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Titles include Vincent Perez’s ‘The Edge Of The Blade’ and Leo Leigh’s ‘Sweet Sue’.

Filmest München has secured six world premieres for its upcoming 40th anniversary edition, including Vincent Perez’sThe Edge Of The Blade and Leo Leigh’s UK comedy drama Sweet Sue, recently acquirred by Curzon.

The festival in Munich has long been a staging ground for the world premieres of German films but is now looking to establish itself as a launchpad for more international titles, building on last year’s world premiere of Marcelo Gomes’ Brazilian drama Paloma.

Swiss actor-director Perez will travel to...

Berlin-based Picture Tree International has picked up global sales rights to two Scandinavian romantic comedies – the Finland’s “70 Is Just a Number,” about an aging female pop singer, and Sweden’s “Till Sun Rises,” about two lovers who escape their respective marriages to come together at night with the help of an ancient and magic book.

Pti will launch sales on the films at AFM, prior to their local releases via Nordisk Film: Dec. 29 and Dec. 25, respectively.

“70 Is Just a Number” is directed by Finnish comedy queen Johanna Vuoksenmaa, who directed “21 Ways to Ruin Your Marriage” – the top grossing Finnish film in 2013 with more than 400,000 admissions, still the biggest box office hit ever written, directed and produced by a woman in Finland. Produced by Nina Laurio and Riina Hyytiä with their Finnish company Dionysos Films, the film was supported by Finnish Film Foundation, and Tampere City/Film Tampere. The local broadcaster is Yleisradio.

February may be the shortest month, but that doesn’t mean streaming services can ignore their duty to entertain us at all times. In that mission, Netflix is making a decent effort in February 2021. This isn’t the most jam-packed month the major streamer has trotted out just yet but there are plenty of new originals to get the job done.

Netflix has a few original series of note this month. The party begins with Kid Cosmic on Feb. 2. This animated series is a comic-tinged adventure from Craig McCracken, creator of the Powerpuff Girls. That’s followed by the Sarah Chalke and Katherine Heigl-starring Firefly Lane on Feb. 3 and Behind Her Eyes on Feb. 17. Perhaps the biggest sleeper this month, however, is Tribes of Europa. This post-apocalyptic adventure series premieres on Feb. 19.

There are also quite a few intriguing Netflix original movies in February 2021. Malcolm and Marie stars John David Washington...

Out with the old and in with the new. Next month, Netflix is saying goodbye to another round of movies and TV shows that will be leaving the streaming service.

Films leaving Netflix include dramas Lila & Eve, Trespass Against Us, Alone in Berlin, A Walk to Remember, Saving Mr. Banks and Gran Torino, along with comedies such as A Bad Moms Christmas, The Other Guys, Easy A, Dolphin Tale 2 and Sleepover.

In the television sphere, shows departing the streamer include all five seasons of Bates Motel and collection one of Brave Miss World.

In time with the departure of old content, Netflix has announced a large slate of new ...

Out with the old and in with the new. Next month, Netflix is saying goodbye to another round of movies and TV shows that will be leaving the streaming service.

Films leaving Netflix include dramas Lila & Eve, Trespass Against Us, Alone in Berlin, A Walk to Remember, Saving Mr. Banks and Gran Torino, along with comedies such as A Bad Moms Christmas, The Other Guys, Easy A, Dolphin Tale 2 and Sleepover.

In the television sphere, shows departing the streamer include all five seasons of Bates Motel and collection one of Brave Miss World.

In time with the departure of old content, Netflix has announced a large slate of new ...

Horror director Michael David Pate goes social in the terrifying flick Haunted Hospital: HEILSTÄTTEN arriving on digital, Blu-ray Combo Pack and DVD February 12 from Well Go USA Entertainment. The film tells the story of a group of vloggers who travel to Berlin to film a viral social media challenge by illegally accessing the abandoned, derelict military hospital Beelitz Heilstätten that once housed a recuperating Adolph Hitler, and documenting their experience spending the night in the ominous surgery block in the hopes that the video will go viral. They soon experience many strange events which terrorize them both physically and mentally. Haunted Hospital: HEILSTÄTTEN stars Nilam Farooq (“Soko Leipzig”), Farina Flebbe (Alone in Berlin), Sonja Gerhardt (Jack the Ripper), Maxine Kazis, Emilio Sakraya (“4 Blocks) and Tim Oliver Schultz (“The Red Band Society”).

