Berlin & Beyond 2012 in San Francisco

For those of you in the San Francisco Bay Area, the 17th annual Berlin & Beyond Film Festival began this evening with an opening night gala of Christian Petzold's Barbara, which took home the Silver Bear for Best Director at this year's Berlinale, in addition to being selected as the official 2012 German submission for the Best Foreign Language Oscar. Presented by the Goethe Institut, the Berlin & Beyond Film Festival showcases the latest in German, Swiss, and Austrian cinema, as well as German-language films from the rest of the world in the case of Aleksandr Sokurov's version of the oft-told and -filmed legend of Faust, which screens Friday, September 28th, at 9pm at the Castro Theatre.

The latest film from director Veit Helmer (Tuvalu, Absurdistan), Baikonur will screen as the festival's centerpiece selection on Saturday, September 29th, at the Castro Theatre, and the festival closes on Thursday, October 4th, with Marten Persiel's East German skater documentary This Ain't California.

Other notable films at this year's festival include Achim von Borries' (Love in Thoughts) WWII drama, 4 Days in May (4 Tage im Mai); Dagmar Schultz's documentary about lesbian poet Audre Lorde, entitled Audre Lorde: The Berlin Years 1984 to 1992; Maggie Peren's Color of the Ocean (Die Farbe des Ozeans), which played at last year's Toronto International Film Festival and stars Sabine Timoteo and Spanish actor Álex González; David Wnendt's tale of neo-Nazi teen girls, Combat Girls (Kriegerin); Christian Schwochow's backstage drama Cracks in the Shell (Die Unsichtbare), which won the Best Actress prize for Danish actress Stine Fischer Christensen at last year's Karlovy Vary International Film Festival; Anno Saul's The Door (Die Tür), starring another renowned Danish actor, Mads Mikkelsen; Hans-Christian Schmid's Home for the Weekend (Was bleibt), which played in competition to mixed reviews at this year's Berlinale; and Hendrik Handloegten's Summer Window (Fenster zum Sommer), with actors Nina Hoss and Lars Eidinger, who can be seen elsewhere at the festival in Barbara and Home for the Weekend, respectively.

Switzerland and Austria are both represented by three films each this year. The Swiss line-up includes two documentaries, Nicolas Steiner's Battle of the Queens (Kampf der Königinnen), which chronicles the traditional cow fights in the south of Switzerland, and Martin Witz's The Substance: Albert Hofmann's LSD, which traces the discovery of LSD in the early 1940s. The Swiss trio is rounded out with The Foster Boy (Der Verdingbub), a period drama from television-director Markus Imboden, starring Katja Riemann and newcomer Max Hubacher. This year's Austrian selection includes actor Karl Markovics' acclaimed directorial debut Breathing (Atmen), which premiered at the Quinzaine des Réalisateurs at the Cannes Film Festival last year; Julian Pölsler's The Wall (Die Wand), starring Martina Gedeck and recipient of the Prize of the Ecumenical Jury at this year's Berlinale; and Michael Glawogger's documentary about prostitution in Thailand, Bangladesh, and Mexico, Whores' Glory.

In addition to the contemporary films at this year's festival, there will be a tribute to Mario Adorf with four of the actor's films playing over the course of the week: Volker Schlöndorff's The Tin Drum (Die Blechtrommel), Rainer Werner Fassbinder's Lola, Georg Tressler's Ship of the Dead (Das Totenschiff), and Lola Randl's The Rhino and the Dragonfly (Die Libelle und das Nashorn). Please visit the Berlin & Beyond Film Festival's official site for showtimes and any other information you might need.

The Nunsploitation Classic Comes to DVD in the US, Plus a Bunch of Lame Blu-rays

Walerian Borowczyk's Behind Convent Walls [Interno di un convento], often regarded as the quintessential nunsploitation film, will finally make its way to the US via Cult Epics on 30 March. Cult Epics will also release it in a set entitled The Nunsploitation Convent Collection with Norifumi Suzuki's School of the Holy Beast and a bonus disc tracking the illustrious history of the nunsploitation sub-genre. In addition to all that goodness, Scorpion Releasing will have Volker Schlöndorff's Voyager [Homo Faber], with Sam Shepard, Julie Delpy and Barbara Sukowa, out on the same date. As you can see below, there's nothing worth mentioning on the Blu-ray front.

