Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy Review: Three Chance-Driven Encounters Make for Two Happy Hours Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy Review: Three Chance-Driven Encounters Make for Two Happy Hours
Ryusuke Hamaguchi follows up Cannes-selected Asako I & II with a slight but satisfying trio of female-driven vignettes in which fate plays a central role.
Peter Debruge, provided by
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Running time: Running time: 121 MIN.
Courtesy of Berlin Film Festival
When Japanese director Ryusuke Hamaguchi made his return to fiction after time away in the realm of documentary, he dispensed with the idea that stories must conform to feature length. “Happy Hour,” the sprawling ensemble drama that sparked interest in him among cinephiles, ran more than five hours, and while his latest, “Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy,” boasts a conventional enough running time of 121 minutes, the film is actually composed of three short stories, stitched together and somewhat arbitrarily present
Berlinale-Bound All Eyes Off Me Nabbed by Best Friend Forever for World Sales (EXCLUSIVE)
Elsa Keslassy, provided by
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“All Eyes Off Me,” Hadas Ben Aroya’s drama which will world premiere at the Berlin Film Festival, has been acquired by Brussels-based company Best Friend Forever for international sales.
Set to bow in the Panorama section, “All Eyes Off Me” takes place in contemporary Tel Aviv and weaves three stories portraying Tel Aviv’s youth. The plot revolves around Danny who is searching for Max at a party to tell him that she’s pregnant with his child. But Max just started a new relationship with the wild Avishag, who actually has someone else in mind.
Gagarine Sales Agent Totem Films Boards Berlin Competition Entry Ballad of a White Cow (EXCLUSIVE)
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Paris-based Totem Films announced Friday that it is handling sales on Iranian Behtash Sanaeeha and Maryam Moghaddam’s Berlin Film Festival competition entry, “Ballad of a White Cow.” Totem Films will bring the drama onto the market at early March’s European Film Market (EFM).
The pick-up is sure to draw attention. Launched in 2019 by Agathe Valentin, Laure Parleani and Berenice Vincent, sales and production company Totem Films made waves at the Cannes Film Market last year, scoring vast international sales on “Gagarine,” one of the Cannes Festival official selection’s biggest arthouse breakouts.
Berlinale Films Je Suis Karl, Copilot and Cryptozoo Lead The Match Factory Slate at EFM (EXCLUSIVE)
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The Match Factory is taking a strong slate to the European Film Market, including two world premieres: Anne Zohra Berrached’s “Copilot,” which is in the Berlin Film Festival’s Panorama section, and Christian Schwochow’s “Je Suis Karl,” which is in Berlinale Special. Also in the festival program is Dash Shaw’s “Cryptozoo,” the critically acclaimed adult animation awarded at Sundance, which is in the Generation lineup.
Berrached, whose “24 Weeks” played in Berlinale Competition in 2016, is back at the festival with “Copilot,” a bold feature set in the mid 90s, an era of optimism, when the conflicts of the old-world order seemed to dissolve, and long-lasting peace seemed achievable. Asli (Canan Kir) meets Saeed (Roger Azar), whose love at first changes her life, before shaking the world to the core.