Berlinale & EFM Review Dailies 2024

BERLINALE & EFM REVIEW DAILY

Checkpoint

Carlo Chatrian

Carlo Chatrian is about to unleash his fifth and final Berlinale.

Max Borg, February 13, 2024

In 2013, his first year as Artistic Director of the Locarno Film Festival, Carlo Chatrian was criticized primarily for two politically sensitive guests: right-wing Swiss politician Christoph Blocher, the subject of a documentary that screened in Piazza Grande, and Giovanni Senzani, a former member of the Red Brigades terrorist organization who appeared in Pippo Delbono’s competition entry Sangue.

Almost eleven years later, and now at the head of the Berlinale, Chatrian – alongside Executive Director Mariëtte Rissenbeek – found himself at the center of another political controversy, this time the (since rescinded) invitation to members of the German right-wing party AfD to attend the festival’s opening ceremony. A rare moment of media turmoil for the famously mild-mannered Italian programmer, whose career has been essentially uncontroversial.

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A DIFFERENT MAN

VERDICT: Aaron Schimberg’s darkly funny body-horror fairy tale takes a satirical scalpel to the beastliness of beauty.

Stephen Dalton, February 14, 2024

A bleakly hilarious farce with undertones of surreal body-horror, A Different Man is an audacious comic takedown of tyrannical beauty standards, the social conditioning that creates them, and the routine cruelty inflicted on those deemed to fall outside them. Peppered with self-conscious nods to Cyrano de Bergerac and Beauty and the Beast, indie auteur Aaron Schimberg’s third feature is deadly serious but never preachy. Carefully couching socially awkward issues in self-aware irony, the Continues next page

Berlinale

Chatrian continued from page 1

In fact, the biggest shock in his tenure was when he announced he was stepping down after five years. The reason was perfectly understandable: the Berlinale wished to revert to a single director handling all aspects of festival management, an approach that didn’t suit Chatrian, but in the immediate aftermath of the announcement, speculation was rampant about possible ulterior motives within the German Ministry of Culture. Inevitably, some hypothesized it was due to Chatrian’s nationality, despite the Berlinale’s history of being comfortable with non-German directors (in fact, the newly appointed Tricia Tuttle, who will take over in April, was born in the United States). Others suggested his vision for the festival was too arthouse-oriented, with not enough mainstream material, a cardinal sin in the context of an event that relies primarily on ticket sales to the general public.

The latter theory is particularly baffling because, while Chatrian is very much the image of the erudite European cine-

Full article, click here

A Different Man cont. from page 1 Chicago-born writer-director mostly sustains a tragicomic tone that ferquently invokes Charlie Kaufman’s signature brand of dystopian glumcore absurdism.

Backed by feted indie-horror powerhouse A24 and heavyweight producer Christine Vachon’s Killer Films, A Different Man certainly has classy credentials and solid potential to turn potentially challenging

facial features (superbly realised prosthetics by Batman veteran Mike Marino here). Shunned as an unsightly outcast by neighbours, and routinely mocked by strangers on the street, Edward lives a gloomy, solitary life in a crumbling New York City apartment. His rare acting roles are dispiritingly narrow, typically playing disabled office workers who are treated with pity and condescension in corporate

material into buzz-driven, wordof-mouth success. At its Sundance world premiere last month, Schimberg’s twisted fairy tale divided critics but earned mostly positive reviews. In an unusual double booking, it also screens in competition at the Berlinale later this week.

Initially acting behind an elaborate mask, Marvel regular Sebastian Stan plays Edward, a minor-league actor with a medical condition that has left him with heavily disfgured

diversity training videos.

But Edward’s fortunes take a dramatic turn thanks to two momentous developments. Firstly, aspiring playwright Ingrid (Renate Reinsve) moves into the apartment next door and develops an instant, flirtatious, almost stalker-ish interest in her shy neighbour. Norwegian Reinsve, making her English-language debut, appears to be riffing on her insufferable persona in Joachim Trier’s The Worst Person in

Full review, click here

Berlinale

GENERATION KPLUS

REINAS

VERDICT: Reinas, directed by Klaudia Reynicke, is a coming of age film that confirms her unique voice in the Latin American Cinema.

Lucy Virgen, January 23, 2024

When a film begins with a real-life Secretary of the Economy announcing 100% inflation within the next 24 hours, and ends with the phrase “God help us,” it is a bad omen. Happily Reinas, Klaudia Reynecke’s third film, doesn’t fulfill that prophecy: it’s a good film that confirms the presence of a voice full of personality in Latin American cinema. After its bow in international competition at Sundance, it will be screened in the Generations section of the upcoming Berlinale.

“Reinas” (literally, Queens) is the affectionate term that Carlos (Gonzalo Molina), a divorced and absent father, uses for his daughters, the teenager Aurora (Luana Vega Sousa) and ten-year-old Lucía (Abril Gjurinovic). In Peru in the early 1990s — with the Shining Path guerrilla group constantly attacking

REINAS

: Reinas, una buena película coming of age que confirma la presencia de una voz con sello propio en el cine latinoamericano, se estrena en Sundance.

Cuando una película empieza con el Ministro de Economía verdadero anunciando una inflación del 100% en un día y termina con la frase “que Dios nos ayude” es un mal presagio. Por fortuna Reinas, tercera dirección de Klaudia Reynecke, no cumple la profecía: es una buena película coming of age que confirma la presencia de una voz con sello propio en el cine

and an economy in crisis — the sisters are about to leave Lima to move with their mother Elena (Jimena Lindo) to Minnesota. They go in search of a better life according to Elena, to die of boredom according to Aurora, or simply to move away from him, according to

Full review, click here

latinoamericano. La cinta tendrá su estreno mundial en la competencia internacional en Sundance esta semana y se exhibirá en el próximo Festival Internacional de Berlín, sección Generaciones.

“Reinas”, es el apelativo cariñoso que usa Carlos (Gonzalo Molina) un padre divorciado y ausente, para sus hijas, la adolescente Aurora (Luana Vega Sousa) y Lucía (Abril Gjurinovic), de 10 años. En el Perú de principios de los noventa -con el grupo guerrillero Sendero luminoso atacando constantemente y una economía en crisis- las hermanas están a punto de abandonar Lima para mudarse con su madre Elena (Jimena Lindo) a Minnesota. En busca de una vida mejor según Elena, para morir de aburrimiento según Aurora o simplemente para vivir lejos de él, según Carlos. En las tres semanas antes de la partida Full review, click here

Diego Romero

Lucy Virgen, January 23, 2024

Simona Pampallona

BEYOND THE FESTIVAL

MADAME WEB

VERDICT: Despite a tangled narrative web, this arachnid superhero saga makes a far better would-be tentpole in Sony’s Spider-verse than ‘The Amazing Spider-Man 2’ or ‘ Morbius,’ thanks mainly to Dakota Johnson.

Alonso Duralde, February 13, 2024

Sony Pictures has the rights not only to Spider-Man but also to the many supporting characters in his orbit. The studio has tried desperately to make those supporting characters popular on their own, but the results so far have been pretty dire: Anyone remember the attempt to set up a spin-off for The Secret Six at the climax of The Amazing Spider-Man 2? Are the memes of Morbius all that’s left of that legendary turkey?

With expectations wildly lowered by these inglorious antecedents, the bar was set pretty low for Madame Web, about a paramedic who develops the ability to see the future, all tied to her mother’s search for a legendary spider in the Amazon jungle. To its credit, the film clears that low bar, serving up some memorable action sequences amid breezy banter, all while laying the groundwork for a trio of budding superheroes who might

EFM Podcast

surface in a future installment. That paramedic is Cassandra Webb — why give her one on-the-nose name when you can give her two? — and as played by Dakota Johnson, she’s a grown-up orphan who keeps relationships at bay; her childhood in the foster-care system has made her a loner, and her only close friend is Ben Parker (Adam Scott) who revives patients in the back of the ambulance while Cassie

Full review, click here

Global Voices, Local Roots: Producers Blazing the Way

Hosted by ilmmaker Yazmeen Kanji

Delve into the creative journey of four trailblazing producers from equity-seeking groups; Darcy McKinnon, Gilbert Mirambeau Jr ., Inuk Jørgensen and Rolla Tahir. Discover how these producers are not only making a mark on the international stage but also actively supporting and nurturing local film cultures. Gain valuable insights into the challenges they have overcome, the lessons they have learned, and the impact they aspire to make in the cinematic landscape.

Sony

MEET THE INTERNATIONAL JURY of Berlinale 2024

MEET THE INTERNATIONAL JURY of Berlinale 2024

The International Jury is selected every year by the Artistic Director and presents the following awards:Golden Bear for Best Film (awarded to the film’s producers), Silver Bear Grand Jury Prize, Silver Bear Jury Prize, Silver Bear for Best Director, Silver Bear for Best Leading Performance, Silver Bear for Best Supporting Performance, Silver Bear for Best Screenplay, Silver Bear for Outstanding Artistic Contribution.

Lupita Nyong’o (Kenya / Mexico) Jury President

Kenyan-Mexican actor, director, producer and author Lupita Nyong’o has become one of the most high-profile international actors, inspiring audiences and film critics alike.

Her films include 12 Years a Slave, (2014), for which she won an Academy Award, SAG Award, Critic’s Choice, Award, Independent Spirit Award and the NAACP Image Award. Her other films include Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, Us, Little Monsters, Queen of Katwe, Star Wars: The Force Awakens. She is also active on the Broadway stage and wrote the children’s book “Sulwe”.

Brady Corbet (USA)

American director and actor known for his varied roles including Thirteen (2003), Mysterious Skin (2004), and Funny Games (2007).

He turned to directing with the short film Protect You + Me (2008) receiving an honarable mention at the Sundance Film Festival. His first feature, The Childhood of a Leader (2015) won Best Debut Film and Best Director at theVenice film Festival His second feature Vox Lux (2028) was nominated for for a Golden Lion atVenice. His third film, the Brutalist is currently in post production.

Ann Hui (Hong Kong, China)

Ann Hui won the Golden Horse Award for her first feature film, The Secret (1979) Her other films includeThe Story ofWooViet (1981) Boat People (1982). Summer Snow (1995) - awarded the Berlinale Silver Bear for Best Actress, Ordinary Heroes (1999). My American Grandson (1990), StuntWoman (1996), Eighteen Springs (1997), July Rhapsody (2002) and Goddess of Mercy (2003). She has been honored six times at the Hong Kong Film Awards and three times at the Golden Horse Awards for Best Director She has also received the Berlinale Camera (1997).

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(c)Nick Barose

(c) Atsushi Nishijima

MEET THE INTERNATIONAL JURY of Berlinale 2024

MEETTHE INTERNATIONAL JURY of Berlnale 2023

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Christian Petzold is one of the most distinguished directors of contemporary German cinema. His first film The State I am In (2000) won the German Film Award. His other films include Wolfsburg(2003), Ghosts (2005), Barbara (2012) which won the Silver Bear for Best Director, Aire, which won the Silver Bear Grand Jury Prize, and Phoenix (2014) which won the FIPRESCI Prize at San Sebastian.

Oksana Zabuzhko is a prominent living writer in Ukraine, having published more than 20 books, covering poetry, prose and non-fiction.

She has received numerous awards in her home country as well as the French Legion of Honour. She received the Angelus Central European Literary Award for her novel “The Museum of Abandoned Secrets” and most recently the Book of theYear Award in 2022 for “The Longest Journey”.

Honour of the Knights, his debut film, premiered at the Cannes Film Festival. Other films include Birdsong (2008), Story of My Death (2013) , which won a Golden Leoard at Locarno, The Death of Louis XIV(2016), Liberté (2019) Pacifiction (2022) which was awarded two Césars, three Prix Lumières and three Premis Gaudí, among others His other projects include his 101-hour work Els tres porquets and Singularity.

Jasmine Trinca (Italy)

Jasmine Trinca’s acting was was first honored as a European Shooting Star at the Berlinale in 2007 and later received the Marcello Mastroianni Award at the Venice Film Festival. She received the Un Certain Regard Prize for Best Actress at Cannes for Lucky (2017) along with other Italian awards.

Her directing debut Marcel! premiered at Cannes 2022.

For additional Berlin juries, click here

Christian Petzold (Germany)

(c)Schramm Film

(c)Oscar Orengo Albert Serra (Spain)

(c) Andrea Gandin

Oksana Zabuzhko (Ukraine)

(c) Agnete Brun

Industry Sessions

@the Documentation Centre for Displacement, Expulsion, Reconciliation – Event Hall

Music & Movies: The Value of the Score

Finance Forum Berlin

Partner Event:

Winston Baker: Entertainment

Friday, Feb 16, 11.00 am – 1.00 pm

Working with AI: the Human Factor

Friday, Feb 16, 3.15 pm – 4.15 pm

Leading Change: Producers at the Wheel

Friday, Feb 16, 5.00 pm – 6.00 pm

Friend or Foe: AI and Equity

Saturday, Feb 17, 10.00 am – 11.00 am

Dream Factory Onwards! Building Worlds and Opportunities With AI

Saturday, Feb 17, 11.30 am – 12.30 pm

AI Journeys: How Producers Will Make the Most of It

Saturday, Feb 17, 1.30 pm – 2.30 pm

European Business Strategies for International Success

Saturday, Feb 17, 3.15 pm – 4.15 pm

Anatomy of a Film: A Deep Dive across the Value Chain

Saturday, Feb 17, 5.00 pm – 6.00 pm

Follow the Money: Transparency towards Fair Remuneration

Sunday, Feb 18, 10.00 am – 11.00 am

Unlocking Audiences and Authentic Representations Accessibly

Sunday, Feb 18, 11.30 am - 12.45 pm

Masterclass: Tsai Ming-liang

AI for Audience Design in Documentary

Sunday, Feb 18, 1.30 pm – 2.30 pm

EFM Startups: Insights and Tools

Shaping the Industry’s Future

Sunday, Feb 18, 3.00 pm – 4.00 pm

Zones of Interest: Distribution Trends for Online Releases

Sunday, Feb 18, 4.45 pm – 6.00 pm

Navigating New Developments in Euro-Asian Film Collaboration

Partner Event:

Monday, Feb 19, 10.00 am – 11.00 am

Adaptability in Times of Biggest Challenges: Ukraine’s Way Onwards

Partner Event:

Monday, Feb 19, 11.30 am – 12.30 pm

CresCine Industry Outlook: Audiences, Markets, Skills & Greening

Monday, Feb 19, 1.30 pm – 2.30 pm

Successive Learnings: Entering the Territory of Indie Animation

Monday, Feb 19, 3.15 pm – 4.15 pm

Resilience in Distribution and Documentary Filmmaking Today

Monday, Feb 19, 5.00 pm – 6.00 pm

For complete schedule of all EFM events, click here

Berlinale Classics 2024

Berlinale Classics 2024

The Berlinale Classics section of the 74th Berlin International Film Festival offers a spectrum of film genres with stunning visuals and audio. The selection ranges from early sound film experiment to a sober and distanced black-and-white drama, to colorful, artful exploitation. All the restorations will be world premieres.

