Archive notice: This article was originally published on May 16, 2009. Links and embedded videos are preserved as part of the historical record.
Quentin Tarantino’s Inglourious Basterds and Michael Haneke’s The White Ribbon screened in competition, while international co-productions Jaffa, Altiplano and Ajami appeared in other sections. The programme began that Saturday with the premiere of Israeli director Keren Yedaya’s Israeli-French-German co-production Jaffa as a Special Screening.
Medienboard Managing Director Kirsten Niehuus said Berlin-Brandenburg attracted outstanding filmmakers and that the supported line-up ranged across international auteur cinema from Haneke to Tarantino, while Cannes provided three other films with a major premiere platform.
Supported films in Cannes
Saturday, May 16
Jaffa, directed by Keren Yedaya and co-produced by Berlin company Rohfilm, depicted the conflicts surrounding an Israeli-Palestinian relationship.
Wednesday, May 20
Peter Brosens and Jessica Woodworth’s German-Belgian-Dutch co-production Altiplano screened in Semaine de la Critique. Co-produced by Berlin’s MA.JA.DE Filmproduktion and starring Jasmin Tabatabai, it followed a war reporter who travels to the Andes after trauma.
Quentin Tarantino’s Inglourious Basterds was co-produced by Babelsberg International Filmproduktion. Its international cast included German actors Til Schweiger, Daniel Brühl, Christian Berkel, Jana Pallaske, Ken Duken, Christoph Waltz, Gedeon Burkhard and Martin Wuttke. The film concerned Jewish American soldiers taking violent revenge on Nazis in occupied France.
Thursday, May 21
Michael Haneke’s The White Ribbon was set in a Protestant village in northern Germany in 1913–14, on the eve of the First World War. It was co-produced by Berlin’s X Filme, Austria’s Wega-Film, France’s Les Films du Losange and Italy’s Lucky Red, with a cast including Susanne Lothar, Burghart Klaußner, Ulrich Tukur, Josef Bierbichler and Birgit Minichmayr.
Friday, May 22
Scandar Copti and Yaron Shani’s Israeli-German co-production Ajami closed the Directors’ Fortnight. The story of hatred and violence in a Palestinian neighbourhood of Tel Aviv competed for the Caméra d’Or. Berlin’s Twenty Twenty Vision Filmproduktion was the German producer.
