Day 11 - Final Mash-Up

My traditional last-day cry for help came yesterday, so I don't have much to rounding up to do. The critical reaction continues to be luke-warm, though people agree that the Golden Bear winner, the Turkish film BAL, was a credible one. Weirdly, the critical reaction to JUD SÜSS was along the lines of "hm, it's a problematic portrayal that lacks a clear vision" rather than "It's a piece of shit created by an insane idiot." Which I found surprising. The mixture of embarrassment, despair and nihilistic delirium sort of engendered an entirely new emotion. But the best film was still Banksy's EXIT THROUGH THE GIFT SHOP.

But the Berlinale is a brilliant institution, and the people of Berlin still love it, as this year's record ticket sales - 270,000 - show. So here's a good tribute: "Mashup trailers", created by a Berlin film student. Selected Berliners dance out the logo.

And in 3D

Day 5 - Best Film At The Festival

 

This is not him.

I've only seen about a dozen of the 400 or so films at the festival, but this is still the best one. A film by and featuring the artist Banksy, called Exit Through The Gift Shop. But it's not about him, but someone far more interesting, a Frenchman called Thierry Guetta who likes videoing things. You will fall in love with him. But is any of it true?

I'd call it the film of the festival, but unfortunately it was already the film of the Sundance festival in the USA. So it'll just have to make do with being the best film here.