A group of vloggers illegally access a condemned asylum for a “Will you Survive the Night” viral social media challenge.

The star of Hampstead and Alone in Berlin on his Flann O’Brien obsession, the most thrilling piece of theatre he’s ever seen, and discovering Caravaggio

Born in Dublin in 1955, Brendan Gleeson worked as a secondary school teacher of Irish and English before turning to acting full-time in 1991. He is best known for his roles in Calvary, In Bruges and The Guard. He has also appeared in Braveheart, Cold Mountain, 28 Days Later, Gangs of New York, and the Harry Potter films. His portrayal of Winston Churchill in the television film Into the Storm won him an Emmy award in 2009, and he has been nominated for three Golden Globes. Two of his four sons, Domhnall and Brian Gleeson, are also actors. Gleeson stars opposite Emma Thompson in Alone in Berlin, based on Hans Fallada’s second world war novel, and in Hampstead, both out now.

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Author: Linda Marric

Actor & director Vincent Perez is every bit as European as his name would suggest. Born in Switzerland to a German mother and a Spanish father, Perez first cut his teeth playing classical roles in some of the most popular French movies of the 1990s, and went on to star in Cyrano de Bergerac (Jean-Paul Rappeneau, 1990), La Reine Margot (Patrice Chéreau, 1994) and Indochine (Régis Wargnier, 1992) to name but a few.

Earlier this week, we had the pleasure of meeting Vincent for an interview and asked him about his new movie Alone In Berlin, which he co-wrote as well as directed. Adapted from Hans Fallada’s popular 1947 novel by the same name, the film tells the story of a law abiding German couple and their quiet resistance during Nazi rule in Berlin. Staring Emma Thompson and Brendan Gleeson, Alone In Berlin has so far been met with mixed reviews,...

With a seemingly endless amount of streaming options — not only the titles at our disposal, but services themselves — we’ve taken it upon ourselves to highlight the titles that have recently hit platforms. Every week, one will be able to see the cream of the crop (or perhaps some simply interesting picks) of streaming titles (new and old) across platforms such as Netflix, iTunes, Amazon, and more (note: U.S. only). Check out our rundown for this week’s selections below.

Closet Monster (Stephen Dunn)

Writer/director Stephen Dunn’s feature debut Closet Monster cares little about convention to tell the story of Oscar Madly (Connor Jessup) growing up with a psychological revulsion to his sexual urges, all thanks to an extremely disturbing event witnessed as a child. This prologue glimpse at his youth (played by Jack Fulton) is a mash-up of tough coming-of-age-dramatics and a dark-edged imaginative whimsy that intrigues to draw you closer.

This year’s award season continues to yield a robust specialized bounty. The Oscar contenders are led by “La La Land” (Lionsgate) and “Hidden Figures” (20th Century Fox). The public, particularly older audiences, are coming out in big numbers for films that launched in limited release.

That doesn’t extend to new limited openings, with nearly all top distributors holding back until the awards noise dies down. Still, a few are venturing out with smaller less heralded films in New York (along with a plethora of Video on Demand releases). This week sees three of note, led by a very surprising total for “World’s Apart” (Cinema Libre), an under-the-radar 2015 Greek economic crisis drama.

Check out our Award Season video interviews.

(All figures for three-day weekend through Sunday January 15.)

Opening

Worlds Apart (Cinema Libre)

$14,000 gross at 1 theater; PTA (per theater average): $14,000

This Greek film, which tells three loosely related...

With a seemingly endless amount of streaming options — not only the titles at our disposal, but services themselves — we’ve taken it upon ourselves to highlight the titles that have recently hit platforms. Every week, one will be able to see the cream of the crop (or perhaps some simply interesting picks) of streaming titles (new and old) across platforms such as Netflix, iTunes, Amazon, and more (note: U.S. only). Check out our rundown for this week’s selections below.

Aquarius (Kleber Mendonça Filho)

The staggeringly accomplished debut feature by Brazilian critic-turned-director Kleber Mendonça Filho, Neighboring Sounds, announced the arrival of a remarkable new talent in international cinema. Clearly recognizable as the work of the same director, Mendonça’s equally assertive follow-up, Aquarius, establishes his authorial voice as well as his place as one of the most eloquent filmic commentators on the contemporary state of Brazilian society. – Giovanni M.

