Home » Entertainment » Glamor and politics: the 70th Berlinale opens its doors

Glamor and politics: the 70th Berlinale opens its doors

02/20/2020

British actress Helen Mirren (center) will receive the Bear of Honor at the Berlinale which begins Thursday in Berlin (archives). © KEYSTONE / AP / Evan Agostini

02/20/2020

Sigourney Weaver, Javier Bardem and … Hillary Clinton: the Berlinale, the first major film festival of the year in Europe, rolls out its red carpet from Thursday. A new direction and at the helm of this 70th edition with political accents.

The famous actress of “Alien” is due to open the festivities on Thursday evening alongside Margaret Qualley. They will come to present “My Salinger year” by Canadian Philippe Falardeau (out of competition), on the literary ambitions of a young woman working for a famous agent.

During the eleven days of the festival, some 340 films from around the world will be screened. Eighteen of them are in the running for the Golden Bear, which will be awarded on February 29 by a jury chaired by British actor Jeremy Irons.

A Swiss film and two co-productions appear in the official competition: “Schwesterlein” (“Little sister”) by Stéphanie Chuat and Véronique Reymond. “Le sel des larmes” by Philippe Garrel (France / Switzerland) and “Favolacce” (“Bad Tales”) by Fabio and Damiano D’Innocenzo (Italy / Switzerland).

The Briton has shown support for movements to “protect women from all forms of harassment”, the right to abortion and gay marriage. He was thus trying to clear up an emerging controversy, following the reappearance in the German press of an old interview where he made remarks deemed sexist.

“I hope that some of the films we are going to see will talk about these questions … and see films that encourage us to question our attitudes, our prejudices,” he said during the press conference of the jury. This includes Bérénice Bejo (“The Artist”) and Luca Marinelli (“Martin Eden”) as well as directors Kenneth Lonergan (“Manchester by the sea”) and Kleber Mendonça Filho (“Bacurau”).

Nazi past

In addition to being a birthday, this 70th edition opens a new chapter for the Berlinale: after having officiated for 18 years, the German Dieter Kosslick has given way to a younger duo, composed of the Italian Carlo Chatrian, former director of the Locarno festival, and of the Dutchwoman Mariette Rissenbeek.

The beginning of controversy around Jeremy Irons is not the only project that the duo had to clear upstream: recent revelations on the Nazi past of a former director of the Berlinale forced them to rename the Alfred-Bauer Prize and to replace it with a Silver Bear.

The festival has also entrusted a survey on this subject to the Institute of Contemporary History in Munich.

Objective of this new edition: “make room for diversity”. It offers many films made by women, works from around the world, with a large contingent from Brazil, political subjects and a new section called “encounters”, often offering niche films between documentary and fiction.

After the British Bafta and the Oscars, the debate on the lack of black women and artists in cinema is in full swing. The Berlinale will offer six films directed or co-directed by female directors this year. Or, a little less than last year.

Gap

Combining well-known authors of moviegoers (Philippe Garrel, Tsai Ming-liang and Kelly Reichardt) and discoveries, the 2020 selection, open to the public as well as to journalists, does not hesitate to make the splits. It presents for example “There is no evil” by the Iranian Mohammad Rasoulof, prohibited from leaving the country, and the latest comedy by the French duo Kerven-Delépine which attacks the web giants and our digital habits.

Out of competition, spectators will also be able to discover the new Pixar stable film (“En avant”), the “Pinocchio” by Matteo Garrone, already released in Italy and several series including “The Eddy”, soon on Netflix, by Damien Chazelle, the director of “La La Land”.

Bear of honor for Helen Mirren

The guest list is provided: the presence of Javier Bardem, Elle Fanning and Salma Hayek, on the poster of “The Roads not taken” (in competition), should delight photographers. Like that of Johnny Depp who plays on screen the photographer W. Eugene Smith in “Minamata” (out of competition). Helen Mirren will receive a Bear of Honor for her entire career.

Despite a glamorous dimension, the festival will not be less political with a program to match. Hillary Clinton is expected to watch the documentary dedicated to her. Ukrainian director Oleg Sentsov, imprisoned for five years, is to present his second film “Numbers”, inspired by his incarceration.

Last year, the jury chaired by Juliette Binoche crowned “Synonyms” for Navad Lapid, a critical film on Israeli identity.


ats, dpa

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