Berlinale 2019, Preview
By Alex Deleon
The 69th edition of the Berlin Film Festival was the last one under the auspices of director Dieter Kosslick, 70, who has run the event since 2002 with a certain flamboyance and an occasional flub.
Inevitably seen in the company of the big Hollywood stars while sporting various floppy hats and a red scarf, Kosslick has been accused of catering too much to the Hollywood mainstream at the expense of the festival’s long established emphasis on art and intellectual fare during his eighteen year reign, but he has definitely transformed the festival into one the world’s most important cinema events. In addition to being the world’s largest public film festival selling nearly half a million tickets per year to ordinary film fans, Berlin also hosts the European Film Market (EFM) the world’s second-largest film market which is, In effect, a parallel film festival in its own.
Aside from this, Berlin continues to screen many art films from around the world in its Panorama and Forum sections, with a strong political flavor always in the air.
This year the emphasis is on the feminine side of filmmaking with no less than seven of the 17 titles in Competition helmed by female directors. Among them are two regular Kosslick favorites, Agnieszka Holland of Poland and Isabel Coixet from Spain who is back this year with Elisa & Marcela a black-and-white period drama about the first lesbian couple to get legally married in Spain. Apart from the subject matter, the fact that the film was backed by Netflix has attracted attention in Berlin. Elisa & Marcela will be the firsts Netflix film ever to screened in competition at the Berlinale.
As the debate over TV streaming versus big screen projection heats up Kosslick’s optimistic view is as follows:
This question of streaming is one that has just started. The audiovisual world is in a state of great upheaval, but I’m convinced that cinema will stay, streaming notwithstanding. Despite opinions to the contrary, I think that film festivals will become more, not less, important in the future and that there will be a coexistence between the festivals and the streamers.
The Panorama section dedicated to alternate and independent cinema from around the world, now in its 40th year, presents a selection of significant films over this period of time chosen by founder and former Panorama curator Wieland Speck.
The festival opener is The Kindness of Strangers, by Danish femme director Lone Schefrig,( born 1959). Described as “The story of four people suffering through the worst crises of their lives” we can only hope this will not set the tone for the entire festival.
Turkish-German ace helmer Fatih Akin presents his latest work, Der Goldene Handschuh, (The Golden Glove), the story of a serial killer active in Akin’s native Hamburg in the seventies. Oddly enough Fatih has not been at Berlin often since his Golden Bear winner Gegen dir Wand, in 2004, preferring Cannes and Venice in recent years.
Two German ladies round out a strong German presence in the competition lineup.
Angela Schanelec makes her debut with Ich war zuhause, aber (I Was Home But) and Nora Fingscheidt’s first feature, Systemsprenger (System Crasher), a film about a child: “On her wild quest for love, nine-year-old Benni’s untamed energy drives everyone around her to despair”.
French veteran François Ozon presents Grâce à Dieu (By the Grace of God) about three childhood friends who meet and discuss their experiences.
Norwegian Hans Petter Moland is back after his spectacular black comedy In Order of Disappearance, which should have won a Bear in 2014 with Out Stealing Horses, his fourth stab at the Golden Bär top prize. Hope he makes it this time.
Three Chinese entries are on the agenda topped by China’s leading filmmaker Zhang Yimou’s One Second (Yi miao zhong). Zhang took home a Golden Bär for his very first feature Red Sorghum in 1988.
Films from Austria, Turkey, and Israel round out the Competition lineup.
Iconic French actress Juliette Binoche adds a touch of glamour as head the International Competition jury.
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P.S.: She didn’t look too glamorous at the Jury press conference.
But looked much better at the photo call for her own film!