Keep up with the always-hopping film festival world with our weekly Film Festival Roundup column. Check out last week’s Roundup right here.

Lineup Announcements

– The Santa Barbara International Film Festival has announced its lineup for the 32nd edition, which will run February 1 – 11. The festival will offer a vast array of films representing 50+ countries, 51 world premieres and 64 Us premieres, along with tributes with the year’s top talent, panel discussions, and free community education and outreach programs. The festival will kick off on February 1 with the world premiere of “Charged.” The fest will also feature “Heal the Living” as its international gala and “Their Finest” as it closing night offering.

Sbiff will also play home to a number of tributes, with honorees including Denzel Washington, Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling, Isabelle Huppert and many more, previously announced accolades.

To find out more about the full lineup, plus information on tributes...

Movies based on actual events tend to announce their historical bona fides at the outset, knowing that audiences are often more affected by a story when they know that it really happened (even if they may suspect that it didn’t happen quite as depicted on screen). Alone In Berlin features no such opening text, perhaps because it’s technically based on a novel: Hans Fallada’s Every Man Dies Alone, originally published in 1947 (but not translated into English until 2009). Fallada, however, was directly inspired by the lives of Otto and Elise Hampel, an ordinary German couple who jointly disseminated anti-Nazi literature (of a sort) during World War II, evading capture for two years. You should know that going in, because a lump in the throat inspired by real-life heroism is all that this dour, monotonous drama has to offer. Indeed, it’s easy to guess that the ...

Before we get to the new releases to see in January, our highest viewing recommendation would be to catch up on the 50 best films of 2016, many of which are expanding this month, including Paterson, 20th Century Women, Silence, and Toni Erdmann. When it comes to our January preview, we’ve also included a few 2016 films that had one-week qualifying runs, but are now officially opening (and there are also a few to definitely avoid in that category). Check out the feature below and let us know what you are most looking forward to in the comments.

Matinees to See: The Ardennes (1/6), Railroad Tigers (1/6), Sleepless (1/13), Alone in Berlin (1/3), Detour (1/20), The Founder (1/2), and Ice and the Sky (1/20), and Paris 05:59 (1/27).

10. Split (M. Night Shyamalan; Jan. 20)

Synopsis: After three girls are kidnapped by a man with 24 distinct personalities they must find some of the different personalities that can help them while running away...

Shockingly, this awards season there is only one World War II-set movie — Mel Gibson’s Hacksaw Ridge — but there will be no shortage of dramas set during the era come 2017. While Christopher Nolan’s Dunkirk will certainly gain the most attention, early in the year, two dramas touring the festival circuit will make their way to U.S. theaters and new trailers have arrived for both.

First up, Alone in Berlin, starring Brendan Gleeson, Emma Thompson, and Daniel Brühl will hit theaters in just a few weeks. We said in our review from Berlinale earlier this year, “Director Vincent Perez sets the stage for what should be a compelling study of dissolution and grief, yet is never able to follow through with the skill or tenacity the material requires. Rendered in melodramatic and predictable images (a hand resting on a rail, a light going off in the window), Alone in Berlin...

Keep up with the always-hopping film festival world with our weekly Film Festival Roundup column. Check out last week’s Roundup right here.

Lineup Announcements

– The Atlanta Jewish Film Festival (Ajff) has revealed its Opening Night and Closing Night films to be included in the 2017 lineup of this year’s edition, which returns for another expansive 23 days from Tuesday, January 24 through Wednesday, February 15.

Starting off the festival on January 24 is WWII drama “Alone in Berlin,” starring Emma Thompson and Brendan Gleeson. Closing out the festival on February 15 will be “The Women’s Balcony,” which was nominated for five Israeli Academy Awards. In addition to Opening and Closing Nights, Ajff has announced that the romantic comedy “Family Commitments” will screen for its Young Professionals Night, presented by Access, a special event aimed at younger audiences.

The full lineup of 75 feature-length and short films from around the globe along with the official...

