A new Berlinale

Once again, one of the most important international film festivals has begun so make sure not to miss the Berlinale between the 5th and 15th of February.

It would seem this year’s edition is promoting a secular and humanist self-awareness. Curator Wieland Speck says the festival is definitely more willing to take risks in confronting violence and abuse through the screening of films exposing offenders, giving voice to victims or raising the issue. Some films recommended on this topic are Tough Love, Chorus, Daniel´s World, Ode to my Father or Paradise in Service.

If you’re a young film-maker yourself, you should check out the masterclasses in the “Berlinale Talents” section. Experienced professionals will share their insight on a wide range of topics like director-actor relationship, production development or production design.

On the matter of young film-makers, Jury President Darren Aronofsky (Pi, The Wrestler, Noah) stated “I think it’s exciting that anyone can more easily get the tools to tell stories”; so do know, there’s a series of shorts, which the festival will screen in an attempt to get some exposure to young independent film-makers, films which you can filter out in the schedule under the “Generation”, “Perspektive Deutsches Kino” or “Berlinale Shorts” screening categories.

We’ll just spare you some effort and put a link to the Berlinale’s YT playlist of trailers over here. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3KJwXhVZddc&list=PL0HKUAQtIaveCzHLk2gl6CmzYYvCCsv8a

The helpful U inn Tipp: MasterCard users have the possibility to buy tickets from automats placed at Potsdamer Platz Arkaden.

Focusing on the competition screenings, here’s a selection of a few brand new films a movie-lover can’t miss:

Cha Con Va tells a story about thugs, a street photographer in 90s Saigon and repressed homosexuality.

El boton de nacar/The Pearl Button describes the timelessness of the Patagonia Archipelago, and lets several of the locals tell their own experience with the waters, who seem to have their own life.

Body is an authentic approach on grief, anorexia and coping with mental illness in shades of dark humor.

Aferim! promises to be a history lesson for today´s European society, mostly unaware of the history of Roma slavery, a brand new Romanian film on early 1800s Balcan area, inter-ethnic relationships and prejudice.

Ixcanul is a coming of age story about a Guatemalan girl forced to rediscover her world, after being betrayed by her lover who flees the coffee plantation without her.

Eisenstein in Guantajuato is the newest Peter Greenaway ouvre, about film pioneer Sergey Eisentein’s contact with a world that defies his ideological perception and forces him to learn humanity.

Nobody Wants The Night is set in the yet undiscovered Arctic of the early 1900s and tells the story of the wife of an explorer, set on a journey to look for her husband and finding a friendship with an Inuit woman, with whom she shares a lot more than expected. Starring Juliette binoche…

Sworn Virgin follows Hana throughout her journey of breaking away from the traditional Albanian world and her pledge of chastity to discovering her sexuality and meeting her extended family in Italy.

See you in the theatres!

 

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