Maurizio Von Trapp GB Miss Mia Meows 11 min 50s 2011

Miss Mia meows, purrs, entangles her body amongst your legs; she also scratches and bites, and when bored or satisfied, Miss Mia leaves on the lookout for new adventures. She is adored by the bohemian masses that fill the gutters of the city when the sun goes down, all the bats and cats and rats that can’t expose themselves to daylight. Their HQ can be found at Madame Big Mo, a bar that houses a mixture of aristocrats, artists, tramps, whores and transexuals. Miss Mia’s journey is one of discovery, a path she has chosen for life: one that is neverending.

In this short film, we see her desperation through colourful lenses, in a world of technicolor that brings melancholy to a higher, comedic ground. Her surroundings build a world of timelessness, of erotic and mystic undertones.

Will Miss Mia continue on her path of uncertainty, or will she choose to settle down?

about Maurizio von Trapp:

Maurizio Von Trapp was born in Brazil in 1987. From Chilean and Italian descent, he now lives in the UK. In 2011, he completed his Film and TV BA (Hons) studies at the University of the Arts London, having worked in a number of different sectors of the UK film industry throughout his years as a student. His first short film, 1 or 2 Things I Don’t Know About Him, was selected for exhibition at the 2008 edition of the Raindance Film Festival in London. He is currently developing a number of projects, varying from music videos to video installations to short films.

IRMA by Charles Fairbanks US/MX 12 min 2010

Produced in Mexico / USA
Camera, Sound, Edit: Charles Fairbanks
Starring, and featuring music by: Irma Gonzalez

Irma is an intimate musical portrait of Irma Gonzalez, the former world champion of women’s professional wrestling. Filmed in Ciudad Nezahualcóyotl – a notorious district of Mexico City – Irma contradicts everything we have come to expect from stories reported from Mexico. Featuring music written and performed by Ms. Gonzalez, Irma’s story surges with love and deceit, masculine strength, feminine charms, and an extraordinary sense of humor.
“A portrait built like a Russian matryoshka: surprise after surprise, revelation after revelation.” – Carlos Ramos / IndieLisboa –

pictured: still from Irma

Select Screenings: Slamdance, CPH:DOX, Festival dei Popoli, Black Maria Film Festival, Images Festival, Festival de Cine Cero Latitud, Big Sky Documentary Film Festival, International Short Film Festival Hamburg, FLEX: the Florida Experimental Film Festival, PLAY-DOC, Independent Film Festival of Boston, Full Frame, IndieLisboa, Athens International Film & Video Fest, London International Doc Fest, DokuFest Kosovo, Chicago Underground Film Fest, Edindocs, Frameline, Festival de Cinema de Huesca, Dallas Video Fest, VideoDumbo, Antimatter, Silverdocs, Anthology Film Archives

Awards:
SHORT:DOX Prize at CPH:DOX
Best Documentary –– Honorable Mention at Carolina Video Festival Special Mention of the Jury at VIDEOMEDEJA in Novi Sad, Serbia about the cinéaste:

Charles Fairbanks is a wrestler and filmmaker from rural Nebraska, who studied Art and The History of Science at Stanford. His recent work focuses on pro wrestling in Mexico, where the artist fought as the One-Eyed Cat with a camera built into his mask. In 2010 Werner Herzog selected him to take part in the first Rogue Film School, and in 2011 Anthology Film Archives hosted Tender Muscles, a retrospective of Fairbanks’ five short films. The artist continues wrestling and filming toward his first feature.

www.charlesfairbanks.info

IRMA will be screened tonight as part of the DL SELECTION I on Fri 10 8pm

MATADOR by Maurizio von Trapp | World Premiere

in attendance

Matador takes an extreme and experimental approach to a subject so dear to cinema – voyeurism – whilst extending it to a wider context.
The film drives a parallel between pornography and bullfighting in a disjointed narrative reminiscent of dreams. As we watch a bullfighter seductively working the stage in a mixture of dance and sport, we are brought to a parallel underground world, where four women watch a couple having sex. An analogy is created between the spectacles of pornography and bullfighting, raising questions on the audience that is captivated by the entertainment being provided.
The sense of ceremony is widespread, as a nod to humanity’s need to assert themselves as intelligent, thinking things. The film, however, searches for something that goes beyond external exuberance to explore that which we all share: our animalistic instincts. Humans are, after all, an integrant part of the animal kingdom.

about Maurizio von Trapp:

Maurizio Von Trapp was born in Brazil in 1987. From Chilean and Italian descent, he now lives in the UK. In 2011, he completed his Film and TV BA (Hons) studies at the University of the Arts London, having worked in a number of different sectors of the UK film industry throughout his years as a student. His first short film, 1 or 2 Things I Don’t Know About Him, was selected for exhibition at the 2008 edition of the Raindance Film Festival in London. He is currently developing a number of projects, varying from music videos to video installations to short films.

