Billie August Tagged Articles at Cinematical

It's official. Berlinale has announced the six contenders in their film competition. Those in the running include some Berlin favorites as well as American repeats. Here is the list of nominees:

• The Good German -- which has received mixed reviews in America -- is directed by Steven Soderbergh and stars George Clooney (a Berlinale regular), Cate Blanchett, and Tobey Maguire. The film takes place in a post war Berlin where an investigative reporter finds himself in the center of a murder mystery. The controversy continues when unexpected people from his past become inconveniently intertwined.

• The Good Shepherd is an interesting pick to say the least. Robert DeNiro both stars in and directs a film that has yet to receive any noteworthy appreciation. Matt Damon (not my favorite) and Angelina Jolie (strangely miscast) play a couple who is ultimately torn apart by Damon's occupation with the CIA. It also takes place in the 1930s; maybe Berlinale is dwelling in this era a bit this year?

• German director Christian Petzold will be showing his second Berlinale nominated film Yella. The storyline profiles a woman who wishes to escape a life that refuses to stop following her no matter where she relocates.

• Irina Palm starring Marianne Faithful is the second film made by Belgian director Sam Garbarski. Faithful plays a struggling widow who takes a sex position in order to survive.

• Goodbye Bafana is an intriguing true-life story about the prison guard who protected Nelson Mandela during his internment. Billie August directs as Joseph Fiennes plays James Gregory, the prison guard.

• Last but not least is a film from South Korean director Chan-wook Park. I Am A Cyborg But That's Ok tells the story of a woman living in a psychiatric hospital who believes she is a cyborg (this may be about me soon due to my recent obsession with Battlestar Gallactica). During her stay she falls in love with a man suffering from mental ailments of his own.

Continuing the long string of real-life inspired films that have been rolling into theaters recently, Danish director Bille August is set to direct a movie about Nelson Mandela's relationship with the white prison guard who was his personal warden during Mandela's long incarceration on Robben Island. Entitled Goodbye Bafana, the film is based on a memoir of the same name by the guard, James Gregory (adapted for the screen by Greg Latter). 'Bafana Bafana' is the nickname by which the South African soccer team is known; one assumes the word 'Bafana' is a fond general reference to the country itself, but if someone knows for sure, please let us know in the comments.*

The multinational cast will be anchored by the wonderful Dennis Haysbert as Mandela, with Joseph Fiennes as his guard and German actress Diane Kruger in the role of Gregory's wife. Playing an icon like Mandela is an unimaginably huge responsibility - I can't even fathom the pressure that Haysbert must feel. He is, however, one of the must dignified, underrated screen presences we have right now (not to mention by far the best spokesman an insurance company has ever had); if anyone can do it, he's probably up to the task.

The film has a budget of about $25 million, and is expected to start shooting next month in South Africa.

*Thanks to Serena for clearing things up: "Eh, the name Bafana, in the context of this story, has nothing to do with football or the nation. This is supposed to be James Gregory's story, and when he was a kid he had a zulu friend named Bafana. When Mandela was released, Gregory embraced him and said, "goodbye, Bafana", recalling the friend from his childhood."

[via Dark Horizons]