"The film list for the 16th Titanic International Film Festival has been finalized. The programme contains an impressively wide range of films from Japanese anime to northern horror, from thriller to (real and fake) documentary. Hungary's greatest international film festival presents altogether 55 films from 26 countries between 26 March and 5 April, 2009.Picture from the film Gogol Bordello Non-Stop
Directed by: Margarita Jimeno
This year the festival will have eight different sections, among them a new one called Northern Lights, where the best Finnish, Danish, and Icelandic films can be seen. One of them is White Night Wedding, a drama by Baltasar Kormákur, who was last year's winner of the Breaking Waves award and will be president of the jury this year.
The Candidate, a Danish political thriller starring Nikolaj Lie Kaas, the mysterious and gloomy hero of last year's hit Just Another Love Story also seems to be a favourite. There will be another new section as well, for the films competing for the Breaking Waves award will form a separate section.
Of course, the festival also has its familiar elements. The characteristic presence of the Far East film industry, for example, is a traditional hallmark of the festival. The Moss, a thriller from Hong Kong reveals the triad underworld from an aspect which is quite unusual for the genre and full of realistic action scenes. The Chaser is remarkable for its quick
pace, naturalistic representation and complex storyline.
Titanic film festival is also geographically colourful, since we present films from all over the world. Australia, for example, is represented by the multiple award-winner Lucky Miles, a dark humoured political film about illegal immigration.
The programme also includes many documentaries, many of which are concerned with music, like Gogol Bordello Non-Stop, a film about the internationally renowned gypsy punk band, or Roskilde, which offers an inside view into one of Europe's greatest music festivals. The biggest sensation of the documentary section will be Killing Kasztner, an American
film concerned with a specifically Hungarian topic. Its release at Titanic will be a European premiere of the film.
The Opening Gala film of the 16th Titanic International Film Festival will be Matteo Garrone's Gomorra, a multiple award-winning film about the Neapolitan Mafia. Gomorra is one of the few films which will be later distributed to Hungarian cinemas, but most of the highly unique works can only be seen during the festival, so it's better to be on the watch."
Source and programs: Titanic Film Festival
26.03.2009