Gojira (Godzilla)

Directed by Ishirō Honda

1954 Japan

Kohlhiesels Töchter (Kohlhiesel’s Daughters)

Directed by Ernst Lubitsch 1920 Germany

The Love Parade

Directed by Ernst Lubitsch 1920 Germany

Offret (The Sacrifice)

Directed by Andrei Tarkovsky 1986 Sweden, France

Reifezeit (Time of Maturity)

Directed by Sohrab Shahid Saless

1976 Federal Republic of Germany

After Hours

Directed by Martin Scorsese

1985 USA

Batalla en el cielo (Battle in Heaven)

Directed by Carlos Reygadas

2005. Mexico, German, Belgium, France

The Day of the Locust

Directed by John Schlesinger

1975 USA

Deprisa, deprisa

Directed by Carlos Saura

1981 Spain, France

Tian bian yi duo yun (The Wayward Cloud)

Directed by Carlos Reygadas

2005 Taiwan, France

Batalla en el cielo / Battle in Heaven Gojira / Godzilla

Deprisa, deprisa

After Hours

The Love Parade

Offret / The Sacrifice

BERLINALE & EFM REVIEW DAILY

COMPETITION

SMALL THINGS LIKE THESE

VERDICT: Cillian Murphy follows his huge ‘Oppenheimer’ success with this relentlessly glum but powerful personal project, a soulful literary psychodrama about mercy, complicity and dark misdeeds in 1980s Ireland.

Stephen Dalton, February 15, 2023

“If you want to get on in this life, there are things you have to ignore”. This stern advice is directed at Cillian Murphy’s morally tortured anti-hero in Small Things Like These by his wife. At face value, a fairly standard ex-

change between a hard-headed woman and a soft-hearted man. But the wounds that come from ignoring terrible secrets happening right on your doorstep is also the overriding theme of this brooding Irish psychodrama, which takes place in a small country town over a glum, snowy Christmas some time in the 1980s. Handsomely packaged by Belgian director Tim Meilants, this sombre literary adaptation world premieres at the Berlinale this week, a solid marriage of serious themes and star power to open the festival’s main Competition section. Finely acted and beautifully shot, Small Things Like These is a classy star vehicle and heartfelt personal project for Murphy, who also

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JANET PLANET PANORAMA

(c) A24

VERDICT: Celebrated stage dramatist Annie Baker paints childhood as a midsummer daydream full of tragicomic adult behaviour in her droll, charming film debut.

Stephen Dalton, February 15, 2024

School summer holidays can feel like an eternity when you are 11 years old, a limitless horizon of thrilling adventures and crushing disappointments, new sensations and shock discoveries, all set against the fathomless strangeness of adult behaviour. This is certainly how summer plays out for the quirky pre-teen heroine of Janet Planet, the screenwriting and film directing debut of celebrated US stage dramatist Continues next page

(c) Shane O'Conner

Janet Planet cont. from page 1

Annie Baker, best known for her Pulitzer Prize-winning 2013 play The Flick. A modestly scaled indie sketchbook that falls just the right side of folksy whimsy, mostly thanks to a rich streak of deadpan humour, Baker’s highly assured sideways step into cinema is full of charm, if a little disjointed and underpowered. After well-received premieres in Telluride and New York, it makes its European debut at the Berlinale this week, part of a juicy package of titles that US indie powerhouse A24 are showcasing at the German festival.

Baker shot Janet Planet in the idyllic rolling woodland around her childhood home in Amherst, Massachusetts. The period setting, lightly invoked, is the summer of 1991, around the same time Baker herself turned 11, which suggests a degree of autobiographical intent in this delicately handled love letter to lonely single mothers, clingy daughters, and the unstable gravitational forces between them.

Despite Baker’s inexperience behind the camera, one immediately evident strength of Janet Planet is her seasoned skill at casting and handling actors, drawing fine performances both from total unknowns like

Full review, click here

Cillian Murphy and Director Tim Mielants

Small Things continued from page 1 co-produces, reuniting him with his sometime Peaky Blinders collabora-tor Mielants. Whether an audience exists for another relentlessly grim, self-flagellating Irish confessional about downtrodden souls crushed by an institutionally corrupt Cath-olic church is a moot point, but Murphy’s booming profile after Oppenheimer (2023) will undoubtedly help fill seats. Enlisting a Belgian director to shoot such an emphatically Irish story also feels like a smart choice, bringing fresh eyes to familiar cinematic themes and landscapes.

The talent list behind Small Things

Like These is certainly stellar. The source novel is an international best-seller by Claire Keegan, whose writing previously inspired the Oscar-nominated The Quiet Girl

(2022) Screenwriter Enda Walsh is an award-winning playwright with a long track record of working with Murphy, plus a rich catalogue of stage and screen credits including the international hit musicals Once and Lazarus. Meanwhile, Matt Damon and Ben Affleck are on board as producers through their Artists Equity company.

Small Things Like These take place in New Ross, a small town in Country Wexford in the southeast corner of Ireland. The historical period is never specified, but Keegan’s book was set in 1985, an era the film-makers subtly evoke with glancing references to period pop music, sports stars, TV shows and more. Murphy plays William Furlong, a reserved family man with a humble home and a solid small business delivering coal, wood and

Full review, click here

ITALIA IN FOCUS AT BERLIN

EFM will offer industry participants opportunities to network with a variety of Italian producers, distributors, investors and experts.

Roberto Stabile, Head of Special Projects, Directorate General for Cinema and Audiovisual/Cinecittà

By Will McCaughey February 12, 2024

The Berlinale European Film Market (EFM) this year spotlights the artistry of Italian filmmakers and will offer industry participants opportunities to network with a variety of Italian producers, distributors, investors and experts.

The 2024 EFM kicks off February 15 during the 74th Berlin International Film Festival and will wrap up on February 21.

According to Roberto Stabile of the Italian Ministry of Culture at Rome’s Cinecitta’ studios: “The

event will be an important moment to focus on our industry in a period of momentous change and growth.” Stabile, who heads Special Projects of the Directorate General for Cinema and Audiovisual at the Italian Ministry of Culture added that the EFM will “provide key opportunities to reinforce relations with our foreign partners and illustrate the many measures available for the internationalization of the film industry.” Stabile pointed beyond showcasing Italy as an ideal location to shoot audiovisual

Full article, click here

FILM AND AUDIOVISUAL FUNDING IN ITALY

FEBRUARY 16

10:00-11:00

Producers Hub | Gropius Bau

A world-renowned destination for financing, producing and filming international high-profile screen projects, the Italian film industry has a strong track record in attracting inward investment. This session aims to offer an occasion to navigate the Italian film financing and regulatory landscape and to uncover the opportunities of co-producing with Italy.

INTRODUCTION

Armando Varricchio – Ambassador of Italy to Germany

SPEAKERS

Ferdinando Fiore – Director, Italian Trade Agency

Nicola Maccanico – CEO, Cinecittà

Roberto Stabile – Head of Special Projects, Directorate General for Cinema and Audiovisual/Cinecittà

Rossella Gaudio – Analyst and Consultant on Regulatory Changes, Directorate General for Cinema and Audiovisual

Carmen Diotiaiuti – Deputy Director, Italy for Movies

SNAP CHAT

With Simone Baumann

TFV speaks to Simone Baumann, Managing Director of German Films

Max Borg, February 13, 2024

After an initial five-year term, Simone Baumann was recently reconfirmed as Managing Director of the promotional agency German Films. Ahead of the start of the 2024 Berlinale, she took the time to answer a couple of questions.

The Film Verdict: You became Managing Director of German Films in 2019, right before the pandemic. What was it like to adjust to the health crisis and its impact on moviegoing on

© Kurt Krieger

relatively short notice?

ourselves with online promotion, more show reels, etc. At the same time Covid was accelerating, a development that was already on the way. So, we tried to use the time to update our activities to future market conditions.

TFV: The Teachers’ Lounge, which premiered at last year’s Berlinale,

Simone Baumann: I started at Berlinale 2019 – so I had one year to get into the job and to understand more about the theatrical market for arthouse films and the role of festivals in promotion. The pandemic was a hard time – nobody had gone through anything like this before. So, we had to reinvent Full article, click here

Startups 2024

@the Documentation Centre for Displacement, Expulsion, Reconciliation – Event Hall

For its 10th edition, EFM Startups presents innovative, international start-up entrepreneurs from the fields of production, development and distribution. As a four-day platform taking place during the Berlinale, EFM Startups showcases technological innovations in the media sector, brings together leading startups with top industry experts and opens doors to funding information and opportunities.

The selected companies participating in EFM Startups will pitch their startup to producers, programmers, financiers, sales agents and distributors on February 18 from 3 - 4 pm at the Documentation Centre. They will also participate in a series of one-on-one meetings with producers and Roundtables with other industry experts. . This years participants include:

Taiwan

A.V. Mapping’s AI finds music & SFX for videos. No copyright issues, no wait. Instantly match music to videos with 24/7 AI website.

New Zealand Letterboxd is a social discovery platform for film fans, to read opinions about films from friends, critics and the wider community.

UK

BooksOffice is a platform for representing Indie authors in the journey from Book to Screen.

UK

Hieros is an innovative film and television rights platform which leverages blockchain technology to track ownership of IP and deliver payments.

Croatia

FilmConnect connects production companies, investors, distributors, sales agents, and enables collaboration

UK/Scotland

Black Goblin is a sound research and technology company on a quest to transform the way creators work with sound.

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@the Documentation Centre for Displacement, Expulsion, Reconciliation – Event Hall

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Germany

Phont combines artificial intelligence and innovative design to take inclusion and immersion in the media industry to a new level

South Africa

Wrapped, developed by Chiriseri Studios, is a mobile and web application that enables companies and individuals ito hire and be hired, train and be trained in the film industry in an inclusive and efficient way.

UK

SuperScout, developed by Tutti, is a website that helps you keep track of any locations, studios, or production facilities you’ve ever discovered

Spain

Roadmovie is revolutionizing film financing with its AI-driven platform. Crafted by filmmakers for filmmakers.

European Film Promotion offers the 2024 European Shooting Stars

EFP brings ten promising, versatile European acting newcomers to the Berlin International Film Festival each year. The goal is to help them make a name for themselves with the international press and audience and to build a network in the international film industry.

The actors take part in a tailor-made programme that includes extensive press work and meetings with international casting directors, talent agents and producers. At the glamorous EUROPEAN SHOOTING STARS presentation in the Berlinale Palast, the participants will be honoured in front of an international audience of industry professionals.

Džiugas Grinys Lithuania

Valentina Bellè Italy

Margarita Stoykova Bulgaria

Suzy Bemba France

Katharina Stark Germany

Kamila Urzędowska Poland

Éanna Hardwicke Ireland

Salome Demuria Georgia

Thibaud Dooms Belgium

Asta Kamma August Sweden

BERLINALE & EFM REVIEW DAILY

COMPETITION

MY FAVOURITE CAKE

VERDICT: A small jewel of an Iranian romantic comedy, ‘My Favourite Cake’ pits an older woman determined to find a measure of happiness against the restrictions of the Islamic regime and the loneliness of aging, while the film’s creators Maryam Moghaddam and Behtash Sanaeeha have been banned from traveling to Berlin.

Deborah Young, February 16, 2024

The romantic encounter between a lonely widow and a cab driver, both of them 70 and with no emotional ties to hold them back, might seem like a trivial subject for Berlin competition, where there is no shortage of heavy dramas and weighty subject matter. Except that My Favourite Cake (Keyke mahboobe man) is an Iranian film and it quietly describes, with a

large dose of humor and empathy, how untrue it is to imagine that the older generation isn’t affected by institutions like Iran’s Morality Police and other limitations to their personal freedom.

Meanwhile, writer-directors Maryam Moghaddam and Behtash Sanaeeha will not be in

Full review, click here

CROSSING PANORAMA

VERDICT: Levan Akin’s sophomore feature is a solid, ultimately moving tale of transformation and acceptance in which a retired teacher from Batumi in Georgia travels to Istanbul in search of the trans niece who was driven from home.

Jay Weissberg, February 16, 2024

Jennie Livingston’s seminal Paris is Burning was probably the first hit film to show what LGBTQ+ people have always known: we make our own families. They’re often not biological but they are carefully chosen, proving that genetics is no determinant of unconditional love. Levan Akin’s Continues next page

©Hamid Janipour

Haydar Tastan

Crossing continued from page 1

follow-up to his terrific debut feature And Then We Danced has this in mind as it follows an older Georgian woman who travels to Istanbul in search of her trans niece, encountering communities she never imagined. While Crossing lacks the exhilaration of Akin’s first film, and character development is a little too easy, its foregrounding of collective affinities works the right amount of emotional payoff when needed, and the performers each have their own lure. Though the film could be classed with the ever-growing number of trans-themed films, Crossing can just as easily be pitched to broad left-leaning art house audiences, ideal for its US distributor MUBI.

Retired history teacher Lia (veteran actress Mzia Arabuli) heads to the seaside cottage of her former pupil Zaza (Levan Bochorishvili) in search of her sister’s long-estranged trans daughter Tekla, who was driven from home some time earlier by Lia’s brother-in-law. What she learns isn’t encouraging: Tekla had been working as a prostitute until she was evicted and left for Istanbul.

Full review, click here

PANORAMA

EVERY YOU EVERY ME

VERDICT: Michael Fetter Nathansky, with assistance from lead actress Aenne Schwarz, inspects a shaky relationship in the shadow of work pressures in this adequately sensitive, surreal, and discomfiting look at marriage and its dissatisfactions.

Oris Aigbokhaevbolo, February 16, 2024

At the start of Every You Every Me, a lady arrives at a workplace to coax her husband out of a locked room. He has a job interview pending but a long-running panic attack in tense situations has led to a crisis; that’s why he has locked himself in the room. His wife climbs over a barrier to get to him and finds that he’s an animal, a bovine. She pets him lovingly and he transforms into a boy.

“I’m so sorry,” Paul says. “You don’t have to be,” Nadine replies.

This is how Michael Fetter Nathansky introduces his leads in this ultra-sensitive portrait of a marriage on the verge of collapse or reinvention. The story’s relatability and the terrific performance of the leads will make this a staple for film programmers, while careful marketing should bring in adult audiences who might find something of themselves in Paul or Nadine. After he survives the panic attack, Paul (Carlo Ljubek) insists on apologising to the boss of this workplace directly. Only as he waits with his wife does he become a man. But the interview opportunity has been spurned. He insists on another chance. Nadine insists. She is

Full review, click here

Befor Films

VERDICT SHORT

MUNA

VERDICT: A teenager navigates the social pressures of school and the expectations of family in this thoughtful coming-of-age drama about personal desires and dislocated grief.

