New films set for Berlin unfortunately do not include Claire Denis'
White Material, which hopefully will see its premiere at Cannes instead, though I doubt in competition seeing as the film stars Isabelle Huppert, the head of this year's jury. The rest include:
Cheri - dir. Stephen Frears - with Michelle Pfeiffer, Kathy Bates, Rupert Friend, Anita Pallenberg, Iben Hjejle
Deutschland 09 - dir. Fatih Akin, Tom Tykwer, Wolfgang Becker, Sylke Enders, Dominik Graf, Romuald Karmaker, Nicolette Krebitz, Isabelle Stever, Hans Steinbichler, Hans Weingartner, Christoph Hochhaeusler, Dani Levy, Angela Schanelec
Eden à l'ouest - dir. Costa-Gavras - with Riccardo Scarmarcio, Juliane Köhler, Ulrich Tukur, Eric Caravaca
Happy Tears - dir. Mitchell Lichtenstein (
Teeth) - with Parker Posey, Demi Moore, Rip Torn, Ellen Barkin
Ricky - dir. François Ozon - with Sergi Lopez
Sturm - dir. Hans-Christian Schmid (
Requiem) - with Kerry Fox, Anamaria Marinca, Stephen Dillane
Tatarak - dir. Andrzej Wajda - with Krystyna Janda
Full list at
IndieWire and on
IFC Daily.
Criterion announced their October titles, and naturally their Eclipse titles, Dušan Makavejev: Free Radical, are more exciting than their main-line releases. The Eclipse set, which streets on 13 October, includes three of the director's films from the late-1960s: Man Is Not a Bird [Covek nije tica], Love Affair, or the Case of the Missing Switchboard Operator [Ljubavni slucaj ili tragedija sluzbenice P.T.T.] and Innocence Unprotected [Nevinost bez zastite]. As for the other films: Wim Wenders' Wings of Deisre [Der Himmel über Berlin] on DVD and Blu-ray on the 20th, Costa-Gavras' Z on DVD on the 27th, James Ivory's Howards End on Blu-ray on the 20th and Mira Nair's Monsoon Wedding on DVD and Blu-ray on the 13th.
For those disappointed with Criterion's decision to release Monsoon Wedding, a film that isn't especially remarkable and which already has an acceptable DVD out from Focus, they pulled out all the stops for the release, including most of Nair's shorts and documentaries, which I'm told are much, much better than her narrative features. The shorts include The Day the Mercedes Became a Hat, Migration, India (from 11'09''01 - September 11) and How Can It Be? (from 8); the docs include So Far from India, India Cabaret and The Laughing Club of India. If that alone doesn't thrill you, the Blu-ray should look amazing.
