Agency Report
The 72nd Berlin film festival opens Thursday, bucking a trend of pandemic on-the-couch streaming with a packed programme of live premieres featuring a stable of European screen legends.
Just as the coronavirus outbreak roars toward its peak in Germany, Berlinale organisers have opted for an 11-day, in-person celebration of new movies and a gala ceremony to award its Golden Bear top prize.
The festival said it was crucial to give cinemas a boost when Covid-19 fears had fuelled home viewing on small screens, and the German government called the “courageous” step of holding the event “a sign of hope”.
“It says: we won’t let corona beat us. We need cinema and culture,” government spokesman Wolfgang Buechner said.
Artistic director Carlo Chatrian said the Berlinale aimed to give weary audiences a break and some inspiration.
“Never before we have seen and welcomed so many love stories as this year — crazy, improbable, unexpected and intoxicating love, which is after all what all encounters are about deep down.”
– Nick Cave, conflict zones –
In competition are 18 films from around the world from hot young auteurs and cinema veterans — including seven directed by women. More than 200 other pictures are showing in sidebar sections.
A jury led by Indian-born American director M. Night Shyamalan (“The Sixth Sense”) will pick the winners.
The line-up includes new movies from French directors Francois Ozon and Claire Denis, “Carol” screenwriter Phyllis Nagy and Italy’s Paolo Taviani, a previous winner and at 90 the oldest award contender.
Italian horror master Dario Argento will show his first new picture in a decade — “Dark Glasses”, starring his daughter Asia Argento.
Autograph seekers will be banned from the red carpet but stars including Emma Thompson, Sigourney Weaver, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Juliette Binoche, Isabelle Huppert and Mark Rylance have been invited to present their latest films.
Huppert will also pick up a Golden Bear for lifetime achievement.
South Korean festival favourite Hong Sang-soo will unveil “The Novelist’s Film” and Li Ruijun, part of a new generation of Chinese arthouse directors, will show his village romance “Return to Dust”.
In keeping with its tradition as the most politically minded of the big festivals, the Berlinale will turn the spotlight on conflict zones including South Sudan, the Central African Republic, Myanmar and eastern Ukraine, with a slew of new documentaries.
Plus “This Much I Know To Be True” will show how Australian rocker Nick Cave stayed creative under lockdown.
