Bear's Kiss - What's New?

-the unofficial website

6 January 2004

For all of you who enjoyed the music of Bear's Kiss; according to film producer Pandora Film, it's unlikely that the soundtrack will ever be released. However, the music cue sheet where the complete soundtrack of Bear's Kiss is listed can be found here! Most of the music is specially written and composed for Bear's Kiss by SIG and Giya Kancheli, but there are also a few songs from other sources. I'm sure you will recognize the song Marrakesh Night Market (right click to save), performed by Canadian singer Loreena McKennit! It's from her album Mask and Mirror, 1994. Please visit Loreena McKennit's website for more information and short excerpts from her songs.

5 January 2004

The media gallery has been slightly re-organised and updated with pictures of the DVD covers from Belgium/Netherlands, Italy and Russia! Also, I have added a few more pictures, with better resolution, from the film festival in Venice 2002.

11 November 2003

Bear's Kiss will be released at the theaters in Germany on December 11. Production company Pandora Film presents the film on a nice new website, with the German title Der Kuss des Bären! Here you will find production notes about the film, pictures and biographies of the actors, and a very beautiful trailer! Don't be afraid to believe!

At the same time, Bear's Kiss has already been released on home video (VHS and DVD) in the Netherlands and in Belgium by the Dutch film distributor A-Film. Still no news about a possible release in Sweden or the nordic countries.

28 September 2003

Check out the interesting website Music in Russia, made by Andy Hurwitz. Lots of interesting stuff about Russian music and films. Here you will also find two high quality video clips from Bear's Kiss! The first clip is 'Lous's song' which is actually quite a funny song. The second clip is 'Beardance' where you will see Lola dancing with her bear, one of the most beautiful sequences of the film. Unfortunately the sound doesn't work in this clip.

No news about Bear's Kiss as far as Sweden is concerned, but the film has been shown in Spanish theaters this summer and is expected to open in Germany in the beginning of next month. For those of you who are not lucky enough to live in a country where Bear's Kiss is shown at the theaters there is always the possibility to buy the film on DVD or VHS. The Russian DVD-release has two sound tracks - the original sound with mostly English dialogue and a Russian dubbed sound track. The Russian DVD can be ordered from oebdvd. Please note that the film is released in DVD-PAL format without regional coding.

9 March 2003

Sorry for the lack of updates lately, but regrettably there isn't much happening for the moment. This website has been down for a little while, due to some problems with my internet supplier. As a result of this, the URL has changed. Please note, however, that the shortcut welcome.to/bearskiss will always point at the correct URL.

13 January 2003

Latest news about expected theatrical release of Bear's Kiss in Europe. According to mybasel.ch Bear's Kiss will open on January 23rd at the theaters in Basel, Switzerland. We assume this means that Bear's Kiss will have a major release in Switzerland on this date, although there is no confirmation from official film distributor Monopole Pathé Films as yet. In France, Bear's Kiss will open on March 26, according to the reliable source AlloCiné. Also, sources at Joachim Krol homepage say that Bear's Kiss will be released in Spain on January 30th. In Germany, the responsible film production company Pandora Film confirms that no decision regarding theatrical release has been taken yet. The same goes for Sweden, where co-producer Memfis Film tells us that they don't have any information regarding theatrical release of Bear's Kiss.

12 January 2003

Bear's Kiss will be screened at the international film festival in Bangkok, Friday 17th of January at 18.30 local time, and Saturday 18th of January at 11.00 local time, in the theater Major WTC. For more info, please visit the film festival website.

4 January 2003

Great News! Bear's Kiss, starring Rebecka Liljeberg, has recently been released on DVD & VHS in Russia! This is a little bit surprising considering the fact that theatrical release took place only one month ago. Apart from Russia, the only other country where the film has had a major theatrical release so far is Italy. The recent Russian video release might indicate that the chances of a theatrical release in Sweden as well as other European countries are now less likely.

