(Berlin) The Berlinale will try from Thursday to maintain its rank as a major festival on the European circuit, with a 72and edition in the cinemas of the German capital, but a competition shortened because of the pandemic.
Posted at 10:03 a.m.
“The collective experience is at the heart of a film festival”, insisted artistic director Carlo Chatrian, testifying to the desire to hold an “in-person” edition at all costs, after having been forced to stick to an ersatz festival, online, last year.
In the midst of a wave of Omicron variants in Germany, the Berlinale had to revise its ambitions: the race for the Golden Bear will only last a week, until February 16, compared to the usual ten days, with gauges. Festival-goers, even vaccinated, will be tested every 24 hours.
In total, the feature film program is reduced by approximately 20 to 25% compared to a normal edition. Very few international stars are announced, none blockbusterespecially American, is registered for an edition that will more than ever give pride of place to auteur and avant-garde cinema.
Eighteen films, including seven signed by female directors, are in competition to succeed Romanian Radu Jude, who won the 2021 Golden Bear.
The prizes, including those for best performers, awarded since last year to an actor or an actress, will be awarded by a jury headed by one of the American masters of thriller, M. Night Shyamalan (the sixth sense, Unbreakable).
At his side, the Japanese filmmaker Ryûsuke Hamaguchi, the Brazilian Karim Aïnouz or the Franco-Tunisian producer Saïd Ben Saïd.
The Berlinale finds in competition a series of renowned filmmakers, sometimes already awarded, like the Italian veteran Paolo Taviani, 90 years old, with Leonora Addio, his first film since the death of his brother and lifelong sidekick, Vittorio. They had together won the Golden Bear ten years ago.
Also in competition is the South Korean Hong Sang-soo or the Frenchman François Ozon, another festival regular who awarded him a Grand Jury Prize in 2019 for Thanks to God. He opens the competition with peter von kantfree proofreading by Rainer Werner Fassbinder.
Post-Bataclan Narrative
The presentation of the first feature film around the attacks of November 13 in Paris, centered on a story by a survivor of the Bataclan, will necessarily be scrutinized. One year, one night is signed by the Spaniard Isaki Lacuesta, with the Argentinian Nahuel Perez Biscayart and the French Noémie Merlant.
Filmmaker Claire Denis will be in competition for the first time, for a film co-written with author Christine Angot (With love and determination), and in general French cinema and actors (Juliette Binoche at Claire Denis, Charlotte Gainsbourg and Emmanuelle Beart at Mikhaël Hers, Isabelle Adjani at Ozon…) will be well represented.
Outside the official competition, the Berlinale awaits the sulphurous king of the Italian “giallo” Dario Argento for a new film Occhiali Neriwhere he once again directs his daughter Asia, or the latest absurd comedy by Frenchman Quentin Dupieux, Incredible but true.
French actress Isabelle Huppert will receive an Honorary Golden Bear for her entire career.
In the absence of very big stars on the red carpet, with a completely dematerialized film market, the Berlinale will have a lot to do to prove its ability to hold its rank in a world calendar of very competitive major film festivals.
Also facing a wave of epidemic, the American festival of Sundance had to resolve in January to a completely online edition.
But Venice was luckier and the Mostra was able to be held in September on the Lido, attracting big American productions including Dunes by Denis Villeneuve.
Cannes had shown the way in July by reconnecting with glitter, screenings on the Croisette, and parades of stars. And the most prestigious of festivals is already preparing its next edition, back in May.