Days before we find out who’ll compete for the Golden Bear, we’ve got programmes such as Panorama and Berlinale Special that have been filled-up. Bong Joon Ho‘s Mickey 17 has been confirmed, Justin Kurzel‘s series The Narrow Road to the Deep North is included and Brazilian filmmaker Anna Muylaert returns to the fest with A melhor mãe do mundo (The Best Mother in the World) – which tells the story of an escape from an abusive relationship, Gal puts her two young children into the recycling cart she uses to collect trash on the city’s streets and runs away. Alone and facing the dangers of homelessness, she convinces them that they are on an adventure. Jeanette Nordahl also returns to the Berlinale after debuting her feature Wildland there in 2020 (read review) – her latest is titled Beginnings and stars Trine Dyrholm and David Dencik – it’s about a married couple, Thomas and Ane, in the grips of a divorce who have not yet told their children. Thomas is on the verge of moving in with his new girlfriend when Ane suddenly suffers a severe stroke. They decide to stay together, but must come to terms with the realities of their new life.
Franco-Turkish filmmaker tandem of Çagla Zencirci and Guillaume Giovanetti (we meet them back at TIFF ’18 for Sibel) present Confidante – actress Saadet Işıl Aksoy toplines. And speaking of actresses, Nina Hoss reteams with her The Audition helmer Ina Weisse for Cicadas. Saskia Rosendahl and Vincent Macaigne also star in a film about the friendship between two women with different lives. We are also looking forward to Mexican helmer Fernando Eimbcke‘s long-awaited return to cinema with Olmo.
From the filmmakers overlapping from Sundance to Berlin we have Amalia Ulman‘s Magic Farm, Emilie Blichfeldt‘s The Ugly Stepsister plus Anas Saeed, Rawia Alhag, Ibrahim Snoopy, Timeea M Ahmed and Phil Cox‘s docu Khartoum joining Ira Sachs’ Peter Hujar’s Day.
Berlinale Special programme:
The Light – Tom Tykwer (Germany) (opening film)
All I Had Was Nothingness – Guillaume Ribot (France)
Ancestral Visions of the Future – Lemohang Jeremiah Mosese (France/Lesotho/Germany/Saudi Arabia) (documentary)
The Best Mother in the World – Anna Muylaert (Brazil/Argentina)
Honey Bunch – Madeleine Sims-Fewer, Dusty Mancinelli (Canada)
Islands – Jan-Ole Gerster (Germany)
Köln 75 – Ido Fluk (Germany/Poland/Belgium)
Mickey 17 – Bong Joon-ho (USA/South Korea/UK)
The Narrow Road to the Deep North – Justin Kurzel (Australia) (series)
The Old Woman With the Knife – Min Kyu-dong (South Korea)
Shoah – Claude Lanzmann (France) (documentary) (1986)
The Thing with Feathers – Dylan Southern (UK)
Panorama programme:
1001 Frames – Mehrnoush Alia (USA)
Bedrock – Kinga Michalska (Canada) (documentary)
Beginnings – Jeanette Nordahl (Denmark/Sweden/Belgium)
Cicadas – Ina Weisse (Germany/France)
Confidante – Çağla Zencirci, Guillaume Giovanetti (Turkey/France/Luxembourg)
Deaf – Eva Libertad (Spain)
Delicious – Nele Mueller-Stöfen (Germany)
Dreamers – Joy Gharoro-Akpojotor (UK)
Dreams in Nightmares – Shatara Michelle Ford (USA/Taiwan/UK)
The Good Sister – Sarah Miro Fischer (Germany/Spain)
The Heart Is a Muscle – Imran Hamdulay (South Africa/Saudi Arabia)
Home Sweet Home – Frelle Petersen (Denmark)
Hysteria [+] – Mehmet Akif Büyükatalay (Germany)
I Want It All – Luzia Schmid (Germany) (documentary)
The Incredible Snow Woman – Sébastien Betbeder (France)
Khartoum – Anas Saeed, Rawia Alhag, Ibrahim Snoopy, Timeea M Ahmed, Phil Cox (Sudan/UK/Germany/Qatar) (documentary)
Lesbian Space Princess – Emma Hough Hobbs, Leela Varghese (Australia)
Letters from Wolf Street – Arjun Talwar (Poland/Germany) (documentary)
The Longing – Toshizo Fujiwara (Japan)
Magic Farm – Amalia Ulman (USA/Argentina)
The Moelln Letters – Martina Priessner (Germany) (documentary)
Monk in Pieces – Billy Shebar (USA) (documentary)
Night Stage – Marcio Reolon, Filipe Matzembacher (Brazil)
Olmo – Fernando Eimbcke (USA/Mexico)
Once Again… (Statues Never Die) – Isaac Julien (UK)
Other People’s Money – Jan Schomburg, Dustin Loose, Kaspar Munk (Germany/Denmark/Austria) (series)
Paul – Denis Côté (Canada) (documentary)
Peter Hujar’s Day – Ira Sachs (USA/Germany)
Queerpanorama – Jun Li (USA/Hong Kong/China)
