"Strippers displace Berlinale!“ a lurid tabloid headline revealed before Christmas. And yes, of course, I clicked through. Magic Mike the Musical man-spreading it at Berlinale Palast --home to a vast number of industry screenings and the competition's red carpet-- was just one of the calamities on the horizon for the new Berlinale team at the end of 2019. Newly installed co-directors AD Carlo Chatrian, formerly of Locarno, and ED Mariette Rissenbeek, formerly of German Films (
my job entrance interview with her), had a good number of curveballs thrown their way –many of them craftily solved by now-- but also threw a couple of early wrenches themselves. Statements like
"We are no glamour machine“ and "We are not Berlin Fashion Week“ led to a reprimand by the festival’s main financier, Culture Minister Monika Grütters, who made it quite clear that she expects fireworks as well as "programmatic and atmospheric changes“. If the school principal approach doesn’t bear fruit,
Helen "The Queen“ Mirren will save the red carpet when accepting this year‘s honorary Golden Bear, alongside Jeremy Irons giving most likely not boring remarks as jury president. The Berlinale is known for being "political", perhaps featuring two of Britain's best actors is a love letter to the Brexiting nation.
Weeks before the 70th Berlinale (re)starts, things are looking up.
Two major sponsors were out, but two new ones are in. Magic Mike might take a break before Canada's very own Cirque du Soleil takes over the Palast permanently after 2022. Cubix Alexanderplatz is the new major cinema hub with a capacity close to that of the now defunct Potdamer Platz CineStar and IMAX -- intermittently rumoured for a Netflix takeover that might just save the overall decline of the Platz, which could take us back to the desolation of Wim Wenders' pre-unification Platz in "Wings of Desire", see photo.
Auspiciously, Burhan Qurbani’s contemporary retelling of "Berlin Alexanderplatz“ should now screen --perhaps even at Alexanderplatz as part of the German Film Awards shortlist sidebar Lola @ Berlinale. Listed there is also Christian Petzold‘s latest and much anticipated "Undine“ .... perhaps in competition for a Golden Bear? Furthermore, last year's young acting star Jonas Dassler --Fatih Akin's serial killer in "The Golden Glove"-- will be honoured as a "European Shooting Star".
Asked what role German films will play at "his“ Berlinale, Chatrian answered "a big one“, modifying that he is talking quality not quantity and referring to the ever growing number of German-international co-productions.
Chatrian claims Wenders, Reitz and Herzog as formative, and highlights the talent of Ade, Dresen, Petzold, Arslan, Heise, as he is busying himself with learning German. His overall analysis of the film year is that he saw less comedies: "dangers are much more present in cinema right now than levity." Nothing new for Berlin, where films like "System Crasher", "Fuocoammare" or "Cesar must die" tend to take home a Bear statue.
Whether you celebrate the Berlinale birthday as a septuagenarian or a newborn after the departure of uber-head Dieter Kosslick (also the first post-Oscars) depends on your perspective --literally, see the head-turning number puzzle that is the festival's key visual for 2020.
The new Doppelspitze (dual leadership) is going for both, honouring the Berlinale’s enormous legacy with a full inaugural Forum 1971 retrospective (more on this here later) and a delicious program called "On Transmission“ with international Berlinale directors in dialogue --Margarethe von Trotta & Ina Weisse! Jia Zhang-ke & Huo Meng!. You can be in this as well, with a call to long-time Berlinale fans to tell their stories. Just email 70Jahre@berlinale.de with yours.
The team are smartly ringing in the new where needed – the new juried sidebar of 15 "aesthetically and structurally daring works from independent, innovative filmmakers" called Encounters, à la Cannes‘ Un Certain Regard or TIFF's Discovery section and scrapping the mind-boggling in-competition-but-out-of-competition setup. But no VR (yet) ... Chatrian is a cautious skeptic.
Will Hollywood bother to show up, some ask. Will cutting the indigenous sidebar NATIVe mean more representation and integration of global indigenous content across the festival? One hopes, and Toronto’s Jason Ryle as Berlinale adviser should help with the latter.
The changes, successful as they might be, will come at a cost, even if alleviated by a substantial extra cash injection from the government for this edition, before the Berlinale will have to regroup for the looming challenges ahead. "I knew it wouldn't be a walk in the park when I accepted the job," Chatrian said in a recent interview, adding "je ne regrette rien."
Rissenbeek gave one exciting pointer to thoughts around future adaptation: "After our first Berlinale, we'll have a closer look at whether the Generation program can be an opportunity to bring younger audiences back to film and back into cinemas. This approach could go beyond showing films into a broader contextualisation and introduction to film history."
For now, sense and sensibility rule: Netflix films can be in competition if they get a theatrical release. Gender equality is an important "topic but not an obsession“ (Chatrian). Overall, a festival for him is not the sum of its titles but the story you tell with them and the support it can give to the art of film.
Berlin‘s public broadcaster asked what the new signature of the Berlinale will be. First indications will come with the concerted competition announcement on January 29th. One thing will be back to the old ways in 2021: the early February dates, never mind the volatile Oscars.
Here, on our blog German Film @ Canada, you will find my #Berlinale2020 reviews and a fresh round of "Berlinale People" profiles, including Berlinale head of programming Mark Peranson and Kerry Swanson from Canada's Indigenous Screen Office. See you at Potsdamer Platz/Alexanderplatz!
by
Jutta Brendemühl
images: Berlinale key visual by State Agency; still from Wim Wenders' "Wings of Desire"
