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Josiane Balasko

Actor
Born in Paris in 1950, filmmaker Josiane Balasko is a key figure in French cinema, successful as an actor, director, and screenwriter. Her career began as a member of the Parisian theater troupe Le Splendid, which produced cult films like *Les Bronzés* (1978). For her directorial work on *French Twist* (Gazon maudit, 1995), in which she also starred, she was awarded the César for Best Original Screenplay. The Académie des Arts et Techniques du Cinéma had already honored her acting performance in 1990 with the César for Best Actress for *Too Beautiful for You* (Trop belle pour toi). She received another nomination for her supporting role in the drama *By the Grace of God* (Grâce à Dieu, 2019). In 2000, her life's work was recognized with an Honorary César.

Films

Tralala

Tralala

By Arnaud Larrieu, Jean-Marie Larrieu

2021 | 121 min | Comedy

Offbeat, very funny French musical comedy that plays on the kitsch and mystique of the Lourdes pilgrimage site .

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Burning Beds

Burning Beds

1988 | 83 min | Comedy

It is well known that a German man's love of cars comes before his interest in the opposite sex. Gina wages a two-front war against this state of affairs: as a vehicle inspector at the TÜV, she lovingly seizes her opportunities to take revenge on man and machine, while in her private life she devotes herself to the previously missed sexual revolution with unreserved exploratory fury. What Gina does is done with German thoroughness. Harry, a Brit, values self-control, discretion and restraint. Qualities ...

Second Thoughts

Second Thoughts

2021 | 85 min | Drama

Marie is blindsided by her boyfriend at his brother's wedding in front of the assembled family with a marriage proposal. Marie has no idea how to react to this. She flees to the countryside to think about herself, her life and her relationship alone. Alone? In her mother's vacation home, things soon get increasingly tighter and more absurd: because Marie's thoughts suddenly take shape, her "thought people" become more numerous and more penetrating. They force possible baby names on her, an ex-boyfriend ...

Lifetimeshort

Lifetimeshort

2009 | 87 min | Comedy

Theater director Gesine Danckwart's feature debut LIFETIMESHORT is an ironic comedy about Berlin big city girls and how they cope with life and love in a late capitalist urban setting. ACHTUNG BERLIN 2009 Danckwart contrasts the women's tumultuous lives against a backdrop of cool, almost clinical-looking Berlin architecture. The city becomes another character in the story. Danckwart collaborated with her six actresses over the course of a year to develop the film's situations and dialogue. The result ...

Kissing?

Kissing?

2017 | 77 min | Comedy

Blunt, sarcastic, honest and in a signature style, filmmaker Yannis Korres' Mumblecore-romcom KISSING? is a declaration of love to the lost souls of today's crisis generation - a story about sex, love and (not) belonging. KISSING? won Best Acting in a debut film at the Athens International Film Festival. Staring down the barrel of their thirties, disoriented Xennials Danny (Thanassis Petropoulos) and Stella (Iro Bezou) feel utterly lost - just what is it about the remainder of their lives that frightens ...

Orpheus Rhapsodie

Orpheus Rhapsodie

2017 | 74 min | Drama

A woman dies in a tragic accident, but her soul remains in the here and now. But how? A quick-witted Berlin repairman has a hand in this.. A director wants to restage "Orpheus in the Underworld" but during the preparations for her film shoot she dies. A chance encounter keeps her from entering the afterlife and she is left to wander aimlessly. Then, a man with a suitcase meets her. Is this perhaps Orpheus? What should have been a film becomes more and more a strange parade of cheerfully lost figures ...

Working On It

Working On It

2008 | 50 min | Music, Dance, Theater

WORKING ON IT: directors Karin Michalski and Sabian Baumann explore the contemporary queer arts scene in Berlin and how perceptions of femininity and masculinity are constructed. The film asks “What happens when you don’t fit firmly into one box or the other?” - Soundtrack featuring Riot Girrrl bands: Lesbians on Ecstasy, Scream Club, Heidi Mortenson and Rhythm King and her friends.

Kaptn Oskar

Kaptn Oskar

2013 | 81 min | Independent

Oskar's not doing great. His ex-girlfriend Alex set his apartment on fire and now he's alone in his shabby basement. Then Masha shows up. She's not feeling so great either. Masha dates older men, but none give her the intimacy she craves. Together Oskar and Masha fight loneliness and drift through Berlin nights. Soon Oskar regrets their no sex deal and before you know it he ends up drunk back in Alex's bed. German Mumblecore celebrates improvisation, low-budget, agile hand camera, a volatile and ...

Absurdistan

Absurdistan

2008 | 87 min | Comedy

An allegorical comedy about two childhood sweethearts destined for one another until the women of their village go on a sex strike that threatens the couple's first night of love. Veit Helmer tells a lovably absurd story full of passion and fantasy. The young lovers Aya and Temelko seem destined for each other. They await their honeymoon, which is determined by Aya's grandmother and the stars. Finally, their speical night is to commence with a communal bath. But this doesn't happen, because the ...

Holger and Hanna

Holger and Hanna

2013 | 84 min | Comedy

HOLGER AND HANNA tells the story of shy 16 year old Holger who falls in love with his classmate Hanna. Not only the pains of first love, but also his parents' separation are troubling Holger. When his father Gerhard hooks up with Hanna, Holger is determined to win her at all costs. Unfortunately, his courtship can best be described as awkward, and eventually his parents send him to a therapist. The no budget production was financed by crowdfunding and cast with actors from renowned theaters in ...

Test Drive to Paradise

Test Drive to Paradise

1992 | 83 min | Timeless

Can love be sin? The young priest Strobel (Axel Milberg) takes part in a bus trip to Lourdes. On board: the strict nun (Christiane Hörbiger), a renitent bus driver (Mathias Gnädinger), a mysterious older lady (Inge von Ambesser) and a lot of pious foot soldiers. When the pregnant woman, (Barbara Auer) who smuggles herself into the bus Maria fanatics, turns out to be the lover of the priest, an unmasking hide-and-seek game of lustful lies and asceticism begins. "Fast paced with bold dialogue, beautiful ...