MATADOR will be shown in World Premiere as part of the The Opening Mix II, Thurs 9 10:30pm, in attendance of Maurizio von Trapp

MISS MIA MEOWS by Maurizio von Trapp, another World Premiere, will be screened on Fri 10 10pm (DL Selection II)

IT KICKS OFF WITH A PARTY: [DL8] IS HERE!
8th Berlin International Directors Lounge Film Festival hits “Sternchen”

[DL8], the eighth annual DL (Directors Lounge, but you knew that) event parallel to the Berlinale, is sending out the call to all who want to welcome its coming in a party atmosphere peopled by filmmakers and spectators alike – with a smattering of short film highlights from the coming program and with Biefke and her Kings of Spreedelta giving the beat to keep it all festive. There’ll be a bar to supply the libation, of course, and its all going down at the cult-spot Naherholung Sternchen, just behind the Kino International near Alex (literally a few steps from U-Bahn Schillingstr.). It starts at 20:00 (that’s 8:00 p.m., folks) and ends sometime well past the wee hours. Funny, weird, maybe perplexing short films from around the globe (two blocks’ worth), people like you don’t get to meet every day, live upbeat swing and drinks a-plenty – an event just right for a city in film fever. But different from the usual la-di-da. You’re coming out, right?


The 8th Berlin International Directors Lounge [DL8]

Naherholung Sternchen, Berolinastr. 7, 10178 Berlin
(behind the Kino International/Rathaus Mitte), U Schillingstrasse
Feb 9 – 19, daily from 6pm, free admission till 10pm

Opening Ceremony: Thurs., Feb. 9, 8pm

The daily program

A rigorous life: Vadim Glowna dead at 70

German actor Vadim Glowna, a regular in film and  television drama who was also a successful director and screenwriter, has died after a short illness. He was 70.

Glowna,well known for his soft, rough voice, was rarely the leading man but he shined in supporting roles, among them performances in Chris Kraus’ Four Minutes (2006) and Oskar Roheler’s No Where To Go (2000), both of which won German Film Awards for best film of the year. His one major international production was in Sam Peckinpah’s WWII drama Cross of Iron (1977) alongside James Coburn and Maximilian Schell.

A multi-talent, Glowna won the golden camera honor at the Cannes film festival for his directorial debut Desperado City in 1981.  His sophomore effort, Dies rigorose Leben, won an honorable mention at the Berlin film festival in 1983. He also helmed dozens of episodes of German TV drama. Glowna was married to the Russian actress Vera Tschechowa from 1967 until the late 1980s. Glowna’s last performance was as Jorge Da Costa in Tom Fontana’s bad pope series Borgia.

sources: The Hollywood Reporter

still from Desperado City via Abschied von Vadim Glowna: Herz für Außenseiter – SPIEGEL/ddp images

Festivals United | The Official Festiwelt Party | Wed. Feb 15.

The 8th Berlin International Directors Lounge will be an ongoing, eleven days in a row, cinedalic party. But we are going to top it off by celebrating with all the Berlin Film Festivals. Wednesday, 15th, will be the night to party with all the movers and shakers of the Berlin Film universe. Enough Festivals to kill a Rhino. Party starts at 9pm, free admission till 10pm.

Fritz Stolberg´s Of This, Men Shall Know Nothing! awarded Best Experimental Film at the 9th London Short Film Festival.

‘The film combined fantastic surrealistic imagery and intriguing symbolism, which evinced a unique aesthetic vision’. London Short Film Festival 2012

compliments, well deserved.

Of This, Men Shall Know Nothing! will be screened as part of The 8th Berlin International Directors Lounge,

(via London Short Film Festival 2012)

One Minute Volume 5 at FACT | Liverpool

Wed 25 Jan 6:30pm

One Minute Volume 5 is the fifth in the series of artists moving image programmes curated by Directors Lounge regular Kerry Baldry. Featuring the work of artists at varying stages of their careers, the programme includes an eclectic mix of experimental, oblique and poetic video. Accompanied by a discussion with Kerry Baldry and artists from the programme.

One Minute Volume 5 will be screened as part of The 8th Berlin International Directors Lounge

Still from Esther Johnson’s film ‘Life Just Happened’