Ben Nicholson, February 16, 2024 Life is not at all fair on Muna. Of course, life is not fair to many cinematic teenagers. They often find themselves bristling against the authority of their parents who are unable or unwilling to allow them the freedom they so desperately crave. In the case of Warda Mohamed’s excellent short Muna, the eponymous protagonist’s longing is to accompany her school friends on a trip, but such a request is complicated not only by her mother and father’s general reluctance but also by the passing away of her maternal grandfather

back in Somalia.

Mohamed’s screenplay uses this simple narrative conflict to craft a quietly probing portrait of an immigrant family and the complexities of expectations defined by both generation and gender. Muna’s desire to go on the trip may be frivolous but is, to some extent, about autonomy and the need to integrate which all teenagers are preoccupied with. On the other hand, the period of mourning that descends upon the household is

one that the children – Muna and her older brother – are dislodged from, having not known the man for whom tears are being shed. The film is anchored perfectly by a wonderful lead performance from Kosar Ali who many will remember from her scene-stealing turn in Sarah Gavron’s Rocks (2019). Here she puts on a far more subtle and nuanced show, the close-up photography allowing us to follow through her faintest frustrations

Full review, click here

EFM Podcast Innovative Production Tools: Shaping the Future of Filmmaking

In this episode, EFM Startups Alumni Kate Wilson, Volha Paulovich, and John Mahtani delve into the realm of innovative tools for the film industry They share valuable insights on recognizing and responding to industry needs, as well as navigating the challenges of introducing new tools to the market. Additionally, they express their perspectives on current developments in the film industry and discuss maintaining a balance between technical advance-ments and fostering creativity.

Courtesy of Berlinale © British Broadcasting Corporation and Monegram Ltd

MARKET

Kirk D Amico, Myriad Pictures

By Liza Foreman, February 16, 2024

For our daily column Market Voices, The Film Verdict will be checking in with the peeps peopleing the shop floor at this week’s European Film Market in Berlin, to give readers a feel for the first major film market of the year. Stay tuned.

KIRK D AMICO, MYRIAD PICTURES:

“The first days of the EFM at the MGB seem very energetic and busy. While many of the buyers have indicated that they already have films for the first half of 24 they are looking to fill their schedules for the second half of this year and beyond. There seems to be a focus on films that have strong commercial appeal and that could work theatrically and for transactional windows. Of course films which have a festival buzz are also generating strong and immediate interest. We are seeing offers from competitive territories and also requests to review films via links for distribution and marketing teams at home. We are very encouraged by the initial days at the market”

BEYOND THE FESTIVAL

THE ETERNAL MEMORY

VERDICT: The devastating impact of Alzheimer’s disease on a couple becomes an engaging, moving chronicle in the skillful hands of documentarian Maite Alberdi.

Patricia Boero, February 16, 2024

Chilean director Maite Alberdi’s documentary The Eternal Memory has won a cascade of prizes, from Sundance’s International Documentary Grand Jury Award to a Goya Award in Spain; it is now nominated for a 2024 Academy Award in the Best Documentary category.

Alberdi excels at lifting a veil of invisibility to reveal the fragility and also the value of people we don’t often see in their intimacy. Such is the case of The Grown-Ups (2016), focusing on adults with Down syndrome, or the humorous Tea Time (2014), where she captured her grandmother’s friends’ camaraderie, or the outstanding The Mole Agent (2020), in which an elderly amateur detective enters a retirement home to uncover alleged abuses. The Mole Agent was also nominated for an Academy Award for Best International Film.

The Eternal Memory tracks the life of a couple that has been together for over 20 years, Paulina Urrutia and her husband Augusto Góngora. They are both well-known in Chile. She is an actress who was Minister for Culture and the Arts during President Michelle Bachelet’s term in 2006 to 2010. He was a journalist, author, and news reporter who made clandestine videos during Pinochet’s dictatorship, risking repression to record the abuses and poverty inflicted by the military regime.

The filming began after he was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s at the age of 62, and the pair’s warmth and

Full review, click here

LA MEMORIA INFINITA

: El devastador impacto de la enfermedad de Alzheimer en una pareja se convierte en una crónica que cautiva y conmueve en las hábiles manos de la documentalista Maite Alberdi.

Patricia Boero, February 16, 2024

El documental La memoria infinita, de la directora chilena Maite Alberdi, ha ganado una cascada de premios, desde el Gran Premio del Jurado al Documental Internacional de Sundance hasta un Premio Goya en España; ahora está nominado para el Oscar 2024 en la categoría de Mejor Documental.

Alberdi se destaca por levantar el velo de la invisibilidad para revelar la fragilidad y también el valor de personas que pocas veces vemos en su intimidad. Es el caso de Los niños (2016), centrado en adultos con síndrome de Down, o el divertido La once (2014), donde captó la camaradería de las amigas de su abuela, o el excelente El agente topo (2020), en el que un anciano detective voluntario entra en una residencia de ancianos para destapar supuestos abusos. El agente topo también fue nominado al Oscar al mejor largometraje internacional.

La memoria infinita sigue la vida de una pareja que lleva juntos más de 20 años, Paulina Urrutia y su marido Augusto Góngora. Ambos son muy conocidos en Chile. Ella es actriz y fue Ministra de la Cultura y las Artes durante el mandato de la Presidenta Michelle Bachelet, entre 2006 y 2010. Él fue periodista, escritor y reportero de noticias que grabó vídeos clandestinos durante la dictadura de Pinochet, arriesgando la represión para registrar los abusos y la pobreza infligidos por el régimen militar.

El rodaje comenzó después de que le diagnosticaran

Full review, click here

Unifrance’s Game Changer, Daniela Elstner

The Film Verdict spoke with UniFrance’s Executive Director Daniela Elstner about the French film business, this week’s Berlin Film Festival, and her long career in the industry.

By Liza Foreman February 15, 2024

PARIS – The Hôtel du Collectionneur is awash with French cinema talent and journalists buzzing between interview rooms at the tail end of the annual UniFrance Meetings in Paris a few weeks ago. But Daniela Elstner, the Executive Director of the French film and television promotion body, is a paragon of calm, although there is plenty to keep her awake at night.

Elstner has some 55 staffers on the payroll as well as the non-profit’s 1,000-plus film and TV members to work with. This, on top of a merger three years ago, which saw promotion of the international TV business become part of the UniFrance set up. The organization was previously dedicated solely to film.

“The merger had been in the air at UniFrance for many years,” Elst-

ner said, “but it was complicated because financing to produce a film or TV is very different, especially in France.” Elstner said that bringing the two worlds together was a challenge, but with unanticipated thanks to Covid, all parties involved had a lot of time to think and arrive at answers to a lot of questions.

“I sensed very quickly that if we wanted to merge, we needed to maintain film and TV separately, but put together something that would come out on top while not trying to merge just to spend less money.” Elstner said she engaged the CNC and told that body: “It’s not going to work with less mon-

ey, it’s only going to work with more money. That’s how we got more money.” Elstner added that six weeks ago the CNC confirmed assistance for next year, “So we have good news for our global financing.”

Beginning her career as an intern at UniFrance, German-born Elstner has held the Executive Director position since 2019. She felt she knew the business, and the organization, well enough to take on the lead role. She’s the first sales executive to hold the position.

“I thought after twenty years in sales it’s time for a change. It’s a

Full article, click here

SATURDAY, FEB 17TH

11:30-12:30

Co-Production Market | House of Representatives

(only for visitor producers)

VISITORS GET TOGETHER - INTRODUCTION BY ITALIA - COUNTRY IN FOCUS

The Berlinale Co-Production Market’s Visitors Program is targeted at producers with no prior experience of co-production, who seek to get to know the international market and expand their network globally. They receive access to informative sessions, inspiring pitches and productive networking platforms.

Italian companies attending: Amartia Film, Antropica, Bloom Media House, Elsinore Film, TCB,Zena Film.

13:00-14:30

Co-Production Market | House of Representatives

(by invitation only)

LUNCH HOSTED BY ITALIACOUNTRY IN FOCUS 2024

15:00-16:00

Co-Production Market | House of Representatives

(market badge holders)

COUNTRY SESSION - CO-PRODUCING WITH ITALY

An overview on co-producing and accessing financing in a moderated interview.

SUNDAY, FEB 18TH

10:30-11:30

Italian Pavilion | Gropius Bau (market badge holders/by invitation only)

CAPPUCCINO WITH THE ITALIANS (hosted by Italian Film Commissions)

11:00-12:00

Co-Production Market | House of Representatives (market badge holders)

VFF TALENT HIGHLIGHT AWARD | PITCHING & AWARD CEREMONY

The ten Talent Project Market producers will pitch their projects, and the winner of the VFF Talent. Highlight Award will be announced on stage.

Project: EAU DE COLONY by Veronica Spedicati, Alcor (producer: Giorgio Gucci)

13:30-14:30

Documentation Centre for Displacement, Expulsion, Reconciliation (market badge holders)

EFM INDUSTRY SESSIONS | AI FOR AUDIENCE DESIGN IN DOCUMENTARY While the focus of discussions about AI and documentary often tends to revolve around the dangers and ethical dilemmas of generative AI, this session wants to center around a more nuanced landscape of AI application cases. From "social listening" to predictive analytics, from personalized content recommendations to targeted advertising and more.

14:30-16:30

Co-Production Market | House of Representatives (by invitation)

BOOKS AT BERLINALE

For complete event listings, click here

BERLINALE & EFM REVIEW DAILY

PANORAMA

NO OTHER LAND

VERDICT: Beginning in 2019, a quartet of Palestinian and Israeli filmmakers in the Occupied Territories start documenting Israel’s appropriation of the land and its escalation until just after the start of the current juggernaut in Gaza.

Jay Weissberg, February 17, 2024

Masafer Yatta is a community of small Palestinian villages at the south-eastern edge of the Occupied Territories. While it appears on Apple Maps (as Musafer Yatta), it’s absent from Google Maps, and only by typing in the names of

COMPETITION

FROM HILDE, WITH LOVE

VERDICT: German director Andreas Dresen’s biopic of anti-Nazi activist Hilde Coppi is diligent and respectful but overly conventional.

Stephen Dalton, February 17, 2024

Dramatising the true story of a courageous anti-Nazi resistance activist during World War II, German director Andreas Dresen makes his fifth visit to the Berlinale this week with his lat-

some of the hamlets do they appear. This shouldn’t be surprising given that Israel has long considered these villages, and their populations, to be erasable.

Shooting on No Other Land began in 2019, when evictions were pick-

ing up speed, and it ends presciently in October 2023, shortly after Hamas atrocities were followed by Israel’s murderous juggernaut. The importance of this documentary, made by two

Full review, click here IFFR

est Golden Bear contender, From Hilde, With Love. The story’s heroine is Hilde Coppi, born Betti Gertrud Käthe Hilda Rake in 1909, an unassuming

Berlin insurance clerk who dared to take a high-risk stand against Hitler’s brutal regime. Packaged in fairly straight biopic terms, this is an unusually conventional work from Dresen, a minor statement by a major German film-maker. Even so, classy production values and star billing for Liv Lisa Fries of Babylon Berlin fame should help boost marquee appeal and sales interest following its festival world premiere this week. Domestic theatrical release is planned for October.

Growing up in Communist East Germany, Dresen first learned about

Full review, click here

Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham

©Pandora Film Produktion

COMPETITION

LA COCINA

VERDICT: A disappointing, maddeningly self-indulgent plunge into the tensions and inequities in the kitchen of a Times Square eatery, designed as an anti-capitalist diatribe messily juggling personal and choral storytelling but saved to some degree by excellent chiaroscuro camerawork and a strong cast.

Jay Weissberg, February 16, 2024

It’s not exactly revolutionary to mine restaurant kitchen dynamics for broader statements about class, privilege and power: the elements are literally all there, on a silver platter. Via Arnold Wesker’s 1957

THE EDITORIAL OFFICE FORUM

VERDICT: Roman Bodarchuk’s latest is a funny, angry, and bold call to action for Ukraine and its people.

Kevin Jagernauth, February 16, 2024

In the week between the Grammys and the Super Bowl, Human Rights Watch announced that Vladimir Putin and other military officials should be investigated for war crimes following Russia’s assault on Mariupol. On Valentine’s Day it was reported

play The Kitchen (filmed once before in 1961), it should have been an ideal setting for Alonso Ruizpalacios to make insightful observations about such a well-worn yet evergreen topic, and expectations were high given the director’s

playfully cerebral experimentations with form and metaphor in previous films Güeros, Museo and A Cop Movie. Yet despite a promising start and top-notch talent on both sides of the camera, La cocina turns into a self-indulgent, patience-testing buffet imperfectly blended and heavy on calories. Sales can bank on Rooney Mara’s always welcome presence, but the high quality of individual ingredients is no guarantee of a digestible meal – though it does allow critics scope for a host of (tasteless?) food-related imagery.

Part of the problem is that Ruizpalacios lures us into believing we’ll be largely following young undocumented worker Estela Ramos (Anna Díaz), then promptly forgets

Full review, click here

that UNESCO calculated that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has caused $3.5 billion in damage so far to the country’s heritage and cultural sites. The fight for a nation’s independence shouldn’t have to battle for headlines, but Roman Bondarchuk

explores this grim state of affairs in his exceptionally clever and bleakly funny The Editorial Office. The director’s latest peers back at the recent past and ahead to the hopefully not too distant future, strad-

Full review, click here

Juan Pablo Ramírez/Filmadora

©Moon Man filmproduction

ANOTHER END COMPETITION

VERDICT: Corporate scientists use the persistence of memory to bring back the dead for a brief reunion with their loved ones (Gael Garcia Bernal and Bérénice Bejo), in Piero Messina’s clever but often perplexing ‘Another End’, whose futuristic love story beyond the grave is a mighty challenge to unravel.

Deborah Young, February 17, 2024

Another End is another offbeat choice for the main competition at Berlin: a stylish-looking, impeccably acted fantasy set in a future world that is just a little bit more outrageous than the present one, in which the Aeternum Corporation offers the inconsolably bereaved a high-tech solution for their grief that is, on the plus side, several steps up from zombiehood, but still creepy.

Hovering in that twilight zone between atmospheric festival film and audience intriguer, Another End takes a long time to set up and

establish the rules of the game; it only really catches fire in the final scenes, which radically reset audience expectations. Directed by Piero Messina, whose first feature The Wait (2015) with Juliette Binoche was a psychological ghost story, this new sci fi drama develops its premise with conviction thanks to a high-quality production and an excellent cast featuring Gael Garcia Bernal and Bérénice Bejo as grieving siblings and Norwegian actress Renate Reinsve (The Worst

Person in the World) in multiple roles. It has all the points to make it into theatrical release, but the twists and turns in the plot are going to leave audiences with a lot to discuss over dinner.

It is worth noting that this Indigo/ Rai Cinema production has made every effort to avoid being pigeonholed as an Italian film, avoiding local actors, dialogue and locations. Using exteriors shot at La Défense

Full review, click here

Matteo Casilli/Indigo Film

TFV’s Adham Youssef, director Leila Albayaty and TFV Chief Critic Deborah Young in Berlin

ENCOUNTERS

DEMBA

VERDICT: Although a bit too dry for a wide audience, Mamadou Dia’s ‘Demba’ has moments of visual grace, a great central performance, and a compelling subject at its core.

