Documentaries on rock icon Patti Smith, gay Muslims, the South African political satirist Pieter-Dirk Uys and an Iraqi heavy metal band have been selected to screen in the Berlinale's Panorama programme.
The four films, which have been previously shown at other festivals, are:
Patti Smith: Dream Of Life, by Steven Sebring (US). The celebrity photographer's directorial debut was made over 12 years and is in the documentary competition of next week's Sundance Film Festival. Smith is expected to give a concert and possibly a poetry reading to tie-in with the screening at the Berlinale.
A Jihad For Love by Parvez Sharma (US/Germany/UK). Made over six years, Sharma's debut feature documentary documents the lives of gay Muslims in 12 countries.
Darling! The Pieter-Dirk Uys Story by Julian Shaw (Australia). The New Zealand-born filmmaker's debut documentary, featuring appearances by Bishop Desmond Tutu and Nelson Mandela among others, portrays the controversial South African political satirist and his work educating school children about the threat of HIV/AIDS.
Heavy Metal In Baghdad by Eddy Moretti and Suroosh Alvi (US). A portrait of the Iraqi heavy metal band Acrassicauda (Latin for black scorpion) from the fall of Saddam Hussein in 2003 to the present day.
Meanwhile, two Special Teddy Awards recognising particular services to queer film culture will be presented at this year's 22nd Queer Film Awards which will held during the Berlinale on February 14.
One of the special awards will honour Germany's Hans Stempel and Martin Ripkens for a career spanning over 50 years together as film critics, film scouts and filmmakers, while the second Special Teddy will acknowledge the filmmaker Derek Jarman's extended 'family' of friends and colleagues - Tilda Swinton, James Mackay, Isaac Julien, Colin McCabe, Keith Collins and Simon Fisher Turner - for keeping the filmmaker's Jarman's works accessible and his inimitable 'spirit' alive.
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