For people who reside in Russia, Bear's Kiss is available to order at RusHall. For people in the rest of the world, Bear's Kiss is available to order at RBC Online. Another source is Norwegian based oebdvd. Note that the film is released in DVD-PAL without regional coding. Further information about technical details and extra options on the Russian DVD are not available yet. Major spoken language in Bear's Kiss is English.

15 December 2002

The trailer for Bear's Kiss is now also available for download! Direct link to the trailer is to be found here. Right-click and choose "save target as". The trailer is in asx-format at 12.7 MB. The previously mentioned video clip from the first meeting between Lola and the human incarantion of bear Misha is now also available for download! Direct link to the video clip is to be found here. Right-click and choose "save target as". The video clip is in asx-format at 20.1 MB and with a slightly better picture quality than the trailer.

Many thanks to Ole at oebfa.com for making the trailer and video clip available! If you are interested in Lukas Moodysson and his films Fucking Åmål (aka Show me Love), Together and Lilya 4-ever, I strongly recommend a visit to oebfa.com!

12 December 2002

A trailer for Rebecka Liljeberg's latest film Bear's Kiss is now available on the website of film distributor Fortissimo Film Sales! Please note that the trailer is streaming media that opens directly in Windows Media Player. Direct link to the trailer is here (high bandwidth) and here (low bandwidth).

26 November 2002

On Thursday, the 28th of November, theatrical release of Bear's Kiss will take place in Russia. The Russian film company CTB Film are co-producers of Bear's Kiss and presents the film including related articles on their website. Unfortunately the articles are in Russian only, but with the help of Altavista Babelfish you will get some assistance with the translation.
Several new pictures, with a resolution of 1156x768 pixels, from Bear's Kiss has also recently been released. All new pictures are of course to be found in the Media section!

25 November 2002

Russian film poster
A video clip from Bear's Kiss is no available on the Korean film site Film 2.0. The video clip shows the first meeting between Lola and the human incarnation of bear Misha. Direct link to the video clip is here. Please note that this is streaming media which opens directly in Windows Media Player.

10 November 2002

Next stop for Bear's Kiss is the International Film Festival in Pusan, South Korea, which takes place between the 14th and 23rd of November. Bear's Kiss competes in the section World Cinema and will be screened at the theater MegaBox5 the 16th of November at 20.00 local time, and at Busan1 the 21st of November at 20.00.

According to the website of official film distributor Fortissimo Film Sales Bear's Kiss is ready for distribution in the following countries: The Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, Japan, Hong Kong, Greece and Israel. Not including, one assumes, Italy, where theatrical release has already taken place, plus Russia and Switzerland who has already advised theatrical release during winter 2002/2003. Still nothing confirmed regarding Swedish premiere though.

14 October 2002

For those of you who want to see more of Rebecka Liljeberg there is some new material from the film festival in Venice available. During the festival interviews were arranged, where ordinary festival visitors had the chance to come close to and even ask questions to the directors and actors. A film interested guy from Italy visited one of these sessions with Bear's Kiss and managed to get some pictures of our favourite actress! If that wasn't enough, he also filmed parts of the interview which is now available as a video clip at www.rebecca-liljeberg.com. Direct link to the video clip is here. Right-click and choose "save target as". The video clip is in mpeg4-format. If you have trouble viewing the clip, downloading Quicktime 6 movie player should solve the problem. Thanks to Xooobaa for the material!

6 October 2002

In spite of the tragic avalanche accident in Russia the 20th of September, where actor and director Sergei Bodrov Jr is believed to have been killed, Bear's Kiss was shown as planned at the film festival in Hamburg the 28th of September. Bodrov Jr's father, director Sergei Bodrov Sr was present during the film screening and explained that in spite of the tragic events it was a pleasure for him to be in Germany and introduce the film. Togehter with actor Joachim Krol he went in front of the audience before the screening and explained what had happened. It was an apparently difficult situation for Bodrov Sr who was awarded with standing ovations from the audience before the film was shown. This was reported by Sebastian Lukaszyk, www.rebecca-liljeberg.com, who was present at the film screening in Hamburg.