Oris Aigbokhaevbolo, February 17, 2024

In an office in Matam, Senegal, an obviously troubled man asks his boss to be straight with him. What does it mean that there is a plan to be “rid of redundant staff”? If I am fired, I have a plan. This plan, he says, involves the tree back at his house. “Plus, I have some rope,” he adds. The man is Demba, the eponymous character from director Mamadou Dia. Demba is his follow-up project to the well-received Nafi’s Father from 2019.

As followers of African productions

Courtesy of Mbar Diop/Joyedidi

with some international success know, the troubled continent keenly displays its ugliest face at Western galas. So, like most films from Africa showing up at European festivals (this one is premiering at the Berlinale), Demba is not a comedy, although comic trimmings besprinkle the tale. Thus, in assessing films in the group, one has to look beyond theme into the particular,

the peculiar, even the granular. With any luck the interchangeable narratives — around poverty, war, disease, strife, and politics — might meld into something original in any one of these films.

In this search for uniqueness, Demba’s most visible asset is its hero’s face, as presented wonderfully by Ben Mahmoud Mbow, who also ap-

Full review, click here

MARKET VOICES

Johannes Busse –Sola Media

By Liza Foreman, February 16, 2024

For our daily column Market Voices, The Film Verdict will be checking in with the peeps peopleing the shop floor at this week’s European Film Market in Berlin, to give readers a feel for the first major film market of the year. Stay tuned.

JOHANNES BUSSE – HEAD OF SALES AT SOLA MEDIA

“We had a really strong start to our market this year. We received first good offers already before or while we were traveling to Berlin. Also our first meetings here have been really productive. I am especially impressed by the strong development of the Eastern European Market which shows strong demand for our Family Content and we are very happy with buyers’ interest in our new announcements The Super Elfkins and The Lost Tiger. The market is just starting and the coming days are still full of good meetings. But I can already tell this will be a good EFM for us this year.”

SUNDAY, FEB 18TH

10:30-11:30

Italian Pavilion | Gropius Bau (market badge holders/by invitation only) CAPPUCCINO WITH THE ITALIANS (hosted by Italian Film Commissions)

11:00-12:00

Co-Production Market | House of Representatives (market badge holders)

VFF TALENT HIGHLIGHT AWARD | PITCHING & AWARD CEREMONY

The ten Talent Project Market producers will pitch their projects, and the winner of the VFF Talent. Highlight Award will be announced on stage.

Project: EAU DE COLONY by Veronica Spedicati, Alcor (producer: Giorgio Gucci)

13:30-14:30

Documentation Centre for Displacement, Expulsion, Reconciliation (market badge holders)

EFM INDUSTRY SESSIONS | AI FOR AUDIENCE DESIGN IN DOCUMENTARY While the focus of discussions about AI and documentary often tends to revolve around the dangers and ethical dilemmas of generative AI, this session wants to center around a more nuanced landscape of AI application cases. From "social listening" to

predictive analytics, from personalized content recommendations to targeted advertising and more.

14:30-16:30

Co-Production Market | House of Representatives (by invitation)

BOOKS AT BERLINALE

Moderated presentation of 10 brand new novels with outstanding screen adaptation potential. After the pitch, interested producers can get in touch with each title’s film rights holder.

Book: Cesare’s Story. Choosing Happiness with Your Eyes Closed/La storia di Cesare. Scegliere a occhi chiusi la felicità (author: Valentina Mastroianni), DeAgostini Libri

16:45-18:00

Documentation Centre for Displacement, Expulsion, Reconciliation (market badgeholders)

EFM INDUSTRY SESSIONS | ZONE OF INTEREST: DISTRIBUTION TRENDS FOR ONLINE RELEASES

The post-pandemic economy and consumption patterns are still challenging for independent films and finding a profitable balance, especially online, is not an easy win. This panel considers how to build effective release strategies in tune with new audience demand in a constantly evolving online market. Italian Participant: Anastasia Plazzotta - CEO, Wanted Cinema

MONDAY, FEB 19TH

14:00-16:30

Co-Production Market | Haus Huth (by invitation only)

PUBLIC FUND MEETINGS – ITALY

Pre-scheduled 20-minute one-on-one meetings.

For complete event listings, click here

Face To Face with German Filmmakers

In 2016, German Films launched the initiative, “FACE TO FACE WITH GERMAN FILMS”, shining a spotlight on some of the most influential German talents currently working in the industry.

Since its first edition, the annual campaign has established itself as a flagship platform to give international visibility to German film talent and draw the attention of the global film industry to a number of the country’s most sensational newcomers and professionals. In 2021 the initiative expanded to include crafts other than actors, direc-tors and screenwriters, recognizing those talents who are doing outstanding work behind the camera.

The 2024 campaign focuses on a variety of professions again. The new campaign and its ambassadors will be presented at this year’s Berlinale in a special event on February 19 Here are the 2024 ambassadors:

Jan Bülow

THE UNIVERSAL THEORY, LINDENBERG, KAFKA actor

Mehmet Akif Büyükatalay

ORAY, LOVE, DEUTSCHMARK AND DEATH writer, director, producer Banafshe Hourmazdi

NO HARD FEELINGS, LOVING HER, NO BEAST SO FIERCE actor

Moritz Müller-Preißer

WE ARE DATA, HAEBERLI, GOD’S OTHER PLAN writer & director

Mona Cathleen Otterbach

FRANKY FIVE STAR, MILK TEETH production designer

Eva Trobisch

ALL GOOD, IVO writer & director

Soleen Yusef

SAM A SAXON, DEUTSCHLAND 89, WINNERS writer & director

BERLINALE & EFM REVIEW DAILY

INTERNATIONAL COMPETITION

SUSPENDED TIME

VERDICT: Olivier Assayas’s semi-autobiographical reverie ‘Suspended Time’, on his stay in the family home during lockdown, is likely his weakest work, playing like a parody of an intellectualized director’s banal ruminations.

Jay Weissberg, February 17, 2024

Let’s cut to the chase:

Olivier Assayas’s slight autobiographical reverie on lockdown doesn’t work.

Solipsistic, repetitive and smothered in show-offy intellectualism, Suspended Time (an unfortunate title in English) is practically a parody of a post Eric Rohmer French

Full review, click here

INTERNATIONAL COMPETITION

DAHOMEY

VERDICT: Mati Diop’s thought-provokingly cerebral-poetic documentary follows the return of 26 looted cultural artefacts and their welcome home to Benin, encompassing the celebrations as well as larger debates around colonialization and how to reintegrate such potently spiritual objects into a society 130 years after they were plundered.

Jay Weissberg, February 18, 2024

Objects have lives. We invest them with meaning, pouring parts of ourselves into inanimate things so that their significance takes on greater and yet more deeply intimate importance in our lives and our psychology. “We must not forget that an object is the best messenger of a world beyond nature,” wrote Ro-

land Barthes, “one can easily see in an object at once a perfection and an absence of origin, a closure and a brilliance, a transformation of life into matter (matter is far more magical than life), and in a word a silence which belongs to the realm of fables.” Whether Mati Diop was familiar with that quote or not,

Full review, click here

Les Films du Bal / Fanta Sy

Carole Bethuel

MARIA’S SILENCE FORUM

VERDICT: The true story of Latvian-born German silent film diva Maria Leiko and her fateful journey to Stalin’s USSR in 1937 is retold in Davis Simanis’s ‘Maria’s Silence’ with a tragic depth that is engrossing and emotional.

Deborah Young, February 18, 2024

Stalin’s ruthless campaign in the 30’s against the Latvians remains an unhealed wound, and it rings with wide relevance today in the threatening context of another Russian dictator who throws his enemies into prison, from where they may never emerge alive. Perhaps for that reason Maria’s Silence (Marijas klusums), set in pre-war Moscow, seems particularly timely. It is premiering in Berlin’s Forum, which should be a jumping-off spot to find wider audiences.

Latvian director Davis Simanis, whose highly stylized The Year Before the War (2021) was an exuberant tragicomic spin through the madness of pre-WW1 Europe, changes to a calmer, more realistic register here to tell the true story of silent movie and theater actress Maria Leiko, whose brief career on the Moscow stage ended when she was caught up in Stalin’s terror. Giving new life to a classic story of heroism under pressure is a commanding and multi-faceted performance by Olga Sepicka-Slapjuma as the Latvian diva, along with the highly pleasing visual style of black and white cinematography, whose refinement mimics films of the period.

Simanis boldly declares his allegiance to cinematic elegance in an extraordinary opening tracking

Full review, click here

DYING COMPETITION

VERDICT: German director Matthias Glasner’s autobiographical, darkly funny, emotionally raw ensemble drama plays like a three-hour family therapy session.

Stephen Dalton, February 18, 2024

A sprawling three-hour symphony of tragicomic angst, depressive divas and dysfunctional family dynamics, Dying is a flavoursome exercise in high-class soap opera from German writer-director Matthias Glasner. Partly conceived as a memorial to the director’s own parents, this pan-generational contemporary drama has a very personal feel, touching on emotionally raw areas with a level of detail that feels autobiographical. Fortunately, themes of regret and guilt and unresolved parental friction will resonate with a fairly wide audience, especially

Full review, click here

©Mistrus Media

©Jakub Bejnarowicz / Schwarzweiss, Port au Prince, Senator Film Produktion

MEANWHILE ON EARTH PANORAMA

VERDICT: Jeremy Clapin follows I Lost My Body with another high-concept exploration of loss occupied by expressive ethical wrangling and intangible alien lifeforms.

Ben Nicholson, February 18, 2024

How far would we go to be reunited with a loved one we’d lost? Meanwhile on Earth puts a sci-fi spin on this familiar question.

In 2019, Jeremy Clapin’s feature debut, the animation I Lost My Body, was lauded for blending a soulful and tender meditation on loss and moving on within the confines of a high-concept narrative about an amputated hand skittering across Paris. Similar can be said of Clapin’s live-action follow-up, Meanwhile

on Earth. Once again, themes of bereavement and life direction rise to the surface in an inventively genre-led story, this time about aliens offering a young woman the chance to be reunited with her astronaut brother who was tragically lost in space.

When the film begins, Elsa (Me-

gan Northam) is in something of a malaise. An apparently gifted illustrator, she has abandoned her hopes of art school to work in the nursing home managed by her mother (Catherine Salee). She is evidently an empathetic carer for her patients, who are navigating the onset of dementia and the

Full review, click here

Courtesy of Berlinale © Manuel Moutier

PANORAMA

I SAW THREE BLACK LIGHTS

VERDICT: Santiago Lozano Álvarez finds an original way — lyrical and exuberant — to talk about the murders, disappearances and ecocide in Colombia in ‘I Saw Three Black Lights’.

Lucy Virgen, February 18, 2024

The subtle narrative of I Saw Three Black Lights, which premiered in the Panorama section of the Berlinale, follows the journey of José de los Santos (Jesús María Mina) as he looks for a place to die in peace in the rain forest of Cauca State, near the Colombian Pacific.

José believes passing away peacefully will allow his soul to reach heaven without wandering indefinitely through the purgatory reserved for those who perish violently. It is not a simple task because the region has not only the dangers of any tropical jungle, but is also full of armed groups and others dedicated to the exploitation of natural resources, none of whom care about a personal spiritual search and are very bothered by a man they distrust.

In Colonial Colombia, La Nueva Granada, many runaway slaves took refuge in the jungle. Condi-

FORUM

THE NIGHTS STILL SMELL OF GUNPOWDER

VERDICT: Filmmaker Inadelso Cossa uses sensory evocation to delve into the lingering impact of Mozambique’s civil war (1977 to 1992) in ‘The Nights Still Smell of Gunpowder’.

Adham Youssef, February 18, 2024

Just like war reporters, filmmaker Inadelso Cossa and his boom operator, Moises Langa, embed themselves in one of the many villages that were scarred by Mozambique’s violent civil war, another undiscussed bloody chapter of Cold War proxy conflicts in Africa.

Since the war, there have been dozens of humanitarian campaigns in the region to de-mine areas where pro- and anti-communist forces left mines for each other. Cossa is also de-mining, in his own way. In The Nights Still Smell of Gunpowder, he does this not with bulldozers and mine-sweepers, but rather using his camera, questions, and old photos of himself and his family.

Cossa was a child during the civil war between the country’s ruling socialist Frelimo party and the insurgent anti-communist group Renamo. Nevertheless, the war left its mark on him. He tries to understand this by revisiting his grandmother’s village, which is a micro-image of post-conflict Mo-

Berlinale/ Inadelso Cossa

©Natalia Burbano / Contravia Films

MARKET VOICES

By Liza Foreman, February 16, 2024

Nici Brückner

Producer, Director

World Color Studio 22

“World Color Studio 22, is at this year’s EFM with special projects In Transkei, a feature film by Derya Durmaz and Lost Gods of Memphis created by Jon Carlos Evans. We are meeting and negotiating

with co-producers and distributors from Finland, Armenia, Germany and South Africa. One of the new exciting events this year at EFM was Afro Berlin on Saturday. I participated on a panel spotlighting producers. It is fantastic to have such an international, high caliber of the African and diaspora film industry under one roof and put under the spotlight at the market. Afro Berlin was created by Prudence Kolong’s Stockholm-based consulting firm Yanibes, which also runs Afro Cannes at the Film Festival in Cannes.”

Olivier Albou, Other Angle Pictures

“The last time I was physically in Berlin was in 2020 right when we were getting into Covid’s first wave. I didn’t realize at the time how it would disrupt the film business and our lives in general. Luckily, by then, I had licensed and produced two Netflix originals which turned out to be huge hits on the platform during the pandemic. The rest of my films had some opportunities to perform between waves of the virus. Now the market seems to

have recovered some sanity. And even more so now that some films are going straight to streamers, while others need theatrical to exist, and some can have the best of both worlds. This is the case for our new production The Gardener with Jean-Claude Van Damme, which Amazon bought for a number of countries, and will have a theatrical release in others. In Berlin, I can feel a real market dynamic for the right films for the right clients, like independent distributors, streamers, and TV. Our specialty for 15 years has been feel good movies, and we are finding them a home this year in Berlin again.”

MONDAY, FEB 19TH

14:00-16:30

Co-Production Market | Haus Huth (by invitation only)

PUBLIC FUND MEETINGS – ITALY

Pre-scheduled 20-minute one-on-one meetings.

15:15-16:15

Documentation Centre for Displacement, Expulsion, Reconciliation (market badge holders)

EFM INDUSTRY SESSIONS | SUCCESSIVE LEARNINGS: ENTERING THE TERRITORY OF INDIE ANIMATION in collaboration with Annecy Film Festival

Three distinguished film producers are taking up the challenge of animated cinema. Showcasing the first images of their latest projects, share their visions and explain the sector's particular features interms of production and distribution.

