Berlin Film Festival: Day One
Films, Stars & Rock'n'Roll: The 58th International Film Festival in Berlin
"A Bigger Bang" was one of the latter albums of the legendary Rolling Stones and the 58th international film festival in Berlin was indeed opened with a big bang on Thursday evening. Messrs. Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Ron Wood and Charlie Watts were all there to introduce their concert film Shine a Light. Director Martin Scorsese also attended - and it was funny to see how hard he and Mick Jagger were trying throughout the film to get along without losing control. "We shouldn't set Mick Jagger on fire", the Oscar winner commented dryly to one of his light-designers, as he adjusted his spot lights.
Even at the press conference, Sir Mick makes it very clear who the boss is for he would have consumed the whole show if he could; including the questions he wanted to ask himself. Scorsese eventually succeeded to get a word in edgeways by saying he was in Berlin 27 years previous at the then Berlinale to promote his masterpiece Raging Bull. Shine a Light is unfortunately not quite in the same class; the movie seems to be a live recording of the concerts with a few documentary inserts. A big bang is surely something slightly different from this.
The premiere audience enjoyed it nevertheless. The assembled German film and TV crews were joined on the red carpet by punk rock legend Patti Smith and the weirdly tousled Goldie Hawn. The latter was not nominated for anything this year; she just came to see some of the films. This is rather uncommon for most of the rich and beautiful: they do everything else at the Berlinale - except go to the cinema.
The big star rush will follow in the next days, with all the autograph hunters waiting with bated breath. Daniel Day-Lewis, Penelope Cruz, and Tilda Swinton are amongst other silver screen legends expected to arrive over the weekend. Yet, most "Berliner" are looking forward to seeing Bollywood beau Shahrukh Khan. The premiere of his new film Om Shanti Om was sold out within seven minutes which was an all time record. Let's see what other records will come along in the next few days.
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February 08, 2008
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