27 September 2002

A few days ago we were reached by the very sad news that Russian actor and film director Sergei Bodrov Jr was reported missing after a severe avalanche accident in the Russian Caucasus mountains. Sergei Bodrov Jr, who performs the human incarnation of the bear Misha in Bear's Kiss, was shooting on location in the little town of Karmadon in the Russian republic of North Ossetia, when the accident occurred late last Friday, the 20th of September. After an extensive rescue operation during several days, the chances of finding more survivors are believed to be very slim. Sergei Bodrov Sr (director of Bear's Kiss), who himself arrived in North Ossetia on Tuesday is said to have accepted there is no longer any hope of finding his son alive under the collapsed glacier. More detailed news can be find at for instance BBC News and Guardian Unlimited.

26 September 2002

Italian street poster (source: www.rebeckaliljeberg.tk)

The actors and the director of Bear's Kiss

Bear's Kiss went largely unnoticed through the film festival in Toronto and wasn't awarded with any prizes during the ceremony on the 15th of September. None of the actors were present in Toronto, instead the film was represented by director Sergei Bodrov himself. Next stop will be at the film festival in Hamburg where Bear's Kiss will be shown in the theatre Zeise 1 on Saturday the 28th of September at 19.45 local time, and at the theatre Abaton on Sunday the 29th of September at 17.30. So far Bear's Kiss has already been released in Italian theaters, where it had its premiere the 13th of September. Il bacio dell'orso, which is the Italian title, is properly launched with big street posters. Further reviews in Italian are available at Gli Spietati and KW Cinema, where you will also find a short video clip from the film! The video clip is from one of the scenes that was shot in Uddevalla, Sweden. Real Player and a reasonably fast connection is required to be able to watch the clip in streaming media. Unfortunately the picture quality isn't very good.

9 September 2002

Yesterday, the 59th edition of the film festival in Venice ended. The coveted Golden Lion was awarded to the beforehand favorite Magdalene Sisters directed by Peter Mullan. Bear's Kiss, as expected after the half-hearted reception from the audience, didn't receive any prizes. Better luck next time, at the film festival in Toronto, where Bear's Kiss is scheduled for its first screening on Friday the 13th of September. Lets hope the ill-advised date isn't a bad sign...

7 September 2002

Press conference and photocall in Venice

The first reviews of Bear's Kiss, from film critics who have seen the film in Venice, wasn't very exuberant. The critics are of the opinion that the film and the story is too conventional and too predictable in order for it to be a hot candidate for the first prize in competition. On the other hand, the actors, and especially the leading character Rebecka Liljeberg, receives high marks for their performances. What reception Bear's Kiss will receive from the cinema audience of course remains to be seen. Reviews are available at German Perlentaucher, Spanish Estrella Digital, plus Italian Supereva Cinema and Cinefestival. Thanks to Anders at www.rebeckaliljeberg.tk for the notification.
For those of you who want to see more from Venice there are two film clips with Rebecka Liljeberg and the other actors from Bear's Kiss available; the official photocall session and the catwalk outside Sala Grande. Right-click on the files and choose "save target as".

5 September 2002

Yesterday, during the film festival in Venice, Bear's Kiss was showed for the first time in front of an audience. After the film screening, a press conference and photo session with the director and some of the actors followed. Leading character Rebecka Liljeberg was photographed together with director Sergei Bodrov and some of the other actors in the film; Maurizio Donadoni, Silvio Orlando, Ariadna Gil, Joachim Krol and Keith Allen. Read also translations of the latest news articles in Swedish Aftonbladet and SvD - TT Spektra plus a longer interview with Rebecka Liljeberg in Svenska Dagbladet. More information about the reception of the film at the festival is to be expected soon.

