(Berlin) The 74e Berlin film festival will open in the colors of Ireland, with a drama about the treatment of women in Catholic institutions in the country, carried by actor Cillian Murphy (Oppenheimer), organizers announced Thursday.
Signed by Belgian director Tim Mielants, who previously directed Cillian Murphy in the series Peaky Blinders, Small Things Like These takes place in the mid-1980s.
The film returns to one of the scandals that have rocked Northern Ireland in recent years: the revelation of how thousands of women “fallen” in the eyes of the Church were sent to “Madeleine laundries” and put to work to wash away their sins.
“We are convinced that this story, which combines kindness towards the most vulnerable and the desire to fight against injustice, will resonate with everyone,” declared the artistic director of the Berlinale, Carlo Chatrian.
The festival, which will be held from February 15 to 25, will unveil on Monday the list of films competing for the Golden Bear, won last year by French documentary filmmaker Nicolas Philibert for On the Adamant.
The continuation, and second part, of this triptych on psychiatry, entitled Averroes and Rosa Parkswill be shown in Berlin, out of competition.
Among the announcements already made, the presidency of the jury is entrusted to the Mexican-Kenyan actress Lupita Nyong’o, who will be the first black person to occupy this prestigious position.
An honorary Golden Bear must be awarded to American director Martin Scorsese (Raging Bull, The Freedmen).
Losing momentum in recent years, the Berlinale also announced the appointment of a new director from April 2024, the American Tricia Tuttle. Mme Tuttle will succeed Mariette Rissenbeek and Carlo Chatrian, who have run the festival as a duo since 2020, and for a final edition this year.