Wednesday 4 July 2012

First edition of Berlin Fashion Film Festival

Report, text and impression images are by Anne-Luise Gerlach 


It’s here again - The time of Fashion Weeks all around the globe. This week the Berlin Fashion Week started and on this occasion Berlin Fashion Film Festival 2012 was initiated. The first edition of Berlin Fashion Film Festival was kicked off yesterday, 3rd of July, with the official screenings of the finalists and I had the pleasure of going and experiencing it firsthand.

Berlin Fashion Film Festival presents fashion in an innovative way, combining film with fashion presentations, whilst grouping together outstanding film directors, emerging fashion talent and influential characters of the international creative scene. A selection of fashion films, curated by Vogue.it, Esmod Berlin, Sugarhigh, FIER management, and Furore, and additionally selected through an online open call were screened and awarded according to different categories.
  The categories were assessed by an international jury, which included Diane Pernet for Best Fashion Film, Yann Le Goec for Best Fashion, Johan Renck for Best Cinematography, Till Diestel for Best Idea, and Oliver Koletzki for Best Music. 
Berlin Fashion Film Festival returns fashion to its creative origins, supporting emerging talent by exploring fashion through cinema. It is simply an alternative and refreshing way of seeing fashion in a different context.







First of all, it was the first time I have been to an event like this, so I did not really know what to expect. Of course, everyone knows the Berlinale (Berlin Film Festival), the Tribeca Film Festival, the Cannes Film Festival or the Sundance Film Festival but this particular kind of film festival itself is not very old and it is still in a phase of establishment and gaining recognition in and outside of the industry. Making fashion related films might be not as original but to put on a festival specially for this kind of art is rather new and was introduced to the industry by the “mother” of fashion film festivals Diane Pernet, who is the founder of the fashion film festival a Shaded View On Fashion Film (ASVOFF) and who also contributed as a judge at the Berlin Fashion Film Festival.

But of course I was wondering how it’s going to be beforehand and I must say I myself expected a little bigger audience. But a smaller gathering did not make it any less fun and interesting. In contrary it gave it a very cozy and chilled atmosphere which was also owed to the location. Directly located at the river Spree and with the evening sun it gave it a nice summery touch which was to be enjoyed with a nice glass of wine. In all, the finalists screening showed 28 short films which were either related to fashion, had a fashion background or were initiated by a fashion or clothing brand. Each film was very different from the other; original, individual, entertaining and very expressive in their own way although with one or two films I have to say, I had the feeling of having seen it already somewhere else. Sometimes it even was a little weary to figure out the story behind it, but that’s the gripping and intriguing part about it I guess – figuring out how everything falls into place together, seeing it as a whole or just seeing the fashion itself.  





















And the winners are
After all films were presented the winners of the categories Best Fashion, Best Music, Best Cinematography, Best Idea and Best Fashion Film were announced. 

In the category Best Fashion, Tata Christiane in the film “Das Schloss”, was chosen the winner by Yann le Goec, founder of the leading Tokyo-basedstore Wut-Berlin and who is known for his forward fashion sense and skilful fashion selections. 


Label manager, producer, bandleader and international DJ Oliver Koletzki had the agony of choice of selecting the winner in the category Best Music which went to the film “Stamen” by Calum Macdiarmid. 
The award in the category Best Cinematography went to Jakob Süß for the film “The Game of Things”. Judge for this category was one of the most respected and sought after commercial and music video directors today – Johan Renck. 
For the category Best Idea the Berlin Fashion Film Festival Team could win innovation director Till Diestel over as a judge. This category was won by Justin Anderson for “Get Richard”.

Last but not least the winner for Best Fashion Film was announced. Here the legendary Diane Pernet had the power to decide who should take home this particular honor and again it was the film “Get Richard” by Justin Anderson


Unfortunately, Diane Pernet, Oliver Koletzki and Johan Renck could not be there in person to present the awards for their categories. This year Alonso Dominguez from Sugar High presented the award for Best Fashion Film on behalf of Diane Pernet. This would also be my only tiny point of criticism, that three out of five judges were not available and could not attend the event. Additional screenings of the winning films will take place on July 5 and on July 6. If you are in Berlin this week and became interested you can go and see the winning films for yourself on Sunday, June 8 at The Wye door C (Skalitzer Strasse 86) when it is open to the public.
 It’s worth a visit!  The only thing left to say now is that I had a great time and enjoyed it very much!

Church of Chica by Tom Van der Borght
The organizers had a little surprise up their sleeves when right before the break the passage way was used as a catwalk to show the collection Church of Chica by Tom Van der Borght which was just featured in the film “COC” by DreamCamEra before.

















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