73rd Berlinale | Opening with strong support for Ukraine

(Berlin) The Berlinale kicks off Thursday with strong support for Ukraine, with a video intervention by President Volodymyr Zelensky during the opening ceremony in the early evening, nearly a year after the start of the Russian invasion.

One of the highlights of the first film festival of the year in Europe will also be the presentation, by American actor and director Sean Penn, of his documentary Superpowershot as close as possible to the Ukrainian leader, and former comedian, just at the time of the Moscow offensive a year ago.

Sean Penn, whose film is presented on Saturday, will be on stage from the gala on Thursday evening to dialogue with Volodymyr Zelensky.

The festival is alongside “the suffering population, the millions of people who have left Ukraine and the artists (who) have remained to defend the country and continue to film the war”, assured the co-director of the Berlinale. , Carlo Chatrian, emphasizing the “particular honor” of welcoming Zelensky in digital.

“In response to a world collapsing around us […]it’s a huge opportunity to be able to showcase magnificent things, ”said Kristen Stewart, president of the jury, during the inaugural press conference in Berlin on Thursday morning.

The 32-year-old American actress is the youngest jury president of the 73^e Berlin festival, the third in Europe behind Cannes and Venice.

Past of the series Twilight in independent cinema, at Olivier Assayas in particular, Stewart has at his side a mainly female jury.

Solidarity with Iranians

This jury includes in particular the Iranian actress exiled in France Golshifteh Farahani, seen in Hollywood in particular in Patersonor the Spaniard Carla Simon, winner of the 2022 Golden Bear with Our suns.

“It’s very symbolic to be in Berlin, the city where the wall fell” in a world where another wall is currently erected against freedom, said the Iranian artist, in reference to Ukraine, but also to Iran.

His country, where director Jafar Panahi has just been released on bail after seven months in prison, will also have a place of choice in a Berlinale which aims to be the voice of artists in resistance. Saturday, an exceptional climb of the steps is planned, in solidarity with the Iranians.

Several films on this country are listed in parallel sections and discussion sessions will focus on the evolution of the protest movement against the regime which has erupted since September.

Returning Stars

But all eyes will also be on the stars, who are back at the Festival after previous years marked by the health restrictions of the pandemic.

Shown Wednesday evening to the press, She Came To Mea film out of competition, features a series of stars, such as the American Anne Hathaway, Peter Dinklage, one of the main actors in Game Of Thronesand Marisa Tomei, seen in particular in several films of the Marvel universe.

American Steven Spielberg will present his most autobiographical film (The Fabelmans) and will be awarded an honorary Golden Bear for a career that changed the history of cinema, Sea teeth To AND..

Before the award ceremony on February 25, the jurors will have to decide between 19 films in competition.

Among them, manodromewith Jesse Eisenberg (The social network) and Adrian Brody (The pianist), a film about a muscular VTC driver and his “repressed desires”, or even a biopic about the Austrian poet Ingeborg Bachmann, played by the Luxembourg actress, Vicky Krieps.

Three French films are in the running: On the Adamant by Nicolas Philibert, documentary filmmakerTo be and to Havewho returned to the world of psychiatry after The least of it, The big cart of Philippe Garrel, with his three children, Louis, Esther and Léna and disco boyby the Italian Giacomo Abbruzzese, on the Foreign Legion, a feature film co-produced mainly by France.