Dafne is a self-aware and bright young woman with Down syndrome. When her mother dies, she has to attend to her father too, on top of attempting to process her own grief.

The Day After I'm Gone - Israel
 by Nimrod Eldar
 with Menashe Noy, Zohar Meidan
 World premiere - Debut film
 Nimrod Eldar’s first feature tells the stories of injured animals, injured daughters and an injured country. Leaving Tel Aviv might be the last hope for the single father.

A Dog Called Money – Ireland / United Kingdom
 by Seamus Murphy
 with PJ Harvey
 Documentary
 World premiere - Debut film
 Award-winning photographer Seamus Murphy provides a glimpse into the creative process of groundbreaking British musician PJ Harvey filming her in a London recording studio and during their joint travels to Afghanistan, Kosovo and Washington D.C..

Estou Me Guardando Para Quando O Carnaval Chegar (Waiting for the Carnival) - Brazil
 by Marcelo Gomes
 Documentary
 World premiere
 A documentary film about the Brazilian town of Toritama, the self-proclaimed capital of jeans. The workers of the city’s self-managed small businesses only get one real break from their self-exploiting lives in the textile business: the annual Carnival.

Eynayim Sheli (Chained) – Israel / Germany
 by Yaron Shani
 with Eran Naim, Stav Almagor, Stav Patai
 World premiere
 Israeli director Yaron Shani presents the second part of his “Love Trilogy”, the story of policeman Rashi, whose private life is thrown out of balance by a sudden loss of authority on the job.

Flatland – South Africa / Germany / Luxembourg
 by Jenna Bass
 with Faith Baloyi, Nicole Fortuin, Izel Bezuidenhout
 World premiere
 An unusual road movie from South-African filmmaker Jenna Bass about friendship, female self-determination and the social power structures of a divided nation.

Greta - Brazil
 by Armando Praça
 with Marco Nanini, Denise Weinberg, Demick Lopes, Gretta Star
 World premiere - Debut film
 Armando Praça’s directorial debut depicts a queer, intergenerational Brazil. An older, gay nurse takes one of his patients into his own home. His neighbour, an ailing transwoman, is part of this parallel society portrayed in this moving drama.

Hellhole – Belgium / Netherlands
 by Bas Devos
 with Willy Thomas, Alba Rohrwacher, Lubna Azabal, Hamza Belarbi
 World premiere
 In his second feature, Belgian director Bas Devos paints the portrait of a wounded city in enigmatic images: at its centre stand Brussels and the haunting stories of the city’s lost souls.

Jessica Forever - France
 by Caroline Poggi, Jonathan Vinel
 with Aomi Muyock, Sebastian Urzendowsky, Augustin Raguenet, Lukas Ionesco, Eddy Suiveng, Paul Hamy, Maya Coline
 European premiere - Debut film
 Filmmakers Caroline Poggi and Jonathan Vinel (winners of the Golden Bear for Best Short Film for As Long as Shotguns Remain in 2014) return with their French end-of-days dystopia Jessica Forever, in which a group of orphan rebels are fortified in a villa with heavy arms to brace for a drone war with a faceless enemy.

Kislota (Acid) – Russian Federation
 by Alexander Gorchilin
 with Filipp Avdeev, Alexander Kuznetsov, Arina Shevtsova, Alexandra Rebenok, Savva Saveliev
 International premiere - Debut film
 The stylistically confident and energetic directorial debut by 26-year-old actor Alexander Gorchilin deals with sex, drugs, and young adults’ search for meaning in modern-day Russia.

Mid90s - USA
 by Jonah Hill
 with Sunny Suljic, Lucas Hedges, Katherine Waterston, Na-kel Smith, Olan Prenatt
 European premiere - Debut film
 Oscar-nominated actor Jonah Hill’s debut behind the camera is his shot on 16mm declaration of love to the 1990s. Hill takes us into the summer of 13-year-old Stevie and depicts his life between domestic violence and the newfound recognition from a group of local skaters.

