Berlinale People: Mark Peranson, Berlinale

It’s true that this year we decided to change how the selection committee for the official selection --Competition, Berlinale Special, and, new this year, Encounters-- operates in that previously the heads of all the sections of the festival – who are not just administrators but curators in their own right – made up the committee. The changes that we made had to do firstly with altering the previous system of delegates, so that the new members of the selection committee also function as delegates for specific regions. There are also fewer people now on the selection committee (six plus myself and Carlo), and we were all present in Berlin for a number of concentrated sessions beginning last July, viewing films together, discussing them, and assessing what section, if any, they fit best. As five of us had previously worked together for six years in Locarno, what was most challenging was probably integrating three new members of the team, understanding each others’ viewpoints, giving space for everyone to be heard and understood—which often meant lengthy and at times painful discussions (I’m sure we would all agree on that). The advantages of this process—putting together a team of programmers who don’t always have the same opinion on films, or the same areas of interest or geographic specialty—is that the result is a non-monolithic program, which is what we desire. We aren’t programming this festival for ourselves. Sure, there is a kind of cinema that we want to support, which I think is apparent when you look at the selection—but even within those criteria there are disagreements. But the Berlinale is also a festival that serves the industry and the public of Berlin.

What makes a film a (new) Berlinale competition film?
I don’t think it’s possible to point to a general rule as to what film works for Competition, because the Competition is best thought of as a whole, rather than a collection of disparate films. Ultimately I guess one can say that they all stand as works that emanate from a specific point of view, I think that will be clear, and when seen together give the pulse of contemporary cinema. So, in other words, the subject matter is less important than how it is realized. There are established directors – this year, some of whom have presented films before at the Berlinale – alongside younger directors who have made films that we think can stand alongside them.

It’s also important to have films that can generate some discussion, and there certainly will be a few of those. Some films serve a strategic purpose. We are also looking for films that will be able to find a wider audience outside of the festival circuit, whether that means films that work for a wider audience which will be released by studios soon after the festival (there are some of those), or more “difficult” films that I’m confident will find some form of distribution outside of the mainstream. Also to note, we have reworked the Berlinale Special Gala section so that there are no longer Out of Competition titles within the Competition, which never made much sense to me (it was basically a designation for films that screened in the Berlinale Palast). When you add Encounters to the mix, the hope is that these three strands of programming will each have a distinct flavour so that you know what kind of film you’ll be getting based on the section it’s programmed in.

What will your Canadian experience and lens bring to the Berlinale?
The Berlinale has an excellent track record for showing Canadian films, so I don’t think I’ll make that much of a difference. Last year before TIFF a large continent of us were in Montreal to watch films at Telefilm Canada, with representatives from each section. Before that I had already seen the films that ended up being selected for the Forum, namely Anne at 13,000 ft and Twentieth Century, and recommended them to Cristina Nord ... perhaps if they weren’t ready for Toronto and we had a chance to premiere them, maybe they could have worked for Encounters. But in both of those cases I think premiering the films in Toronto was the best thing for the film.

I also strongly recommended Anaïs Barbeau-Lavalette’s film to Generation, and Blake Williams’ short to the Shorts competition. And of course I’m glad that we also have the opportunity to show the new film from Guy Maddin and the Johnsons in Berlinale Shorts, which of course I really pushed for. As far as opening with a Canadian film goes, I don’t want to take any credit for that, though of course I was part of the discussion. An opening film is always the hardest thing to nail down, it seems, but I’m glad that it worked out as we also showed two of Philippe Falardeau’s films in Locarno when I was there, including premiering Monsieur Lazhar on the Piazza Grande, which was a great launch for the film.

Your favourite German films ever:
The ones that come to mind right now are Beware of a Holy Whore, Berlin Alexanderplatz (the Fassbinder), Der Verlorene, The Mabuse films, Class Relations...

It will have been a good Berlinale 2020 for me when …
It’s over and I still have a job? Hopefully when expectations are realized. We are all aware that there will be people who are happy with the changes we’ve made but also expect criticism from a number of angles, which is par for the course for a festival like the Berlinale. This year is best seen as a transition year; I think we’ve managed to implement some positive changes, but we really need to see what works and what doesn’t work during the festival itself and then reassess in the months following.


Next week: Meet Cristina Nord, the head of Berlinale Forum

interview by Jutta Brendemühl

image M. Peranson courtesy Berlinale