After last year's hit German arthouse Berlinale edition (a hit at least in the catalogue, if not always on screen) —3 Germans in Competition! New Wenders! New Dresen! New von Trotta! New Herzog! VICTORIA!—, what can the Berlinale 2016 possibly bring in terms of German A-listers?
2015 was a record year for cinema in Germany and German cinema, which cornered a shocking quarter of the market with 35 million viewers for
German (co-)productions. A quarter of the 2015 Berlinale program was made up of German films and co-productions — 96 to be exact out of just over 400. Compare this to 72 out of 434 this year, according to Berlinale head Dieter Kosslick’s count. When asked by the Berliner Morgenpost whether this signifies a lull in German cinema, he just blamed timing. Which is true of course — programmers can only program (good) films that are ready.
But the very last announcement for the Competition was the (only) German film in the line-up for the coveted Golden Bear, besides three previously announced co-pros by Vincent Perez, Mia Hansen-Love and Rafi Pitts.
Anne Zohra Berrached’s tragic drama 24 WEEKS is her graduation film, reminiscent of an under-30 Andreas Dresen, who got his big start at the first "reunified" Berlinale 1991.
Berrached was at the Berlinale three years ago with her student feature debut TWO MOTHERS, a lesbian drama that got attention at the Perspektive Deutsches Kino sidebar and won the Dialogue en Perspective Award. Based on Berrached's previous shorts and debut, I have high hopes.
Read my interview with her here next week.
More good news: The
Honorary Golden Bear 2016 goes to cinematography legend Michael Ballhaus, just before he retires. This gives the Berlinale an attractive opportunity to screen a dozen of
his 130 films —15 with Fassbinder, 7 with Scorsese, others with Wolfgang Petersen, Volker Schlöndorff, Robert Redford, Paul Newman, and Francis Ford Coppola, among others. I especially look forward to MARTHA and THE AGE OF INNOCENCE. If you want to catch up on Ballhaus’ visual world, watch the Goethe-Institut film called
“Michael Ballhaus – The Flying Eye”.
But my German programming caveats remain this year, with only one (albeit very promising young) German in the Competition.
And Doris Dörrie’s latest black-and-white FUKUSHIMA, MON AMOUR, premiering in the Panorama section, will have to make good on her last few disappointments.
Let’s enjoy the Berlinale and have patience until Cannes/later in the year when we can expect a
new Fatih Akin, Tom Tykwer, Angela Schanelec, Maren Ade, Robert Thalheim, Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck (think THE LIVES OF OTHERS, not THE TOURIST -- I hope). My first bet of the year: fingers crossed for
Wim Wenders’ Handke adaptation THE BEAUTIFUL DAYS OF ARANJUEZ as a TIFF16 premiere?! Watch this space.
Next: Germany @ Berlinale (2): Where the hidden gems are
by
Jutta Brendemühl