29 August 2002

Tonight, the opening ceremony of the film festival in Venice took place in Sala Grande. Bear's Kiss will be shown for the first time in Sala Grande Wednesday 4th of September at 6.00 pm local time and at PalaBNL at 7.45 pm the same evening.
At the film festival in Toronto, Bear's Kiss will be shown at Uptown1 Friday 13th of September at 6.15 pm local time and at Varsity 2/3 Saturday 14th of September at 8.45 am. Read Piers Handlings description of Bear's Kiss.

There are still no news about theatrical release of Bear's Kiss in Sweden, but in Switzerland, the film distributor Monopole Pathé Films AG has set the release date 23rd of January 2003. There are also reports about planned theatrical release in Italy and Russia during autumn 2002, but nothing is confirmed as yet.

21 August 2002

After the world premiere at the film festival in Venice, the introduction of Bear's Kiss will continue at the film festival in Toronto, September 5-14, 2002. Bear's Kiss will compete in the category Contemporary World Cinema. Complete film title list for the festival in Toronto can be found here.

17 August 2002

With little more than two weeks left before the world premiere of Bear's Kiss the 4th of September, several new pictures has been released from the film. Please visit the Media section to see all pictures!

31 July 2002

The film festival in Venice turns out to be really interesting from a Swedish perspective. Apart from Bear's Kiss with Rebecka Liljeberg in the leading part, Lukas Moodysson's latest film Lilja 4-ever will take part in the festival as well. Lukas Moodysson's debut film Fucking Åmål from 1998 was Rebecka Liljeberg's breakthrough as an actress. Now, Lukas and Rebecka will be up against each other, although not in direct competition. Bear's Kiss has qualified for the main competition about the coveted Golden Lion, while Lilja 4-ever competes in the section "Upstream". Read also a translation of an article in Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet.

30 July 2002

It's now officially confirmed that Bear's Kiss will be shown for the first time at the film festival in Venice, which will be running from August 29 to September 8, 2002. The official program is available on the festival homepage. There is still no news on when we can expect a theatrical release of Bear's Kiss.

19 June 2002

Time is slowly drawing nearer to the premiere of Bear's Kiss. With little more than two months left until the film festival in Venice, where Bear's Kiss according to unconfirmed information will be shown, more news about the film keeps coming up. These two pictures were found on the Italian film site Tam Tam Cinema. More pictures from the film shooting as well as screenshots from the real film is to be expected soon! Watch this space!

18 June 2002

Almost exactly one year ago, the Swedish part of the shooting of Bear's Kiss in Lysekil and Uddevalla ended. You can read about my own observations as a spectator of the film shooting in my report First Position Please!, if you haven't already done it. Another person present at the last day of shooting in Uddevalla was the Swedish radio reporter Johan Bergström. His report from the film shooting was aired on the Swedish radio channel P1, 16 August 2001. This report is now available in Real Audio (Swedish only of course!) and as a transcript, translated to English. Thanks to Anders for the Real Audio file.

14 June 2002

From the latest information received by sources involved in the production of Bear's Kiss, there are many indications that the premiere of the film will take place at the film festival in Venice in the beginning of September. Bear's Kiss is now ready and, according to director Sergei Bodrov, everybody is pleased with it. The film apparently also consists of a very interesting soundtrack, including a flamenco recorded in Spain that is said to be fantastic! Promotion pictures from the shooting of Bear's Kiss was taken by photographer Bernd Spauke and are expected to crop up on his website www.spauke.com in about two months, just before the film premiere. Release dates for theaters in Sweden and other countries are not yet decided.

13 May 2002

According to sources involved in the production of Bear's Kiss, the release of the film is now scheduled for the film festival in Venice (The 59th Mostra Internazionale d'Arte Cinematografica) that will be running from August 29 to September 8, 2002. Theater release in some European countries is expected to take place during autumn 2002.