What do Alec Baldwin, Brendan Gleeson and Richard Gere have in common? They're all among the greatest actors of their generation, and they all star in new movie trailers. Check out the new spots for The Boss Baby, Alone in Berlin and Norman below.   The Boss Baby Alec Baldwin voices the title character in this DreamWorks Animation feature, and while there's plenty of silliness for the kids, the adults may appreciate the movie's reference to Baldwin's iconic role in Glengarry Glen Ross and maybe some familiarity for fans of old Looney Tunes cartoons and, more recently, Family Guy. There's also a gag right out of the Ant-Man trailer here. The Boss Baby also features the voices of Tobey Maguire, Steve...

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"What more can I man donate then his child?" IFC Films has debuted an official Us trailer for the WWII drama Alone in Berlin, which premiered at Berlinale this year. Brendan Gleeson stars as Otto Quangel in this true story about a husband & wife who planted anti-Nazi notes around Berlin as a form of resistance and retaliation against the evil in the country at the time. The film is titled Jeder stirbt für sich allein in German - which translates to Everyone Dies Alone, a more sad title for how it plays out. The cast includes Emma Thompson, Daniel Brühl, Mikael Persbrandt and Katharina Schüttler. I love Otto's ideas, but this film just isn't very good, and I wish it was better (read my festival review). It's worth a look anyway. Here's the official Us trailer (+ French poster) for Vincent Perez's Alone in Berlin, direct from YouTube: Berlin, 1940. Working...

Joseph Baxter Kirsten Howard Jan 23, 2018

Netflix UK has secured the first season of new historical crime series The Alienist, setting a premiere date for April...

The highly anticipated television adaptation of Caleb Carr’s historically-based 1994 crime novel The Alienist began airing in the Us last night, and Netflix UK didn't wait too long to announce that it's secured the rights to stream the entire first season from 19th April.

Manifesting as a dark-as-midnight-on-a-moonless-night series on TNT, The Alienist is headlined by the duo of Daniel Bruhl and Luke Evans for an intriguingly gritty interpretation of Carr’s novel about the pursuit of a serial killer.

Set in a crime-filled, poverty-stricken, yet industrially-lucrative Gilded Age of New York City in 1896, the series follows an unlikely pair who have come together to investigate the escalating murders of boy prostitutes. The victims have been killed in a manner so disturbingly ghastly that it’s fallen on a newly-appointed,...

"Someone has to write the truth with all these lies..." An official French trailer has debuted for a WWII film titled Alone in Berlin, which premiered at the Berlin Film Festival this year. Brendan Gleeson stars as Otto Quangel in this true story about a husband and wife who planted anti-Nazi notes around Berlin as a form of resistance and retaliation against the evil in the country at the time. In Germany, the film is titled Jeder stirbt für sich allein - which translate to Everyone Dies Alone. Much sadder title, but also fitting for this story. The cast includes Emma Thompson, Daniel Brühl, Mikael Persbrandt and Katharina Schüttler. I saw this in Berlin, and as much as I love the story, the filmmaking (including English dialogue) really detracted from the film - read my full review. I still recommend giving it a look for the idea behind it. Here's...

The WWII movie genre has plenty of familiar tropes, but sometimes if they’re done respectfully enough, that’s all you need to create a gripping film. Certainly, Vincent Perez hasn’t tried to break any cinematic rules in his adaptation of the bestselling novel by Hans Fallada, but “Alone In Berlin” look to be a decent enough wartime thriller.

Read More: Blood Is A Brutal Bond In First Trailer For ‘Trespass Against Us’ With Brendan Gleeson And Michael Fassbender

Starring Brendan Gleeson, Daniel Bruhl, and Emma Thompson, the story takes place near the beginning of WWII, and follows a married couple who are beginning to see the true colors of Adolf Hitler.

Continue reading Brendan Gleeson Throws Sand In The Gears In New Trailer For WWII Film ‘Alone In Berlin’ With Daniel Bruhl & Emma Thompson at The Playlist.

Highland Film Group announced today that Simon Pegg (Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation, Star Trek Into Darkness), Max Irons (The Riot Club, Alone in Berlin, The White Queen), Dexter Fletcher (Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, Kick-Ass) and Mike Myers (Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me, Shrek) have joined the cast of Vaughn Stein's anticipated noir thriller, Terminal, starring Margot Robbie (The Wolf of Wall Street, Suicide Squad). The film, which Stein also penned, is beginning production in Hungary. David Barron of BeaglePug (Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2, The Legend of Tarzan) Molly Hassell (Braven, The Trust) and Hfg's Arianne Fraser will produce alongside Tom Ackerley, Josey McNamara, Sophia Kerr and Margot Robbie under their LuckyChap Entertainment banner.