Italian participant: Andrea OcchipintiFounder and President, Lucky Red

17:00-19:00 Gropius Dome (open to all)

SPECIAL EVENT - CELEBRATING CONNECTIONS

An event to showcase Italian talents, promoting Italian audiovisual culture

globally, and fostering connections between Italian and foreign film professionals.

TUESDAY, FEB 20TH

11:00-18:00

Documentation Centre for Displacement, Expulsion, Reconciliation (market badge holders)

EFM INDUSTRY SESSIONS | ARCHIVE MARKET

There will be panels on working with archives and much more - a whole day at the EFM will be dedicated just to the important work of archives. Italian participant: Enrico BufaliniManaging LUCE Archive, Cinecittà

12:30-13:00

CinemaxX1

(market badge holders/by invitation only) BERLINALE SERIES | PAST FORWARD: BRINGING CONTEMPORARY PERSPECTIVES TO ITALIAN PERIOD DRAMA

This showcase promises to be an exciting look into a sub-genre that is so unique as it is fascinating. Itoffers a behind-the-scenes look at the artistry and production challenges involved in bringing historical eras to life. By attending, viewers will gain a deeper understanding of the creative process behind Italian period drama, as well as how it can resonate with different audiences.

Italian participant: Matteo Rovere - CEO, Groenlandia (TBC)

for more information regarding the Italian Pavilion, click here

BERLINALE & EFM REVIEW DAILY

ARCHITECTON COMPETITION

VERDICT: Another stunning documentary from Victor Kossakovsky full of gob-smacking immersive images of the natural world, pitched this time as a call for a harmonious alliance between nature and architecture.

Jay Weissberg, February 19, 2024

“Mesmeric” is a word that can be used for all of Victor Kossakovsky’s stunning paeans to the glories of the natural world, in contrast with humanity’s mindless destruction of the beauty around us.

His forceful images of water (Aquarela), volcanoes (¡Vivan las antipodas!) and similar primary powerhouses are the very definition of the Romantics’ understanding of the sublime, terrifying

Full review, click here

COMPETITION

THE EMPIRE

VERDICT: Mischievous writer-director Bruno Dumont combines visually dazzling ‘Star Wars’ parody with small-town French farce in this admirably ambitious but muddled space opera.

Stephen Dalton, February 19, 2024 Bruno Dumont’s long and winding road from severe Gallic art-house auteur to antic ringmaster of increasingly bizarre genre-twisting comedies takes its strangest turn yet with The Empire, an epic sci-fi farce rooted in the droll premise of an apocalyptic war between alien superbeings breaking out in a sleepy French seaside town. Combining gonzo humour, a co-

lourful ensemble cast and strikingly impressive production design, the end result feels something like a Quentin Dupieux film with a Christopher Nolan-sized visual effects budget. The most unabashedly silly competition contender screening in Berlin this week, Dumont’s baroque space oddity ultimately falls short of its intergalatic ambitions, but it is still worth the ride for its WTF screwball twists and sporadically brilliant touches.

The Empire was billed in early publicity as a parody of Star Wars, and the parallels go deeper than than that faint homage buried in the title. The story features rival tribes of futuristic knights, light sabres, and epic battles between fleets of fight-

Full review, click here

©Tessalit Productions

Ma.ja.de. Filmproduktions GmbH, Point du Jour, Les Films du Balibari

LANGUE ÉTRANGÈRE COMPETITION

VERDICT: In her first solo directing stint ‘Langue étrangère’, Camera d’Or winner Claire Burger cleverly evokes the fears and anxieties of two middle-class 17-yearold European girls about to inherit a world racked with violently diverging political opinions.

Deborah Young, February 19, 2024

On a high school exchange program, Fanny from Strasbourg timorously takes a train to neighboring Germany to meet her penpal Lena, who lives in Leipzig. The first impact between the childlike French girl and the self-assured, older-than-heryears German is pretty dismal, but in the course of Langue étrangère (literally, Foreign Tongue), they will bind over a common interest: their

desire to use politics and protest to change the world. Only it’s not as simple as that.

Earning a competition slot in Berlin, Claire Burger’s youthful drama is branded with the same commendable lack of sentimentality and search for psychological truth, warts and all, as her first feature Party Girl, which she co-directed with film-school buddies Marie Amachoukeli and Samuel Theis; it won the Camera d’Or at Cannes in 2014. Her first solo feature is professionally executed and holds together very well, even if the sparks of narrative and cinematic innovation are largely missing, making this Goodfellas release more plausible as a theatrical release in Europe than a big festival hit.

The young leads are flanked by

Full review, click here

VERDICT: The living haunt the dead in Yorgos Zois’s dreamy, at times absurd fantasy ‘Arcadia’, an aching, downbeat tale about loss and lingering grief, told from the ghosts’ POV.

Deborah Young, February 18, 2024

The heavy burden of grief that some people carry around with them for years after a loved one dies finds a new metaphor in Arcadia, an offbeat Greek ghost story directed by Yorgos Zois (Interruption, 2015).

This original take on a depressing topic is lightened up, if you can call it that, by some surprises, notably gratuitous sex scenes that come out of left field when you least expect it and have no logical relationship with the story. The film’s bow in Berlin’s Encounters sidebar should test the waters with festival audiences before hitting specialty theatrical venues.

Full review, click here

Les Films de Pierre

© Foss Production, Homemade Films, Red Carpet

PANORAMA

YO VI TRES LUCES NEGRAS

: Santiago Lozano Álvarez encontró una manera original -lírica y exuberante- de hablar sobre los asesinatos, desapariciones y ecocidio en Colombia en Yo vi tres luces negras.

Lucy Virgen, February 18, 2024

El sutil hilo narrativo de Yo vi tres luces negras, que se estrenó en la sección Panorama en el Festival Internacional de Berlín, es la jornada de José de los Santos (Jesús María Mina) en la selva tropical del departamento del Cauca, cerca del Pacífico colombiano buscando un lugar para bien morir. José cree que morir en paz permitirá que su alma llegue al cielo sin vagar indefinidamente por el purgatorio reservado a los que

perecieron con violencia. No es una misión sencilla porque la región, además de los peligros de cualquier selva tropical, está llena de grupos armados y explotadores de los recursos naturales a los que la búsqueda espiritual no les importa y si les molesta mucho un hombre del que desconfían.

En la Colombia colonial, la Nueva Granada, muchos esclavos en fuga se refugiaban en la selva; las condiciones de la zona hacían casi imposible su búsqueda. El aislamiento permitió la creación de asentamientos de afrodescendientes que existen hasta ahora, con creencias

Christian Velasquez / Contravía Films

AFTERWAR PANORAMA

VERDICT: Shot over 15 years, Birgitte Stærmose’s deeply empathetic documentary, focused on child survivors, is an intimate and diligent depiction of the lingering aftermath of war.

Birgitte Stærmose’s journey to make Afterwar started with her short film Out of Love (2010), featuring a group of street kids in post-war Kosovo’s Pristina, trying to make do by selling cigarettes, peanuts, or even their bodies to feed themselves and the families.

Her new docu-narrative Afterwar follows up on the stories of four of the amateur actors in her first film. Through them, she offers an intimate portrayal of individuals transitioning from childhood to adulthood, grappling with ongoing challenges. The Kosovo war is one of the deadly chapters in post-1945 European history, one whose aftermath is less seen and discussed than other conflicts.

VERDICT SHORT

CIRCLE

VERDICT: A young girl draws a circle on the ground and people are drawn to stand within its borders in Joung Yumi’s typically mannered and strangely engrossing monochrome animation.

Ben Nicholson, February 19, 2024

Precisely why a young girl scratches a circle into the ground with a twig is anyone’s guess.

On the whole, the why of what happens throughout Joung Yumi’s Circle is something of a moot point. However, it is perhaps the implications of the otherwise ambiguous non-narrative that make this one of the filmmakers’ most satisfying shorts yet. Those familiar with Yumi’s other work will recognise much here – from the colourless animation and peculiar rhythms and affected styles of movement in Park Yougeun’s drawings, to the oddly atemporal atmosphere.

The film acts as a stationary observation of a point in space. Around this point, first, the girl draws the circle, and then a multitude of people walking across the screen are compelled to stop and then stand or sit within the confines of the circle. Instigated first by a man in business dress who sits on his briefcase and reads the paper, he’s soon joined by citizens old and young until the girl returns and erases the line, at which point they gradually drift away.

While its story progression is as glacial and apparently inconsequential as the likes of The Waves (2023) or House of Existence (2022), Circle raises more readily accessible questions than Yumi’s other recent films without distracting from her beautiful trademark aes-

Full review, click here

The film starts by showing the documentary footage of destruction and displacement that the war left behind, not just on the country’s infrastructure but also on human beings. The four leads are first introduced as children. From a young age, their situation forces them to become adults, responsible for working for a living to feed themselves and their families. One sells cigarettes after school and does not tell his mother; one sells peanuts after his father was paralysed and his mother is in pain from cleaning rich people’s houses; one sees her mother working every day; and the last is a sex worker in fancy hotels or around the corner.

Full review, click here

Adham Youssef, February 19, 2024

© Troels N’Koya-Jensen

Courtesy of Berlinale © Joung Yum

PANORAMA

MEMORIES OF A BURNING BODY

VERDICT: The voices of three women give authenticity to ‘Memories of a Burning Body’, premiering in the Panorama section at the Berlinale.

Lucy Virgen, February 19, 2024

Memories of a Burning Body is an interesting mix of fiction and documentary. Three women in their 70s talk about the development of their sexual and sentimental lives, while a single actress represents them on screen, at every stage of their lives.

The film is guided by an offscreen voice, while the performances have very little dialog and rely on body language and mimicry. The staging is practically a very theatrical kammerspiel within the interiors of a house; and flashbacks to the teenage years and youth of these women complete the narrative. The film is not overly sentimental, but at times it feels like an educational or historical film about the living conditions of women at that time.

Antonella Sudasassi Furniss, the director, belongs to a generation of Costa Rican directors who have found their voice and cause in feminism, treated in different forms and styles. Paz Fábrega (Cold Sea Water), Laura Astorga (Red Princesses) and Ishtar Yasin (Al Aladi, My Lost Country), Valentina Maurel (I Have Electric Dreams) are also highly representative filmmakers of that country abroad.

MEMORIAS DE UN CUERPO QUE ARDE

: Las voces de tres mujeres dan autenticidad a una película a punto de rebasada por propósitos didácticos. Memorias de un cuerpo que arden que se estrena en la sección Panorama en la Berlinale.

Lucy Virgen, February 19, 2024

Memorias de un cuerpo que arde es una mezcla interesante de ficción y documental. Tres mujeres cerca de los 70 años de edad hablan del desarrollo de su vida sexual y sentimental, mientras una sola actriz las representa en pantalla, en cada etapa de su vida.

La película se guía por las voces fuera de cuadro, mientras que las actuaciones tienen muy pocos diálogos y dependen del lenguaje corporal y cierta mímica. La puesta en escena es prácticamente una kammerspiel, muy teatral en interiores de una sola casa; flashback en la adolescencia y juventud de las mujeres, completan la narración. La película no es sentimental pero a momentos se siente como una película educativa o histórica sobre las condiciones de vida de las mujeres en esa época.

Sudasassi made her magnificent first film debut with The Awakening of the Ants, the story of a young wife who feels trapped in a domestic environment. It premiered at the 2019 Berlinale and won several awards around the world.

Full review, click here

Antonella Sudasassi Furniss, la directora, pertenece a una generación de directoras costarricenses que han encontrado su voy y causa en el feminismo tratado de formas y estilos diferentes; Paz Fábrega ( Agua fría de mar), Laura Astorga (Princesas rojas) y Ishtar Yasin (Al aladi, mi país perdido), Valentina Maurel (Tengo sueños eléctricos) son también lo más representativo de ese país en el extranjero

Full review, click here

Substance films

The Importance of Networking

TFV attended a Berlinale networking event for German talents and asked them about their experiences.

Max Borg, February 19, 2024

Amassive festival like the Berlinale consists of many different layers: the public one, with casual audiences attending the various screenings; the media one, with press covering the films in the program and select side events at the European Film Market; and the professional one, with all the production, acquisition and networking activities shaping the films and festivals yet to come, generally fairly far removed from the main festival hub in Potsdamer Platz.

In fact, even the market side comes with official and unofficial events. On the latter end of the spectrum, for example, was a Meet & Greet organized by a handful of Berlin-based talent agencies to create networking opportunities for German, or German-based, talents, even if they don’t necessarily have a film playing at the festival. TFV was invited to this event by one of the agencies, Crawford Talents, and got to talk to some of the attending actors, screenwriters, directors and producers.

We asked them specifically about the importance of gatherings such as the one we were at, and if making professional connections really

works in today’s industry. Marek Kossakovsky, an actor from Poland, thinks it does, and he speaks from experience on both sides of the issue: “I also organize workshops with Polish and international casting directors in Warsaw, because it is important to get in touch with as many people as possible at the beginning of your career. You are the one responsible for your success.” And this doesn’t just apply to younger professionals trying to get a break: Jules Jones, an American filmmaker and musician also

based in Poland, has written some very successful Polish films (most notably the Planet Single trilogy), all of which happened thanks to meetings with producers at similar events in Cannes.

“In fact, that’s where we met as well,” interjects her producing partner, the German actress Eva Ariane Heise. They’re in town to get eyeballs on their new production company, Trojan Pony, which aims to create films with mainstream appeal that also contain subliminal Full article, click here

© Juliane Eirich

The Italian Connection

The Italian Ministry of Culture, with Cinecitta’, are hosting a series of events in the Gropius Dome at the Italian Pavilion.

by Wil McCaughey

The Italian Ministry of Cul-ture, with Cinecitta’, are hosting a series of events in the Gropius Dome at the Italian Pavilion. Organizers of the Italian film industry say the focus-event aims to introduce a new format yet unseen at international festivals that will not only tell the story of cinema in a new way, but also attract investment while presenting Italian cinematic productions, film talents and industry workers.

The Hon. Armando Varricchio and the Italian Undersecretary of State for Culture, Lucia Borgonzoni, reiterated to The Film Verdict that the event is a novel way to present Italian cinema at an international forum. “We also brought Italian actors, actresses and producers to the Tokyo festival to talk about their work, with the aim of cultivating investments and partnerships.” Borgonzoni continued; “the aim of the Italian delegation is to recreate an even greater innovative event in Berlin, that can allow upcoming

Italian talent to engage directly with the international market. Italian savoir-faire is the drumpf card we have,” Borgonzoni said, adding, “The Ministry of Culture is investing in our upcoming generation of young performers and other industry workers.”

Roberto Stabile, Director for Special Projects at the Italian Ministry of Culture said, “We are putting a lot of energy into this event which every branch of the Italian cinematic industry wants to support due to its innovative format, its cultural impact and to put a spotlight on our upcoming young actors and workers.” Stabile added that ahead of the festival, the entire Italian cinema network rolled up its sleeves: “To ensure this will be a profile event of the highest caliber.” Stabile said to this end: “We’ve invited representatives from every company, institutional and professional entity from various countries with whom we’ve interacted over the last years.”