Los miembros de la familia (Family Members) - Argentina
 by Mateo Bendesky
 with Tomás Wicz, Laila Maltz, Alejandro Russek
 World premiere
 In Los miembros de la familia (Family Members), young Argentinian director Mateo Bendesky lets a family tale characterised by calm imagery unfold: in an abandoned house on the coast, the secrets of a pair of siblings gradually come to light.

Monos – Colombia / Argentina / Netherlands / Germany / Denmark / Sweden / Uruguay
 by Alejandro Landes
 with Julianne Nicholson, Moisés Arias, Sofia Buenaventura, Julián Giraldo, Karen Quintero
 European premiere
 Eight members of an adolescent rebel group watch over a hostage in the Colombian mountains. An incident with their treasured milk cow “Shakira” starts a battle for survival.

O Beautiful Night - Germany
 by Xaver Böhm
 with Noah Saavedra, Marko Mandić, Vanessa Loibl
 World premiere - Debut film
 This fiction feature debut by Xaver Böhm is the newest production from Komplizen Film. In this Faustian tale, anxious Yuri finds himself face-to-face with Death. Yuri is forced to confront his fears over the course of a fateful night.

Selfie – France / Italy
 by Agostino Ferrente
 Documentary
 World premiere
 Agostino Ferrente’s documentary deals with police violence and the long shadow the Mafia still casts over today’s Italy. Two adolescent Neapolitans portray themselves and their surroundings with their smartphones.

Shooting the Mafia - Ireland / USA
 by Kim Longinotto
 Documentary
 European premiere
 Shooting the Mafia is a portrait of the life and work of Italian photographer Letizia Battaglia, who has been documenting the crimes of the Mafia in Palermo for decades.

Skin - USA
 by Guy Nattiv
 with Jamie Bell, Danielle Macdonald, Vera Farmiga, Bill Camp, Mike Colter
 European premiere
 Israeli-born director Guy Nattiv takes a deep dive into the USA’s neo-Nazi scene in Skin. His film tells the true story of skinhead Bryon Widner and his attempts to leave his extreme right-wing past behind.

The Souvenir – United Kingdom
 by Joanna Hogg
 with Honor Swinton Byrne, Tom Burke, Tilda Swinton
 European premiere
 Renowned British auteur filmmaker Joanna Hogg depicts the ill-fated relationship between a young film student and a charismatic but secretive man. Honor Swinton Byrne plays her first lead role.

Temblores (Tremors) – Guatemala / France / Luxembourg
 by Jayro Bustamante
 with Juan Pablo Olyslager, Mauricio Armas Zebadúa, Diane Bathen, María Telón
 World premiere
 Guatemalan director Jayro Bustamante (Silver Bear Alfred Bauer Prize for Ixcanul 2015) presents his second and highly personal feature. The coming out of an evangelical father shatters his family, his community and uncovers a profoundly repressive society.

To thávma tis thálassas ton Sargassón (The Miracle of the Sargasso Sea) – Greece / Germany / Netherlands / Sweden
 by Syllas Tzoumerkas
 with Angeliki Papoulia, Youla Boudali, Christos Passalis, Argyris Xafis, Thanassis Dovris
 World premiere
 The newest film from Greek director Syllas Tzoumerkas and his second collaboration with Angeliki Papoulia, star of the New Greek Cinema (Dogtooth, The Lobster), is a fierce and untamed crime tale, told in larger-than-life images.

What She Said: The Art of Pauline Kael - USA
 by Rob Garver
 with Sarah Jessica Parker, Quentin Tarantino, Alec Baldwin, David O. Russell, Paul Schrader
 Documentary
 International premiere - Debut film
 The portrait of the work of controversial film critic Pauline Kael (1919-2001) and her influence on the male-dominated worlds of cinema and film criticism.