Terminal tells the story of two hit-men (Fletcher and Irons) as they embark on a borderline suicide mission for a mysterious employer and a high paycheck. Along the way,...

Exclusive: Berlin-based sales outfit scores films from Home Sick director and Lav Diaz protégé.

In the run up to Cannes, Berlin-based sales outfit M-Appeal has announced two new pick-ups, including German-language film Center Of My World (Die Mitte Der Welt) from Jakob M. Erwa, whose 2015 title Home Sick premiered at the Berlinale.

The family drama is based on the best-selling novel by Andreas Steinhöfel about an adolescent boy on the brink of adulthood. The film will have its market premiere in Cannes prior to being released in Germany at the end of the year by Universum Film on an expected run of between 100-200 prints.

Land Of Mine and Alone In Berlin actor Louis Hofmann is among cast.

“We first encountered the project in script stage, and took to the development of the main character, and the way in which he navigates through his first love amid family strife,” commented a spokesperson for M-Appeal.

“This is Jakob...

Film starring Lambert Wilson - as legendary oceanographer Jacques-Yves Cousteau - and Audrey Tautou to hit UK screens at the end of 2016.

Altitude Film Entertainment and Pan-Européenne UK have entered a joint venture for the UK release of Jérôme Salle’s The Odyssey, capturing the life of legendary ocean explorer Jacques-Yves Cousteau aboard his ship the Calypso.

It will be the first UK release for London-based Pan-Européenne UK, since its creation last year by French producer and distributor team Philippe Godeau and Nathalie Gastaldo Godeau.

The pair are producers on The Odyssey through their Paris-based production and distribution house Pan-Européenne alongside Olivier Delbosc and Marc Missonnier at Fidélité Films

Shot over five months in South Africa, the Antarctic and across the Mediterranean, the picture stars Lambert Wilson as Cousteau alongside Audrey Tautou as the explorer’s first wife Simone and Pierre Niney as their youngest son Philippe. It is currently in post-production.

Altitude and Pan-Européenne...

This 66th edition of the Berlinale did not focus so much on films as it did on issues, especially the issue of mass migration including Germany’s one million immigrants being welcomed by Angela Merkel. The sentiment of the Berlinale was expressed by Festival Director Dieter Kosslick in his introductory comment, “We are 90 million Germans. What are one million Syrians? We spent billions and billions to educate our kids, to teach them what happened in the Holocaust.” Nevertheless, the controversy throughout Germany and Europe continues to grow, as it does in the U.S. about what to do about the massive wave of migration, as if there were any other place the people, dispossessed and disposed of by their governments and the governments of the west to go.

Dealing with the plight of African and Syrian refugees, “Fire at Sea”/ “Fuocoammare” by Giovanni Rosi won the Golden Bear led by the jury president Meryl Streep. All North American rights have subsequently been acquired from its international sales agent, Doc & Film by Kino Lorber who plans an autumn release. “Gianfranco Rosi captured the hearts and minds of the Berlinale this year with what will become one of the essential films of our times,” said CEO Richard Lorber. The Italian distributor 01 Distribution profited from its Saturday night Golden Bear win as the Italian box office’s Sunday profits spiked +166%. Tuesday’s take was 40% up on Monday’s box office. By Wednesday the film had taken $169.5k (€154k) and the following weekend 01 almost doubled screens to 76. Imovision took Brazil, Caramel took Spain, Curzon took U.K. Rosi previously won the 2013 Venice Golden Lion for his documentary “Sacro Gra”.

“Fire at Sea” captures today’s Zeitgeist. Though it may not be a film of the highest merit when judged over time, it is the film with the highest contemporary-social-issue-political focus.