The Program promises to be an immersive event combining technological implementations to include projections and 3D exhibits showcasing the rich story of Italian cinema, from the great classic films known worldwide, to upcoming films. The event will also present an important investment plan to attract producers and industry workers from outside of Italy.

The two-day event was launched at the Italian Embassy in Berlin, hosted by Italy’s ambassador to Berlin, The high-ranking Italian delegation includes Cinecitta’s president Chiara Sbarigia, who said she believes strongly in presenting the actors, actresses and workers at global events like the Berlinale. “It is the best way to tell the story of our industry and present our talents abroad.” The studio president added: “Cinecitta; is the home of Italian cinema and audiovisuals, so we are proud to support the Ministry of Culture with this event

Lucia Borgonzoni, Italian Undersecretary of State for Culture

Roberto Stabile, Director for Special Projects at the Italian Ministry of Culture

Chiara Sbarigia, President of Cinecitta

MARKET VOICES

By Liza Foreman, February 16, 2024

For our daily column Market Voices, The Film Verdict will be checking in with the peeps peopleing the shop floor at this week’s European Film Market in Berlin, to give readers a feel for the first major film market of the year. Stay tuned.

Charles Lyons, director, ‘The Quiet Diplomat’

“I toured the European Film Market over the weekend, shopping for interested parties for international TV rights to my documentary, The Quiet Diplomat, about former Secretary General Ban Ki-moon. The film premiered Sunday at a parallel event produced by Cinema for Peace in Berlin. Some 20 years ago, I was a reporter for Variety, snooping markets for scoops. Now I am trying to sell my own film. Much has changed. Many of the booths I and my filmmaking team

visited at the Marriott and Gropius Bau were either interest-ed in selling territorial rights to films made in their own countries, or buying and selling fiction films featuring B-list actors. Where does a historical documentary about the former leader of the UN fit into this scene? I haven’t closed any deals, but some high-ranking diplomats, certainly not circulating the market, who saw the film when

EFM Podcast

it premiered at the Allianz Forum, expressed interest in either hosting screenings of the film or seeing it distributed in schools. The game is not over, but the possibilities of streaming – self or otherwise –have changed the landscape so much that a life for a documentary such as mine may well be outside a traditional television sale.”

(www.thequietdiplomatfilm.com)

International Film Sales: The Now and the Next

This episode explores the dynamic world of film sales as three industry experts delve into the post-pandemic landscape. Gain valuable insights into the evolving business in the theatrical and digital space, hear success stories in the realm of Arthouse cinema, and discover the pivotal role of a strong relationship to filmmakers. Guest speakers Alice Lesort, Katarzyna Siniarska and Jean-Christophe Lamontagne explore the importance of data, converse about regional nuances, and shed light on the growing interest of a new generation for Arthouse films. Tune in for a captivating discussion on current developments and the future of film sales!

BERLINALE & EFM REVIEW DAILY

COMPETITION

THE DEVIL’S BATH

VERDICT: Real historical murder cases inspired this relentlessly grim but highly atmospheric psycho-thriller from Austrian writer-director duo Veronika Franz and Severin Fiala.

Stephen Dalton, February 20, 2024

Beelzebub has a devil put aside for the spiritually tormented heroine of this brooding historical psycho-thriller, written and directed by Austrian duo Veronika Franz and Severin Fiala, which world premieres in the main competition at Berlin Film Festival this week. The Devil’s Bath is a family affair for Franz, who is married to controversial docu-fiction maestro Ulrich

Seidl, credited as lead producer here. Fiala is her nephew, and together they previously made two high-calibre horror-adjacent shockers, Goodnight Mommy (2014) and The Lodge (2019), with the former earning official Oscar submission status in Austria.

But despite its promisingly pulpy title and creepy fairy-tale backdrop, The Devil’s Bath is actually a fairly straight period thriller that trades more in real-life horror than lurid fabrication, with a tone more naturalistic than supernatural. The story is rooted in true events, including two documented murder cases in Austria and Germany. Franz and Fiala have claimed

Full review, click here

A TRAVELLER’S NEEDS COMPETITION

VERDICT: Hong Sang-soo’s third collaboration with Isabelle Huppert, bowing in competition in Berlin, is the weakest outing for both the director and actor so far.

Clarence Tsui, February 19, 2024

In A Traveller’s Needs, Iris (Isabelle Huppert) offers her South Korean students something she describes as a new way of learning French. Instead of the conventional practice of grammar, vocabulary and conversation, she probes them about themselves in English, they respond, and she tosses back flowery French translations of their answers. Then she instructs them to practice reading only her phrases. As language learning, it’s bizarre and practically useless – something one could also say about Hong Sang-soo’s latest outing, a seemingly poetic treatise devoid of any emotional engagement for its characters

Full review, click here

©Ulrich Seidl Filmproduktion

©Jeowonsa Film Co.

PEPE COMPETITION

VERDICT: Nelson Carlos De Los Santos Arias’s fanciful exploration of the inner life of one of Pablo Escobar’s cocaine hippos is an idiosyncratic affair as piercing and beguiling as it is confounding.

Ben Nicholson, February 20, 2024

In 2009, Pepe the hippopotamus was shot by hunters in northwestern Colombia.

Hippos aren’t native to the region, but this individual had been brought there from the wilds of southern Africa to be a specimen in the private zoo of the famed drug baron Pablo Escobar. Eventually escaping the confines of the crime lord’s Hacienda Napoles, Pepe took up residence in the waters of the Magdalena River before being sought out and killed by alarmed locals. These are the bare bones of the real-life story that Nelson Carlos De Los Santos Arias has freely adapted into

Full review, click here

PANORAMA

DIARIES FROM LEBANON

VERDICT: Three people in Beirut representing the past, present and future of Lebanon experience the hopes, disappointments and decimated sense of stability in Myriam El Hajj’s sad yet defiant documentary tracing the country’s ups and downs since 2018.

Jay Weissberg, February 20, 2024

For decades, through civil war and economic hardship, the Lebanese people prided themselves on their resilience, but following the August 2020 port explosion in which at least 218 people were killed and an untold number of lives shattered, the attitude changed to

“fuck resilience.” That’s the space occupied by Myriam El Hajj’s enthralling yet painfully sad Diaries from Lebanon, a documentary trying hard to remain resilient in the face of endless setbacks. Begun in 2018 when political change finally seemed possible, the film tracks the hopes of multiple generations who see the possibility of an equitable future tantalizingly close, only to have them incinerated first by the entrenched elite and then the explosion that decimated, physically and psychologically, the entire population. For those who’ve been following Lebanon’s tragedies, Diaries can be a difficult watch, like seeing docus of the Egyptian Revolution and being reminded of the excitement followed by the crushing realization

Full review, click here

Abbout Productions

Courtesy of Berlinale © Monte & Culebra

SOME RAIN MUST FALL ENCOUNTERS

VERDICT: A depressed Chinese woman tired of her unaffectionate family and middle class life heads towards a breakdown in the first feature by Qiu Yang, whose minimalist storytelling is full of atmosphere and foreboding.

Deborah Young, February 20, 2024

There is the whiff of the film noir in Some Rain Must Fall (Kon fang jian li de nv ren), an impressively atmospheric feature debut from Qiu Yang, whose short A Gentle Night won the best short film award at Cannes in 2017. Set in an anonymous city in mainland China, its shards of a story tell of a woman whose marriage is disintegrating and who appears to be heading for a nervous breakdown. Aimed at festival and China-phile consumption, it is the kind of sophisticated, understated film that wins prizes and shows a strong talent in the making, but will be a harder sell for wider audiences.

A point of connection with Western viewers is the film’s haunting visual style marked by rainy, soft-focus empty streets and bits of colored neon flashing in the night. Its typical thriller tropes may relate to the fact it was shot by young award-winning German cinematographer Constanze Schmitt. The film is an international coprod between Singapore, France, the UK, the U.S. and China.

At the center of the story is what the Chinese call a “moderately rich” family who are able to afford nice clothes, a tastefully decorated home, two cars in their

©Wild Grass Films

VERDICT SHORT

BYE BYE TURTLE

VERDICT: A young girl avoiding her home and a woman returning to hers after a long absence form a brief but profound bond in Selin Oksuzoglu sparkling short.

Ben Nicholson, February 20, 2024 Bye Bye Turtle lives or dies with the chemistry of its two leads.

Thrown together by happenstance, the five-year-old Inci (Nursema Cepni) and the young woman Zeynep (Meltem Unel) become unlikely travelling companions. The latter is heading back to her remote village after years of living in Europe and the former tags along to avoid returning to her own home, where the spectre of death looms large over the family. They

are two daughters who have unenviable conversations to have with their fathers and who, despite their divergent ages, are having similar trouble in conducting them.

Oksuzoglu plays to the strengths of this odd-couple set-up, allowing Zeynep’s directness and Inci stoicism to butt against one another

in amusing ways. Jaunty music and the characters trading comical barbs – with one another and passers-by – give Bye Bye Turtle the feel of whimsical road-movie comedy set in the expansive Turkish mountains. However, the relationship between the two leads

Full review, click here

Courtesy of Berlinale © Apaches films

VERDICT SHORT

REMAINS OF THE HOT DAY

VERDICT: A wonderfully observed sketch of a family lunch in late-1990s China that not only captures period mood but is compiled from glimpses of myriad miniature dramas.

Ben Nicholson, February 20, 2024

Very little of real consequence happens in Wenqian Jiang’s Remains of the Hot Day.

It is not a film concerned with grand narrative and yet in the accumulation of its quiet observations, it positively brims with mood, character, and sense of a very particular moment in modern Chinese history. Set during a single lunchtime on a humid afternoon in the 1990s, it was conceived of by Jiang as a way to explore the very tangible memories she has of being a young girl at this time. The film perfectly evokes the feeling of a memory –like a mosaic of atmosphere and glimpsed detail.

In this way, it doesn’t offer much in the way of narrative momentum,

instead revelling in minor interactions and moments of respite. If there is a protagonist, it is probably the little girl (Yuyi Wan) from whose perspective the meal unfolds – presumably standing in for Jiang. In the same small apartment littered with oscillating fans are her mother, grandmother and grandfather, her uncle, his wife and their baby.

Yunlai Dai’s camerawork is unobtrusive and the editing by co-screenwriter Yue Huang is similarly low-key. Instead, the film patiently observes short moments – a snatch of a conversation about some commercial matter, the girl’s mother teaching herself English, and the uncle and aunt shutting themselves away for quietude in the bedroom. The dramas are not overt, but Jiang immaculately suggests the various dynamics within the household and the desire for something new that emanates particularly from the middle generation. Perfectly weighted for its short runtime, it manages to be both slight and on various levels, truly insightful.

Full article, click here

Courtesy of Berlinale © Trembling Flame Films

MARKET VOICES

Liza Foreman, February 16, 2024

For our daily column Market Voices, The Film Verdict will be checking in with the peeps peopleing the shop floor at this week’s European Film Market in Berlin, to give readers a feel for the first major film market of the year. Stay tuned.

Jim Jermanok, Filmmaker

“I am a former ICM agent turned filmmaker from New York. I am currently selling an eight-episode Drama TV series, Incompleteness, which I executive produced, and a documentary about Oscar-winning actor Martin Landau, which I directed. I am also seeking co-producers for several future film and TV projects. The business is

always changing and is currently contracting, but there is always a need for high quality and distinctive product. As an independent writer-director-producer, it is never easy but I remain optimistic after having 40 meetings in Berlin with

producers, investors, distributors and agents, including many friends who I haven’t seen since Covid began. What’s interesting in Berlin this year is that people are very clear about what they want. And about what they can do. There is an appetite for product to fill slates for late 2024/2025. For sure the indie business remains a challenge for independents and especially documentary. But I’ve met here with new investors interested in the film industry that have come to check out the market. In this industry there is always fresh blood. I particularly enjoyed seeing my close friend Stephen Fry who gave a superb performance in his latest film, Treasure. The Berlinale is proving to be a worthwhile experience but obtaining financing and distribution requires extreme persistence as always.”

Jim Jermanok, on left

BERLINALE & EFM REVIEW DAILY

MADE IN ENGLAND: THE FILMS OF POWELL AND PRESSBURGER

VERDICT: Martin Scorsese pays personal homage to visionary film-maker duo Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger in David Hinton’s traditional but thorough documentary.

Stephen Dalton, February 21, 2024

Martin Scorsese has been a headline-grabbing presence at the Berlin Film Festival this week, hosting a sold-out guest talk and picking up an honorary Golden Bear for his lifetime’s work in cinema. At 82, the veteran Italian-American director is currently enjoying a sustained late-career purple patch, basking in great reviews for his historical

murder thriller Killers of the Flower Moon, whose mighty haul of 10 Oscar nominations includes Best Director, making Scorsese the oldest ever contender in that category. But Scorsese is primarily in Berlin to launch Made in England: The Films of Powell and Pressburger, a documentary tribute to two of his cinematic heroes, British director Michael Powell and his Hungarian-born collaborator Emeric Pressburger, the legendary duo behind beloved classics like The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp (1943), A Matter of Life and Death (1946), Black Narcissus (1947) and The Red Shoes (1948). Directed by David Hinton, this glorified lecture-film is a fairly conventional career overview, low on surprises or formal flourishes. That said, it

Full review, click here

GLORIA! COMPETITION

VERDICT: A joyful feminist fantasy set in Venice in 1800, in which music unchains an orphanage full of talented girl musicians, ‘Gloria!’ will split audiences into two distinct camps.

Deborah Young, February 21, 2024

If the Berlinale opened with Small Things Like These featuring a somber Irish convent where unwed mothers-to-be were punished and humiliated, bringing up the rear of the German festival’s offbeat competition section is Gloria!, a fantasy about an Italian orphanage of 1800 populated by spunky girl musicians. Its joyous, upbeat tone and improbable story, full of twists and resounding victo-

Full review, click here

© Tempesta srl

CU LI NEVER CRIES PANORAMA

VERDICT: Los Vietnamese filmmaker Pham Ngoc Lan’s first feature, ‘Cu Li Never Cries’, is an absorbing, beautiful ode about a pensioner’s nostalgia for her past and a young couple’s uncertainty about their future.

Tsui,

Somewhere in the beginning of Cu Li Never Cries, an elderly performer on TV is shown singing a legendary (and admittedly quirky) English-language folk song dedicated to Ho Chi Minh. When the song ends, a woman is asked what she thinks of it; she laughs and says she never heard it before. “I’m just 21!”

This small footnote speaks volumes about what Vietnamese filmmaker Pham Ngoc Lan’s first feature is about. Bowing in the Berlinale’s Panorama sidebar, Cu Li Never Cries is about a clash of mindsets of people from different generations with their own long-gone traumas and current

Full review, click here

INTERCEPTED FORUM

VERDICT: Ukrainian director Oksana Karpovych’s quietly powerful documentary combines bleakly beautiful, defiantly hopeful images of her war-ravaged homeland with recordings of intercepted phone calls made by invading Russian soldiers.