And, my apologies for the lack of updates over the weekend. I was swamped with the Saint Louis International Film Festival (not to mention a bit of seasonal depression, career woes, general malaise), which ended on Sunday. As one might have guessed, Precious won the Audience Choice award for Narrative Films; Denis Rabaglia's Swiss/German romantic comedy Marcello, Marcello (in the Italian language) won the Audience Award for International Feature; and Eric Byler and Annabel Park's 9500 Liberty won for Documentary. David Lowery's lovely St. Nick won the New Filmmakers Forum Award, well-deserved, especially after Mary Bronstein's incredible Yeast took home the prize last year. The St. Louis Film Critics Association gave a special "Under the Radar" award for Aida Begić's Snow [Snijeg] from Bosnia and Herzegovina. Naturally, my favorite films that screened this year did not fare as well with the general public, but I'll be writing about them as part of The Decade List this week.

- Praxis, 2008, d. Alex Pacheco, Ariztical, 19 January
- Righteous Ties, 2006, d. Jang Jin, Virgil Films, 26 January
- As It Is in Heaven [Så som i himmelen], 2004, d. Kay Pollak, Kino, 2 February
- Ong-Bak 2: The Beginning, 2009, d. Tony Jaa, Panna Rittikrai, Magnet/Magnolia, also on Blu-ray, 2 February
- The Vanished Empire, 2008, d. Karen Shakhnazarov, Kino, 2 February
- The Wolf Man, 1941, d. George Waggner, Universal, Legacy Series, 2 February
- Bronson, 2009, d. Nicolas Windig Refn, Magnet/Magnolia, also on Blu-ray, 9 February
- Rome & Jewel, 2008, d. Charles T. Kanganis, Well Go USA, 9 February
- Secret Moonlight, 2009, d. Cheryl Hines, Magnolia, also on Blu-ray, 9 February
- The Private Lives of Pippa Lee, 2009, d. Rebecca Miller, Screen Media, also on Blu-ray, 16 February
- Battle Girl: Living Dead in Tokyo, 1991, d. Kazuo Komizu, Synapse, 23 February
- No Orchids for Miss Blandish, 1948, d. St. John Legh Clowes, VCI, 23 February
- Splinterheads, 2009, d. Brant Sersen, Monarch, 23 February
- The Brothers Warner, 2008, d. Cass Warner, Warner, 10 March
- Yesterday Was a Lie, 2008, d. James Kerwin, Koch Vision, 23 March
- Behind Convent Walls [Interno di un convento], 1978, d. Walerian Borowczyk, Cult Epics, 30 March
- Shut-Eye, 2003, d. John Covert, Cinema Obscura, 30 March
- Two Films by Jean-Louis van Belle (The Sadist with Red Teeth [Le sadique aux dents rouges] / Forbidden Paris [Paris inderdit]), 1971/1969, Mondo Macabro, 30 March
- Voyager [Homo faber], 1991, d. Volker Schlöndorff, Scorpion Releasing, 30 March

Blu-ray

- Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, 1998, d. Terry Gilliam, Universal, 2 February
- Drop Zone, 1994, d. John Badham, Lionsgate, 9 February
- The Phantom, 1996, d. Simon Wincer, Lionsgate, 9 February
- The Running Man, 1987, d. Paul Michael Glasser, Lionsgate, 9 February
- Cabin Fever, 2002, d. Eli Roth, Lionsgate, 16 February
- Tromeo & Juliet, 1996, d. James Gunn, Lloyd Kaufman, Troma, 30 March
- Vampyres, 1974, d. José Ramón Larraz, Blue Underground, 30 March