I will "tweet" here from the 62nd Berlinale over the next two weeks, so watch this space for updates from 9-18 February. I’ll look at what stands out, what the trends & new tracks are in the landscape of German Cinema…. And who will win the coveted Golden and Silver Bears handed out by the International Jury 2012: Mike Leigh (President), Anton Corbijn, Asghar Farhadi, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Jake Gyllenhaal, François Ozon, Boualem Sansal and Barbara Sukowa. Director Dieter Kosslick has announced that many films focus on migration questions and right wing extremism. The 2012 Berlinale will also continue to show its support for Iranian filmmakers with several invitations. The Competition includes a stunning line-up of premieres by German auteurs Matthias Glasner, Christian Petzold, Hans-Christian Schmid and Volker Schlöndorff.
Art, glamour, parties & 400 films (& twice as many in the associated European Film Market) await me & half a million other visitors from over 100 countries.
You can catch the Berlinale's live-streaming of press conferences, photo calls, galas and red carpets here.
Fittingly, next in our GOETHE FILMS @ TIFF BELL LIGHTBOX spring program here in Toronto will focus on Berlin On Film with two quite different but not unrelated series:
24 Hours Berlin
Passages from the much lauded 24-hr real-time documentary of everyday life in the German capital.
March 12 +14
Watch this English report on 24 Hours Berlin by Deutsche Welle (incl. Daniel Barenboim)!
In The Face of Crime
The celebrated thriller series by “Berlin School” director Dominik Graf, which follows the engrossing characters of the Russian mafia in Berlin.
May 7+10+14
More on that in early March. Now off to Berlin…
by Jutta Brendemühl, Goethe-Institut Toronto
