One month to go until the Berlinale, time for to catch a first glimpse of what will be on offer.
If TIFF can open with a Bruce Willis sci-fi thriller, the Berlinale can launch with a Chinese martial arts drama (in the official selection, but out of competition): The 63rd Berlinale starts on February 7 with the world premiere of The Grandmaster, the latest by director Wong Kar Wai, who will also be President of the International Jury.
Also in the line-up: The latest works by internationally acclaimed arthouse stars like Gus Van Sant (USA), Hong Sang-soo (Korea) and Ulrich Seidl (Austria), along with directors from Chile, Romania and the USA, are part of the Competition. The Panorama section has also selected its first documentaries and feature films, including Noah Baumbach, Rob Epstein, Jeffrey Friedman, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Lars Kraume, Julianne Moore, Amanda Seyfried and Felix van Groeningen. As far as Can Con goes, we will see Lian Lunson's film of a concert for Rufus Wainwright's late mother, Sing Me the Songs That Say I Love You - A Concert for Kate McGarrigle. Executive producer: Wim Wenders.
Other early announcements: The Honorary Golden Bear will be awarded to French documentary director Claude Lanzmann. The festival will also be taking a close look at filmmaking by indigenous peoples (more on that later) as well as the international appeal of Weimar Cinema, a retrospective that will travel to New York's MoMA in April.
Politics and history always feature large at the Berlinale. This year (like last year) several contributions deal with the Middle East conflict or address our coming to terms with the past. In that vein, the Berlinale will also hand out a new award, the Heiner Carow Prize. The DEFA Foundation will award this Euro 5000 prize to a film that employs extraordinary aesthetic means to deal with social and political issues, past or present.
Personally, I am hoping for more (German) films by new faces.
by Jutta Brendemühl, Goethe-Institut Toronto