Silent Sparks – Ping Chu (Taiwan)
The Ugly Stepsister – Emilie Blichfeldt (Norway/Poland/Sweden/Denmark)
Under the Flags, the Sun – Juanjo Pereira (Paraguay/Argentina/USA/France/Germany) (documentary)
Welcome Home Baby – Andreas Prochaska (Austria/Germany)
Yalla Parkour – Areeb Zuaiter (Sweden/Qatar/Saudi Arabia/Palestine) (documentary)
Forum programme:
2024 (2023) – Stefan Hayn (Germany)
After Dreaming – Christine Haroutounian (USA/Armenia/Mexico)
Houses – Veronica Nicole Tetelbaum (Israel/Germany)
Spring Night – Kang Mi-ja (South Korea)
Cadet – Adilkhan Yerzhanov (Kazakhstan)
Canone effimero – Gianluca De Serio, Massimiliano De Serio (Italy)
Time to the Target – Vitaly Mansky (Latvia/Czechia/Ukraine)
Colossal – Nayibe Tavares-Abel (Dominican Republic)
Evidence – Lee Anne Schmitt (USA)
Fwends – Sophie Somerville (Australia)
Holding Liat – Brandon Kramer (USA)
Janine Moves to the Country – Jan Eilhardt (Germany)
The Kiss of the Grasshopper – Elmar Imanov (Germany/Luxembourg/Italy)
little boy – James Benning (USA)
The Memory of Butterflies – Tatiana Fuentes Sadowski (Peru/Portugal)
Minimals in a Titanic World – Philbert Aimé Mbabazi Sharangabo (Rwanda/Germany/Cameroon)
Palliative Care Unit – Philipp Döring (Germany)
Punku – Juan Daniel Fernández Molero (Peru/Spain)
Queer as Punk – Yihwen Chen (Malaysia/Indonesia)
Eighty Plus – Želimir Žilnik (Serbia/Slovenia)
The Sense of Violence – Kim Mooyoung (South Korea)
Sirens Call – Miri Ian Gossing, Lina Sieckmann (Germany/Netherlands)
The Swan Song of Fedor Ozerov – Yuri Semashko (Lithuania)
The Trio Hall – Su Hui-yu (Taiwan)
Underground – Kaori Oda (Japan)
Our Time Will Come – Ivette Löcker (Austria)
Tiger’s Pond – Natesh Hegde (India/Singapore)
If You Are Afraid You Put Your Heart into Your Mouth and Smile – Marie Luise Lehner (Austria)
What’s Next? – Cao Yiwen (Hong Kong, China)
When Lightning Flashes Over the Sea – Eva Neymann (Germany/Ukraine)
Generation Kplus programme:
The Nature of Invisible Things – Rafaela Camelo (Brazil/Chile) (opening film)
Akababuru: Expression of Astonishment – Irati Dojura Landa Yagarí (Colombia) (short)
Autokar – Sylwia Szkiłądź (Belgium/France) (short)
Circusboy – Julia Lemke, Anna Koch (Germany)
Down in the Dumps – Vera van Wolferen (Netherlands) (short)
Juanita – Karen Joaquín, Uliane Tatit (Spain) (short)
The Leap – Roberto Tarazona (Cuba) (short)
Little Rebels Cinema Club – Khozy Rizal (Indonesia) (short)
Maya, Give Me a Title – Michel Gondry (France)
On a Sunday at Eleven – Alicia K Harris (Canada) (short)
Only on Earth – Robin Petré (Denmark/Spain)
Ran Bi Wa (A Story about Fire) – Li Wenyu (China)
Ruse (Finte) – Rhea Shukla (India) (short)
Seaside Serendipity – Satoko Yokohama (Japan)
Space Cadet – Eric San (Canada)
Tales From the Magic Garden – David Súkup, Patrik Pašš, Leon Vidmar, Jean-Claude Rozec (Czech Republic/Slovakia/Slovenia) (short)
The Thief – Christoffer Rizvanovic Stenbakken (Denmark/Greenland) (short)
White Ochre – Marlikka Perdrisat (Australia) (short)
Generation 14plus programme:
Christy – Brendan Canty (UK/Ireland) (opening film)
Barbed Wire – Gustavo de Carvalho (Brazil) (short)
Beneath Which Rivers Flow – Ali Yahya (Iraq) (short)
Don’t Wake the Sleeping Child – Kevin Aubert (Senegal/France/Morocco) (short)
Fantas – Halima Elkhatabi (Canada) (short)
Howl – Domini Marshall (Australia) (short)
Julian and the Wind – Connor Jessup (Canada) (short)
The Mud Under My Window – Violette Delvoye (France/Belgium) (short)
Our Wildest Days – Vasilis Kekatos (Greece/France)
Paternal Leave – Alissa Jung (Germany/Italy)
Playtime – Lucia Murat (Brazil)
Quaker – Giovanna Molina (USA) (short)
Samir in the Dust – Mohamed Ouzine (Algeria/France)
Sandbag Dam [+] – Čejen Černić Čanak (Croatia/Lithuania/Slovenia)
Suburban Birds – Ghassan Halwani (Lebanon)
Sunset over America – Matías Rojas Valencia (Brazil/Chile/Colombia) (short)
Sunshine – Antoinette Jadaone (Philippines)
The Tale of Daye’s Family – Karim El Shenawy (Egypt/Saudi Arabia)
Têtes Brûlées – Maja Ajmia Yde Zellama (Belgium)
Underage – Caru Alves de Souza (Brazil) (series)
Village Rockstars 2 – Rima Das (India/Singapore)
Wish You Were Ear – Mirjana Balogh (Hungary) (short)
Wrong Husband – Zacharias Kunuk (Canada)