Today I also want to take the opportunity to wish our favorite actress Rebecka Liljeberg a Very Happy Birthday!

28 April 2002

It doesn't look like Bear's Kiss will have its premiere at the film festival in Cannes after all. Sergei Bodrov's latest film was not included in the selection presented at the Cannes festival homepage a few days ago anyway. If this is because Bear's Kiss wasn't good enough to qualify for the festival or if it's simply not ready yet, we don't know. Possibly Bear's Kiss will turn up at some other film festival later this year or they can also choose to release it separately. I will keep you updated as soon as I know anything.

8 April 2002

We are still waiting for information about when Bear's Kiss will have its premiere. None of the Swedish co-producers or co-financiers, Memfis Film and Film i Väst, seem to know when to expect the first opening in Swedish cinemas. The original plan was for the film to make its debut at the film festival in Cannes, to be held in May 15-26, 2002. It remains to be seen whether or not Bear's Kiss will be selected for the festival, and if so whether it manages to catch the attention of the film distributors or not. The selection of films to be presented at the festival in Cannes will be official on April 24.

1 March 2002

Rebecka While we're waiting for the first opening of Bear's Kiss it might be of interest to listen to an interview with our favorite actress! Well, the interview is in Swedish only but you can still enjoy the sound of her voice... I have also written a transcript and translation to help you understand what it's all about. This interview was made by Swedish educational radio UR about one year ago and was broadcasted on several regional radio stations in Sweden during spring 2001. Parts of the radio program are slightly outdated since the interview was made before Rebecka got her part in Bear's Kiss. And even if Rebecka now probably has other things but university studies on her mind, the interview, where Rebecka talks about her studies at Komvux and her life as an actress, is very interesting to listen to. It was especially interesting to find out how Rebecka proceeds when she has to learn her lines and prepare herself for a new film role... maybe not what one would have thought!

The interview entitled URsinne is available in Real Audio and as a transcript in the Media section. Thanks to Anders for assisting with the Real Audio files.

1 February 2002

These news might not be of any great importance for people outside of Sweden, but on Saturday, 2 February, the film Prisoner of the Mountains will be shown on Swedish channel SVT2 at 21.15. Prisoner of the Mountains (original title Kavkazskij Plennik) is directed by Sergei Bodrov, the man responsible for the upcoming release of Bear's Kiss. Prisoner of the Mountains is a story about two russian soldiers who are taken captives by rebels during the uproar in the little Caucasian republic of Chechen. The film exhibits beautiful views over the Caucasus mountains and is a rather quiet and tranquil story about friendship and loyalty being put to the test. In one of the leading parts we can see Sergei Bodrov Jr, who also takes part in the upcoming Bear's Kiss.

Prisoner of the Mountains has won several awards at international film festivals and was also nominated for an Oscar in the category Best Foreign Language Film at the Academy Awards in 1997. This film is well worth seeing, if only as a study in Sergei Bodrov's storytelling and maybe as a hint of what we can expect from Bear's Kiss.

13 January 2002

Thanks for all the positive feedback I have received during the last few weeks! It's nice to hear that you like the site! There are still several months left before the film festival in Cannes and the planned release of Bear's Kiss, which means that so far there are not many news to report. Anyway, I have updated the Media section with a collage of pictures from the film shooting in Sweden and Spain.

25 December 2001

As you might have noticed some parts are still under construction, but this site will be developed little by little. You can start by checking out the Media section where you will find a number of articles about the film Bear's Kiss and its lead actress Rebecka Liljeberg, including my own report from the Swedish part of the film shooting this summer!

22 December 2001

Welcome to my homepage about Bear's Kiss - about the film and the actress. At the time of writing this I haven't even seen this film. Actually, no one has seen this film yet, because it's still in post production. It might seem a little strange making a website about a film that no one has seen. But I've got a feeling that Bear's Kiss will be great. Really great. With one of the best and most talented actresses of Sweden in the leading part, how could it possibly go wrong... read more