In 2014, the American Independents offer three German premieres and three directing debuts. Seven productions, among them two documentary films, will screen in the section that exists since the very first exground filmfest – some of them with notable Hollywood-stars: in Jon Favreau’s culinary tragicomedy
CHEF Oscar winner Dustin Hoffman, Robert Downey Jr. and Scarlett Johansson are at work. In
WAR STORY Oscar nominee Catherine Keener embodies a traumatized war photographer so vividly, that Oscar winner Ben Kingsley looks pale beside her. War is also the topic of Peter Sattler’s directing debut:
CAMP X-RAY with TWILIGHT-star Kristen Stewart shines a light on the conditions of detention in the US prison camp Guantanamo and pleas for humanity. Her stunning counterpart is played by the Iranian film star Payman Maadi. Actually, there’s an emphasis on politically and socially acute questions in this year’s program. Swede Anna Eborn lived in the Pine-Ridge reservation with the Lakota: a high unemployment rate, living at the poverty line and a high suicide rate are everyday life. In her documentary film
PINE RIDGE she manages to capture the striking honesty of the people. Poverty was the reason too, for Akin to help out on a Kentucky farm in summer. In Josephine Decker’s drama
THOU WAST MILD AND LOVELY he meets a farmer and his a bit quaint daughter. In the second documentary
THE PUNK SINGER director Sini Anderson pays homage to Riot-Grrrl icon Kathleen Hanna, the most popular US representative of feminist music and role model for the Russian women’s punk band "Pussy Riot". For genre fans we have the arguably best teen-horror film of the past years in our program:
IT FOLLOWS by David Robert Mitchell, celebrated as "genre-highlight" of the year. Who has sex, has to die. We recommend: go to the movies instead!
CAMP X-RAY
by Peter Sattler
USA 2014 English-Arabic original version with English subtitles
CHEF (Film & Frühstück)
by Jon Favreau
USA 2014 original version
IT FOLLOWS
by David Robert Mitchel
USA 2014 original version
PINE RIDGE
by Anna Eborn
Dänemark 2013 English-Lakota original version with English subtitles
THE PUNK SINGER
by Sini Anderson
USA 2013 original version
THOU WAST MILD AND LOVELY
by Josephine Decker
USA 2014 original version
WAR STORY
by Mark Jackson
USA 2014 English-Italian-French original version with English subtitles