Stephen Dalton, February 21, 2024 Urgent, newsworthy documentaries about Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine have become film festival fixtures and awards season staples over the past two years, but Intercepted shows there is room for formal innovation and even hopeful, defiant beauty in this grim subject matter. Ukrainian director Oksana Karpovych’s second feature uses a simple but inspired format, pairing

mostly static still-life shots of domestic life in her war-ravaged homeland with anonymous audio clips of intercepted phone signals from Russian soldiers calling back home, some complaining about grim conditions on the frontline, others carelessly sharing incriminating evidence of brutal war crimes. This Berlinale world premiere is a real-life horror movie on some level, but with the dark and violent events happening off screen, almost like a low-key stylistic cousin of Jonathan Glazer’s harrowing Auschwitz bio-drama The Zone of Interest (2023)

Karpovych is based in Montreal, but returned to her native Ukraine just weeks before Putin’s invasion in February 2022, with plans to work on another project. Strong hints of the imminent conflict already hung heavy in the air, and

Full review, click here

© Christopher Nunn

Clarence

February 21, 2024

Cadence Studios

RISING UP AT NIGHT PANORAMA

VERDICT: Nelson Makengo’s beautifully shot and observed documentary ‘Rising Up at Night’ captures the darkness of Kinshasa after severe flooding and electricity cuts, along with the resilience of its people.

Adham Youssef, February 21, 2024

In Kinshasa, living in the darkness does not only mean not knowing, but also living where the only source of light is low-quality Chinese-made flashlights, if you can afford them and renewing the batteries every day.

In one admirable scene in Nelson Makengo’s documentary Rising Up at Night, bowing in the Berlin Panorama, the residents are at-

tempting to celebrate New Year’s. As midnight approaches, children gather in astonishment around a Congolese street vendor dressed up as Santa Claus in a whiteskinned mask, to sell colorful flashlights. An insane reality that the director captures.

In 2021, with 17 million inhabi-

tants, the capital of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kinshasa, suffered major power cuts amid negligence from the government. Darkness is the official tone in the film, whether we like it or not. Makengo attempts to find beauty and aesthetics in the dark, shoot-

Full review, click here

Berlinale

VERDICT SHORT

TOWARDS THE SUN, FAR FROM THE CENTER

VERDICT: Santiago, Chile is both brought into focus and dreamily abstracted in this languid city symphony featuring a queer couple looking for a space in which they can express themselves.

Ben Nicholson, February 21, 2024

The camera barely stops moving in Luciana Merino and Pascal Viveros’

Towards the Sun, Far from the Center. Looking for a way to shift the perspective on the city in which they live, the two filmmakers hit upon the notion of filming it at a remove. They captured it from a distance in high definition, and then used a digital zooming technique to concentrate on specific details. On

one hand, this is the minutiae of people coming and going on a sundrenched summer afternoon; on the other, it follows two women as they amiably traverse various parks and roads. With the audio mimicking the lens’s remoteness, rendering any dialogue as nothing more than a murmur, the result is

like a city symphony re-imaged as a hypnogogic ambient album of field recordings.

Partly this is due to the unanticipated visual degradation that came as part of the zooming process. While the frame might be pushed in to

Full review, click here

Courtesy of Berlinale © Luciana Merino & Pascal Viveros

BEYOND THE FESTIVAL

DUNE: PART TWO

VERDICT: The second chapter of Denis Villeneuve’s epic adaptation delivers on the visual grandeur and political intrigue, even if the characters tend to be reduced to their plot function.

Alonso Duralde, February 21, 2024

Frank Herbert’s Dune, a tale of war, genocide, and resource exploitation, has always loaned itself to political metaphor, and the world in its current state offers myriad connections to the violence and betrayals portrayed in Denis Villeneuve’s Dune: Part Two. This latest, but by no means final, chapter in Villeneuve’s screen adaptation may offer characters with all the depth

of chess pieces — they exist only in their service to the plot — but when the moves are this exciting, it’s a game well worth watching.

After somewhat laboriously placing those chess pieces on the board in the first Dune, Villenueve and co-screenwriter Jon Spaihts send them into strategic alliances and

conflicts, and the results are often breathtaking.

Picking up where 2021’s Dune left off, Part Two sees Paul Atreides (Timothée Chalamet) and his mother Lady Jessica (Rebecca Ferguson) joining with the no-

Full review, click here

THE MOON ALSO RISES VERDICT SHORT

Ben Nicholson, February 21, 2024

Time has come untethered in Yuyan Wang’s hybrid science fiction documentary The Moon Also Rises.

their home at the inception of a new era – when day and night will no longer be distinguishable. As the man and woman go about their ritualistic behaviours, The Moon Also Rises creates a kind of mesmerising rhythmic statis.

VERDICT: An elderly couple retreats from the outside world in preparation for the launch of three artificial moons in this strange and meditative experimental documentary. Full review,

In Wang’s short film One Thousand and One Attempts to Be an Ocean, she sought to use the editing of internet videos to evoke the wavelike deluge of online content. Here, there is a similar attempt to wrestle with a temporal anomaly, this time in a world somewhere between documentary and fiction where two people remain ensconced in

MARKET VOICES

Liza Foreman, February 16, 2024

For our daily column Market Voices, The Film Verdict will be checking in with the peeps peopleing the shop floor at this week’s European Film Market in Berlin, to give readers a feel for the first major film market of the year. Stay tuned.

Christiane Krone-Raab, Berlin Brandenburg Film Commissioner

“I can look back at many years of exhibiting at EFM with German Films and Focus Germany. Thinking about today’s talks at this EFM, about two thirds were requests from international filmmakers, mainly producers and directors. It’s changed. It was indeed amazing and a pleasure to listen to

This effect is managed by a robotic

voice that seems to be ever-present in the rooms of their homes, providing a variety of scientific information and wellness guidance and a smooth artificial register that seems calibrated to reduce stress. It’s also this ephemeral intelligence that gives the science fiction

many exciting creative ideas and film concepts of producers and filmmakers approaching us and looking for co production partners or funding schemes. I noticed the patience and gratefulness of the people I talked to and was trying to give them the best support and to suggest how to proceed. It is

sometimes hard to connect them with potential partners right away. We aim to understand the needs and open up new kinds of perspectives, and are also doing this to be a reliable partner, knowing that you always meet twice, hopefully next year at EFM.”

Courtesy of Berlinale. © Petit Chaos

Borgonzoni and Rivkin Meet at Berlinale

The Undersecretary of the Culture Ministry, Lucia Borgonzoni hosted a private meeting Tuesday at The Italian Pavilion between Italian cinema representatives and the U.S. Motion Picture Association.

The Undersecretary of the Culture Ministry, Lucia Borgonzoni hosted a private meeting Tuesday at The Italian Pavilion between Italian cinema representatives and the US Motion Picture Association.

Lucia Borgonzoni in a closed door meeting with Charles Rivkin, President of the MPA. Borgonzoni was accompanied by the Director General of Cinema, Nicola Borrelli, and Roberto Stabile, Cinecitta’s Chief of International Affairs.

At the end of the encounter, Borgonzoni affirmed: “Italy and the United States continue to enjoy a strong, collaborative relationship that has been ongoing for many years.

“There continues to be a strong synergy of intentions and visions for the future. Our meeting,” Borgonzoni continued, “has been an occasion not only to reaffirm our reciprocal interests for continuing collaboration,

but also to consolidate an already strong, productive relationship. We look forward to coproducing projects with our American partners.”

Borgonzoni’s meeting in Berlin is just one of several encounters that she has had with Hollywood since taking office, emphasising the Italy’s production and co-production, locations and incentives values. Borgonzoni continues to support Italy’s international positioning, spearheaded by Roberto Stabile, Cinecitta’s Chief of International Affairs. Stabile, who continues to promote Italian Cinema worldwide through various global initiatives is now Washington D.C. following Borgonzoni Berlin Meeting with the MPA.

(L–R) Nicola Borrelli Direttore Generale Cinema Ministero Cultura, Charles Riwkin CEO and Chairman of MPA, Lucia Borgonzoni, Stan McCoy European Middle East Africa President MPA, and Roberto Stabile

BERLINALE & EFM REVIEW DAILY

COMPETITION

BLACK TEA

VERDICT: The gap between African and Chinese culture proves easier to breach than the perspectives that separate a woman and a man in acclaimed director Abderrahmane Sissako’s ‘Black Tea’, a love story set in China that sadly gets lost in the telling.

Deborah Young, February 22, 2024

Nine years after his extraordinary look at the long arm of Jihadism in Timbuktu, the film that made Mauritania-born Abderrahmane Sissako one of Africa’s most significant filmmak-

ers, earning multiple awards and an Oscar nomination, the director returns to feature films with a sporadically intriguing but ultimately disappointing interracial love story, Black Tea, which is likely to keep even his fans at a distance.

GENERATION KPLUS

ABOVE THE DUST

VERDICT: Wang Xiaoshuai, controversially without an official screening permit, returns to Berlin with another superb picture about Chinese politics (and peasantry) featuring outstanding performances and stellar dialogue.

Oris Aigbokhaevbolo, February 22, 2024

A kid obsessed with getting a water gun is the protagonist of Above the Dust, a wildly imaginative but rea-

sonably grounded film by Berlinale favourite Wang Xiaoshuai. The kid (named Wo Tu, the film’s original title in Chinese) is played by the dazzlingly

Featuring one of the most engagingly modern heroines in Berlin this year, and a tale of great originality and timeliness, Black Tea should have been another landmark in the director’s career.

Full review, click here

competent Ouyang Wenxin, anchor of this wonderful tale that brings together adult politics, a country’s history, and a child’s dreams.

Wang has concocted a wonderful deception: he has put a child at the centre of a film that is very serious about very adult issues. Which means that the film’s appearance at the Generation Kplus section of the 2024 Berlinale is, uhm, interesting. But appearing in Berlin will cover Above the Dust in the gold dust that other venues find irresist-

Full review, click here

© Olivier Marceny / Cinéfrance Studios / Archipel 35 / Dune Vision

Lemming Film

VERDICT SHORT

TAKO TSUBO

VERDICT: A man has his heart removed in an attempt to lessen his existential anguish in Fanny Sorgo and Eva Pedroza’s expressive, lingering animation.

Ben Nicholson, February 22, 2024

The title of Fanny Sorgo and Eva Pedroza’s Tako Tsubo is a play on Takotsubo syndrome.

An acute and sudden form of heart failure brought on by extreme emotional distress, the condition echoes the circumstances in which Mr. Ham (voiced by Len Jakobsen) finds himself. “Here on one side there is a beautiful sunrise,” he tries to explain to his doctor, “and then there’s a war.” Plagued by a

COMPETITION

WHO DO I BELONG TO?

VERDICT: A misguided narrative full of ill-thought-out atmospheric twists spoils the cinematic attractions of Tunisian-American Meryem Joobeur’s debut feature about a family torn apart when two sons join Daesh.

Jay Weissberg, February 22, 2024

Few cinema experiences are as frustrating as when terrific images and exceptional performances are trounced by an infuriatingly

fundamental heartache as a result of the world’s overwhelming contradictions, he is seeking a heart removal that will separate him from his pain.

Such inconsistencies are central to the human condition, but Tako

misguided narrative.

The problem with Tunisian-American Meryem Joobeur’s feature debut, competing for the Golden Bear, isn’t that the drama is kept

Tsubo seems to tap into the exaggerated nature of these cognitive dissonances in the hyper-connected modern world. The description of beauty and horror side by side could just as easily be the consecu-

Full review, click here

deliberately opaque, but that it’s so confused about what it wants to say. Set in a seaside Tunisian village, the film tells of a farming family whose two older sons run off to join Daesh; when one returns with a pregnant wife, the mother desperately tries to protect them. Shot with sensorial Malickian (visual and aural) sweep while pandering to the West’s fear of women in niqabs, Who Do I Belong To? toys with the audience’s perception yet gives them nothing but beautiful visuals and a maddeningly un-

Full review, click here

© Eva Pedroza, Fanny Sorgo / Courtesy: sixpackfilm

Tanit Films, Midi la Nuit, Instinct Bleu

BERLINALE SPECIAL

SASQUATCH SUNSET

VERDICT: Featuring wordless performances by a heavily disguised Jesse Eisenberg and Riley Keough, this boldly surreal Bigfoot comedy from David and Nathan Zellner has surprising emotional depth.

Stephen Dalton, February 22, 2024

Starting with an audaciously silly premise, then treating it with admirably serious dramatic intent, Sasquatch Sunset is one of the most joyously bizarre outliers to screen at the Berlinale this year.

Directed by the fraternal indie film-making duo David and Nathan Zellner, this tragicomic creature feature closely observes a small tribe of hairy, ape-like Bigfoots

living in a remote, densely wooded part of North America. Adding an extra layer of surreal humour, two of the four main sasquatches are played by Jesse Eisenberg and Riley Keough, renowned actors who sportingly rose to the challenge of spending an entire film in heavy prosthetics and costumes, with

zero human dialogue, only grunts and yelps and shrieks. Co-director Nathan Zellner also does double duty as one of the sasquatches, a sexually aggressive alpha-male whose reckless machismo leads him into deep trouble, while arthouse horror maestro Ari Aster has

Full review, click here

© Sasquatch Sunset

ENCOUNTERS

THE GREAT YAWN OF HISTORY

VERDICT: Aliyar Rasti’s contemplative fable searches for a better future in the vast Iranian countryside.

Kevin Jagernauth, February 22, 2024

At what point does certainty that things will change for the better become a delusion? How long can you hold onto that hope until you lose your grip on reality?

Iranian filmmaker Aliyar Rasti’s allegorical The Great Yawn of History ponders these questions in his rigorous realist fairy tale that follows two men on a journey that they might never come back from, but from which they’ll be forever changed.

The film opens with a setup that

could be ripped from the pages of the Brothers Grimm or Hans Christian Anderson. Beitollah (Mohammad Aghebati) writes his name, address, and an advertisement for a job on $100 bills and casually scatters them around the city. When a group of young men show up

at his door with the bills in hand, he promptly conducts interviews with each of them for the unspecified job, asking questions ranging from their background to whether or not they believe in miracles. It’s the meek Shoja (Amirhossein

Full review, click here

© Amirhossein Shojaie

VERDICT SHORT

IN PRAISE OF SLOWNESS

VERDICT: The outmoded bleach sellers of Tangier offer a window to a simpler time and a resistance against rampant growth in Hicham Gardaf’s tranquil documentary.

Ben Nicholson, February 22, 2024

In Praise of Slowness is a film about what we risk losing in the name of accelerating development.

The fate of bleach-pedalling street vendors in Tangier might not seem like the obvious choice for a measured and thought-provoking documentary about global economics. However, in the hands of filmmaker Hicham Gardaf, this largely unassuming profession becomes a symbol of something more signifi-

cant – the things that we sacrifice on the altar of commercialism and, more hopefully, how their endurance allows us to see minor routes to resistance against the all-consuming tide.

