11 February 2021
Bad Luck Banging or Loony Porn and Je suis Karl selected for Berlinale
Bad Luck Banging or Loony Porn and Je suis Karl selected for Berlinale
Two Czech minority co-productions have been selected for the upcoming Berlinale. Radu Jude returns to the Berlinale Competition with his latest feature film Bad Luck Banging or Loony Porn, subtitled Sketch for a Popular Film, made in co-production of Romania, Luxembourg, Czech Republic and Croatia. Je suis Karl, a new film by Christian Schwochow made in German-Czech co-production, will be presented in Berlinale Special.
Bad Luck Banging or Loony Porn
Bad Luck Banging or Loony Porn is the second film of Radu Jude to cerebrate its world premiere in Berlinale Competition after Aferim! in 2015, which was awarded the Silver Bear for Best Director. In 2020, he also presented films Uppcase Print and The Exit of the Trains in the Forum section.
About the film
Emi, a school teacher, finds her career and reputation under threat after a personal sex tape is leaked on the Internet. Forced to meet the parents demanding her dismissal, Emi refuses to surrender to their pressure.Radu Jude delivers an incendiary mix of unconventional form, irreverent humour and scathing commentary on hypocrisy and prejudice in our societies.
Who is behind it
Radu Jude ("I Do Not Care If We Go Down in History as Barbarians", Scarred Hearts, Aferim!) has collaborated on the film once again with Romanian producer Ada Solomon (microFILM). The co-producers are Paul Thiltges & Adrien Chef (Paul Thiltges Distributions) from Luxembourg, Jiří Konečný (endorfilm) from the Czech Republic and Ankica Jurić Tilić (Kinorama) from Croatia.
Czech co-producer of the film, Jiří Konečný and his company endorfilm, has collaborated on two previous films of Radu Jude - Aferim! and "I Do Not Care If We Go Down in History as Barbarians", which won the Crystal Globe award at Karlovy Vary IFF in 2018. Furthermore, complete visual posproduction took place at prestigious postproduction house UPP in Prague and Czech actress Petra Nesvačilová appeared in one of the supporting roles in the film.
The film was supported by the Czech Film Fund in the minority co-productions scheme (EUR 96 000), as well as by Romanian National Film Center, Film Fund Luxembourg and Croatian Audiovisual Centre.
Je suis Karl
Czech minority co-production Je suis Karl by respected German director Christian Schwochow (Novemberkind, Die Unsichtbare), with Luna Wedler, Jannis Niewöhner and Milan Peschel in the leading roles, has been selected for Berlinale Special.
About the film
In Je suis Karl, following a terrorist attack, survivor Maxi joins the beguiling student Karl and becomes part of a European youth movement – one that aims for nothing less than seizing power.
Who is behind it
Je suis Karl is a German-Czech co-production with Christoph Friedel and Claudia Steffen from Pandora Film Production being the main producers. Pavel Strnad and Kateřina Černá from Negativ Film Productions are the Czech co-producers.
Production of the film was on the Czech side supported by the Czech Film Fund (154 000 EUR) through the minority co-production scheme as well through the film incentives scheme. Part of the film was shot in Prague and one of the leading roles was entrusted to Czech actress Anna Fialová. Music for the film was composed by Czech multimedia artist Floex in collaboration with British composer Tom Hodge. For sound is responsible Jan Šulcek and Martin Jílek.
The inernational sales and festivals are handled by The Match Factory.
The programme of Berlinale 2021 has been reduced due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and divided into two parts - professional gathering held online March 1 - 5 and special summer edition taking place June 9 - 20 when majority of the films will be screened for general audiences in cinemas in Berlin.