The film initially follows the figure of the vendor as he first traverses the arid landscape and then the

edge lands and industrial centres of the city carrying a vast array of empty plastic bottles on his back. He resembles the profile of a balloon seller, surrounded by a cloud of his wares. Gardaf’s camera remains relatively distant, observing this strange sight without

Full review, click here

Courtesy of Berlinale. © Hicham Gardaf

Yanks Pull Rank at EFM

This year’s European Film Market has been awash in big titles sold by a slew of independent sales companies that are creating momentum going into 2024.

Liza Foreman,

February 22, 2024

This year’s European Film Market has been awash in big titles sold by a slew of independent sales companies that are creating momentum going into 2024.

At this week’s EFM, buzz titles like ‘Oh Canada’ from Paul Schrader, Oscar nominee Celine Song’s ‘Materialists’, David Mackenzie’s heist thriller ‘Fuze’, and Festival opener ‘Small Things Like These’, have been making the trade headlines. Not to mention fueling gossip about record sums reportedly being demanded for titles like the Will Smith starrer Sugar Bandits (without there even yet being a director in place). But who are the actual sales companies getting behind the films? And what is the story this far?

“There has been a tidal wave caused by the streamers that has challenged the studios and created not only opportunities for independent producers and sales companies, but at the same time has made films more expensive and more difficult to package,” says Kirk D’Amico at Myrian Pictures. “But,” he adds, “talent for independent productions has become more elusive and more expensive.”

The Film Verdict puts a spotlight on some of the top US and European sales companies powering the poststrike comeback at EFM.

Arclight Films

Paul Schrader’s novel adaptation Oh, Canada has kept the veteran indie sales outfit Arclight on its toes this go-round. Non-stop negotiations have been reported by the film team. “I haven’t stopped,” said one of the film’s producers.

The drama is based on the best-selling book by Russell Banks, Foregone, and tells the story of a documentary filmmaker who goes to Canada to avoid being drafted into the Vietnam war. It stars Richard Gere, Uma Thurman, Michael Imperioli and Jacob Elordi.

Founded in 2002 by Gary Hamilton, Arclight has bases in Asia, the U.S. and Europe. As a leading international sales company for theatrical, television and home

video, it has sold more than 150 features including the Best Picture Oscar winner Crash. Other titles on the Arclight Berlin slate include Renny Harlin’s survival thriller Deep Water starring Aaron Eckhart and Ben Kingsley.

Myriad Pictures

This veteran Los Angeles-based indie came to Berlin with Die Alone, starring Carrie Anne Moss, Frank Grillo and Douglas Smith, and had invited screening for Bob Trevino Likes It, which will premiere at SXSW. Indies like these are jumping on new opportunities created by market change.

Money matters.

“There are a number of independent sales companies which have solid financial backing and are capable of Full article, click here

MARKET VOICES

Liza Foreman, February 16, 2024

For our daily column Market Voices, The Film Verdict will be checking in with the peeps peopleing the shop floor at this week’s European Film Market in Berlin, to give readers a feel for the first major film market of the year. Stay tuned.

Pedro Peira, Filmmaker, Producer, Sales Agent

“Selling niche films is not an easy task, especially at the European Film Market, where competition is fierce”, said Pedro Peira. “This time we focused on our last feature, Buddha Jumps over the Wall which we shot in Spain and Taiwan”. The film follow two chefs.

Being the director and producer

makes things a little strange, but once you’ve been a sales person, you’re always a sales person. I started in this industry as a Sales

Manager for an extinct company called BocaBoca Producciones but things developed in a creative direction, but you can’t forget your past.

We’ve had some interest from some platforms and, of course, from some festivals. Yes. Culinary is always a big thing for festivals. We’re trying to offer an additional experience which involves food and wine tasting during the film and some festivals are becoming aware of it.

We haven’t closed any deals so far but we keep on having interest on our previous film, LA Queenciañera, which after more than two years of its world premiere at Outfest, keeps grabbing interest from LGBTQ+ festivals around the glove.”

BERLINALE & EFM REVIEW DAILY

COMPETITION

SHAMBHALA

VERDICT: Nepal’s first-ever competition title at the Berlinale, Min Bahadur Bham’s Shambhala is a visually breathtaking, emotionally engaging relationship drama about a young Tibetan’s physical and mental journey across the Himalayas in search of her vanished husband.

Clarence Tsui, February 23, 2024

To those who consider film-watching mostly a small-screen experience and so-called arthouse cinema as too niche, Shambhala offers a powerful and perfect riposte.

Chronicling a pregnant Tibetan woman’s meditative, slow-moving journey across the snow-capped

Himalayas, Nepalese filmmaker Min Bahadur Bham’s second feature offers striking vistas only the widescreen could do justice. While its premise revolves around a very culture-specific polyandrous relationship, the film itself could easily be interpreted as a very universal reflection about life, love and death.

Compared to his first feature, the Venice Critics’ Week title The Black Hen, Bham’s sophomore outing is a step up in more ways than one. While his 2015 debut is a more intimate piece about the friendship of two village boys, his latest is an ambitious affair tackling the physical and emotional struggles of adults. Significantly, it is an international co-production

Full review, click here

COMPETITION

SONS

VERDICT: Gustav Möller returns to the thriller genre with his second feature ‘Sons’, bolstered by terrific performances.

Max Borg, February 22, 2024

In 2018, Swedish-born director Gustav Möller, who lives and works in Denmark, endeared himself to critics and viewers with his feature debut The Guilty, which played successfully on the festival circuit and in cinemas, and inspired a Netflix-backed remake starring Jake Gyllenhaal. Six years later, Möller’s sophomore effort Sons shows similar promise, starting with a prestigious competition slot at the Berlinale. Whether it will also beget an American

Full review, click here

© Nikolaj Moeller

A BIT OF A STRANGER PANORAMA

VERDICT: Three generations of Russified women in Ukraine come to grips with their identities and displacement in Svitlana Lishchynska’s rough-edged, absorbing film-as-therapy documentary.

Family dynamics are significantly complicated by the war in Ukraine in Svitlana Lishchynska’s personal documentary about how post-Soviet identities have torn holes in the region’s social fabric. Aptly named, A Bit of a Stranger was begun in Mariupol just before the war started and its unpolished nature – eleven d.p.s are credited – testifies to the difficult circumstances in which it was shot, with Lishchynska trying to come to terms in wartime with her position as Russian-educated Ukrainian and absentee mom. Though fitting into the category of film-as-therapy, with a bit too

Full review, click here

FORUM

IN THE BELLY OF A TIGER

VERDICT: Bowing in the Berlinale’s independently curated Forum programme, Indian filmmaker Siddartha Jatla’s second feature, ‘In the Belly of a Tiger’, combines social critique with magical realism to depict the struggles of India’s rural poor.

Clarence Tsui, February 23, 2024

Starting off as a grim critique of the violent exploitation of India’s rural working poor and ending with a sweepingly sentimental montage highlighting the undying, lifelong love of an old couple, In the Belly of a Tiger hops between a variety of styles and emotions which can be a challenge. What remains true throughout, however, is director Sid-

dartha Jatla’s unwavering empathy towards his subjects and his ability to tease so much lyrical beauty from the worst and best of scenarios, in a heartfelt ode to human resiliency. There are echoes of his directorial debut Love and Shukla, an intimate urban drama about the ebbs and flows of a lower middle-class couple’s relationship in the stifling environment of a big city. An international co-production backed by funds from the U.S., China, Taiwan and Indonesia and featuring a slightly more multinational production crew – the most eye-catching perhaps being composer Shigeru Umebayashi, renowned for scoring Wong Karwai’s In the Mood for Love – In the Belly of A Tiger deserves a roaring run through the festival

Full review, click here

Berlinale

Jay Weissberg, February 23, 2024

Albatros Communicós

VERDICT SHORT

THAT’S ALL FROM ME

VERDICT: A filmmaker explores her struggles with motherhood and artistic stimulus through a correspondence and a short film about birdwatching in this deft epistolary short.

Ben Nicholson, February 23, 2024

That’s All from Me begins as an image-less conversation between two women.

A documentary filmmaker, Isabel Ostergaard (Charlotte Munck) is having difficulty returning to her creative work after becoming a mother. In the hope of regaining some form of inspiration, she writes to an author who reflected on her own experiences of parenthood some decades earlier, Helen During (Eleanor Forbes). The two exchange letters and then video

notes before Helen suggests Isabel makes a film about bird watchers, which she duly does.

The form of the film follows the trajectory of Isabel’s own journey. When she first writes to Helen, and the latter responds, their voices are heard against a black screen. Often in the history of films without images, the lack of visual material underscores a political point, but here it is psychological – while Isabel feels blocked, the screen is too. Only upon being unlocked ever so slightly by Helen’s questions, does this shift and the second pair of messages are heard in concert with verite observational footage before culminating in a fully formed short within the short.

Through all of these, the conversations cleverly unpack the internal wranglings that Isabel has regard-

Full review, click here

VERDICT SHORT

for here am i sitting in a tin can far above the world

VERDICT: Crypto-currencies and cryogenics become intertwined in Gala Hernanadez Lopez’s illusory dual-screen collage which ruminates on humanity’s speculative relationship with the future.

Ben Nicholson, February 23, 2024

The future is a foreign country in Gala Hernandez Lopez’s for here am i sitting in a tin can far above the world.

Or perhaps more accurately, it is a speculative resource –a shifting imaginary to be exploited in vastly different ways. “I believe in the future,” explains the voice of Hal Finney (Joseph Grossi) a real-life player in the history of Bitcoin but here a conjuration in the

Full review, click here

Courtesy of Berlinale © Eva Könnemann

Courtesy of Berlinale © Don Quichotte Film

Viva Italia!

Italy was 2024’s Country in Focus at the Berlinale’s European Film Market

Max Borg, February 23rd, 2024

The 74th Berlinale is gearing up for a busy closing weekend, with two full days of screenings still to go at the time of writing. Meanwhile the European Film Market, which runs parallel to the public side of the festival, has already closed the book on the physical side of its 2024 edition, though online activities are still partially ongoing until the end of March. Per the official press release and EFM Director Dennis Ruh, the business side of things was “very well-attended and extremely busy”, drawing a record attendance of 12,000 visitors from 143 different countries. And among the highlights of this year’s Market was the the Country in Focus sidebar devoted to Italy.

Granted, one may question the logic of spotlighting a country that has no major difficulties getting international exposure, as seen with the high festival prominence of Italian cinema over the last 12 months, from last year’s Berlinale to this year’s via Cannes, Locarno, Venice and, just a few weeks ago, Rotterdam. Then again, that may well be a good reason to have such a Focus: to let interested buyers and programmers see

what has recently gained attention, or is likely to do so in the near future.

In fact, the Italian box office, one of the major casualties of the pandemic, became a case study in the last couple of months of 2023 due to the surprising success of There’s Still Tomorrow, the directorial debut of popular actress and comedienne Paola Cortellesi. This feminist comedy-drama, set in the aftermath of World War II, premiered at the Rome Film Fest, where it won three prizes including the Audience Award, and opened nationwide on October 26. It has grossed nearly 37 million Euro, the best result of the year, and the ninth top-grossing movie of all time in Italy, unadjusted for inflation. Four months later it is still playing in cinemas domestically, and set to expand internationally next month. A few weeks ago it won yet another audience award, in Gothenburg.

As part of the special Focus, in addition to film screenings and promo reels by Italian production companies, EFM attendees also got to participate in specific themed sessions, with topics ranging from independent animation to the role of archives in the audiovisual marketplace. There was also a crossover with the festival’s Official Selection, with a TV series

Full article, click here

The Italian Pavilion at the EFM

Creating Gender Parity, Breaking Through the Lens

Berlin Success Story, Cannes in View

Liza Foreman, February 23, 2024

The year 2018 was a special Cannes for women filmmakers in several ways. Nina Menkes, the iconic feminist director of films like ‘Queen of Diamonds’, (restored by Martin Scorsese’s The Film Foundation), stood on stage at The Members Club to hold court about her film Brainwashed: ‘Sex-Camera-Power’ in which she puts the spotlight on how films are shot in a gendered way to empower men and objectify women.

Behind the scenes, a group of innovative female filmmakers put together the first edition of Breaking Through The Lens (BTTL), a firstof-its-kind female film-financing initiative that came together in a borrowed villa on the edge of the French Riviera town.

A few days later, some 100 women filmmakers and a slew of curious film financiers descended on the leafy villa to hear the inaugural set of pitches from women filmmakers hoping to finance their films.

BTTL founder Daphne Schmon explains the idea was launched with the simple goal of connecting female feature-filmmakers to finance. “The idea came about in a very organic way. We had an opportunity from a private equity investor, who was moving from tech to film, to host an event at his Mediterranean villa. He was curious to find quality projects while at Cannes. So, we decided to

gather a group of female directors, me included, who had features in development, and have them make their pitch.” Companies such as Lionsgate, Sony, and Universal came along that first year. “Which proved the hunger for an initiative like this in the industry,” Schmon added. Since then, the grassroots organization has expanded its reach and its remit. It is now active at major film

festivals including Venice, Toronto, Cannes and Berlin.

BTTL is being embraced in Berlin this week; a string of debut female directors playing at the festival and has already brought together marginalized filmmakers from far and wide who gathered at a Campari-hosted event.Schmon said BTTL

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(Top) BTTL Founder Daphne Schmon and Director Claire Burger (Langue Étrangère) ; (Above) Italian Director Margherita Vicario (Gloria!); (Right) Director Samantha Aldana and Producer Valerie Steinberg (Little Lying Wild)

Berlin Bear Turns EFM into a Bull Market

This week’s European Film Market in Berlin had buyers buzzing about big projects.

(c)Juliane Eirich

This week’s European Film Market in Berlin had buyers buzzing about big projects.

Jason Resnick, consultant and former acquisitions exec at Universal said: “There were a lot of commercial projects with big stars which got the buyers excited. Post the strikes, we are seeing a bounce back at the market.”

But although the scene was set for a strong market coming off a solid Sundance, following months of strikes deadlock, relatively few big deals were reported.

The regular suspects came through with big titles: Fuze, Small Things Like These, Materialists, Sugar Bandits. (see sales company overview story).

There were rumors that some of these glitzy packages lead to record asking tags for Germany. For example, the Will Smith starrer Sugar Bandits that does not yet have a director in place. Buyers report the film has gone to Leonine for $15 million. Leonine says it will announce deals after the fest wraps.

A few key deals were announced during EFM, including Sony

acquiring worldwide rights to the Margot Tobbie , Colin Farrel starrer Big Bold Beautiful Journey for a reported $50 million range price tag.

Sony also boarded Past Lives’ director Celine Song's Materialists from A24. It has reportedly taken all of international, excluding Russia, China, and Japan. A24 is handling the U.S. release.

The arthouse streamer Mubi acquired David Hinton’s Martin Scorsese-narrated documentary, Made in England:The Films of Powell and Pressburger

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Photo courtesy of EFM

Small Things Like These (C) Shane O’Connor