Its story is told from a superior point of view; what misery we see of the immigrants’ plight makes us sad and depressed – though not as much as the actual footage we see daily on the news. The only uplift we receive is to witness the acts of the good physician Pietro Bartolo. He not only cares for the island’s 4,000 inhabitants as they go about their daily business of fishing, keeping house, and going to school without much interaction with the invasion of refugees, but he also cares for the 400,000 immigrants from Africa and the Middle East, treating them or identifying them as already dead. As he said at his press conference, “This has become a dramatic problem, an epochal problem. I don’t think that a barbed-wire fence can stop these people. I don’t think there’s a person on earth who wants to leave his country if he isn’t forced to.”

A noble effort, the film in many ways misses the boat. Not to say that any other film was better (I did not see them all), but to make a point about the Berlinale itself as a festival, I note here the majority of other films in the Competition all had socially relevant foci and that is the point of the Berlinale. It is to its credit that it takes a stand and to its detriment that perhaps the films chosen do not attain cinematic stature internationally. The recent years’ Golden Bear winners were (in my opinion) certainly worthy with a couple of exceptions. “Caesar Must Die” a doc about Italian prisoners engaging in the production of Shakespeare’s “Julius Caesar” and “Black Coal, Thin Ice” a Chinese hard-boiled detective saga were both quickly forgotten.

Memorable winners worth noting were in 2011 with Iran’s “ Jodaeiye Nader az Simin/ “A Separation”, Romania’s 2013 “ Poziţia Copilului”/ “Child‘s Pose” and again from Iran in 2015, Jafar Panahi’s “ Taxi”.

Looking at the other films in Competition this year, Mohamed Ben Attia’s “Hedi”(Isa: The Match Factory, sold to date to Austria’s Polyfilm, Germany’s Pandora, Norway’s Mer Film, Switzerland ’s Cineworx, Taiwan’s Maison Motion) deals with a quiet man’s personal struggle for freedom from the constraints of his Tunisian society; Ivo M. Ferreira’s “Letters from War” (Isa: The Match Factory) deals with the final years of the Angolan War of Independence against Portugal in 1961-74; Danis Tanovic deals with the more recent Bosnian War as a Frenchman sits in his hotel room while a World War I Commemoration takes place in Sarajevo in “Death in Sarajevo” (Isa: The Match Factory); protests against the Nazi regime are the subject of “Alone in Berlin” (Isa: Cornerstone, the new sales company of Alison Thompson and Mark Gooder, sold to Altitude for U.K., Pathe for France. X Film, the producer keeps German rights) by Vincent Perez; in Rafi Pitts’ “Soy Nero”( Isa: The Match Factory, sold to date to Neue Visionen for Germany, Sophie Dulac Distribution for France, Ama Films for Greece, Bomba Films for Poland, Filmarti for Turkey,MegaCom for Serbia and Montenegro, Moving Turtle for Lebanon, trigon-film for Switzerland) about a 19-year-old Mexican boy dreaming of immigrating north to the U.S. who takes the route of joining the U.S. Army to fight in the Middle East in order to get his “green card”. The Philippine Revolution against Spanish Colonization is treated in a 482 minute epic “ A Lullaby to the Sorrowful Mystery” (Isa: Films Boutique) by Lav Diaz. In “United States of Love” (Isa: Films New Europe sold to Imovision for Brazil and Angel for Denmark), four women share the urge to change their lives in 1990, immediately after the fall of Communism. All of these films are dealing with issues of gaining freedom today. “Being 17”(Isa: Elle Driver sold Belgium to Lumière, Brazil to F ênix, France to Wild Bunch, Serbia to McF Megacom, Switzerland to Frenetic) by Andre Techine also deals with adolescents growing up gay in a working-class neighborhood in France, another current human rights issue.

These film choices remind us that the Berlinale itself was founded in 1950 during the Cold War as West Berlin’s way of confronting East Berlin’s imprisonment of its people by flaunting its own freedom, a truly Berlin way of life which still today animates its spirit of freedom. This casts a certain character upon the films chosen by the Berlinale selection committee to this day.

A political tone of the festival was also echoed by the pronouncement “We are all Africans really” spoken by Meryl Streep when she was questioned about why the Berlin Film Festival had appointed an all-white jury (not that she was responsible for choosing the jury).

Meryl Streep’s rather blithe comment, to quote Lindiwe Dovey in The Guardian , “plunged the actress into a debate about the lack of diversity in Hollywood. At best, Streep’s comment was an attempt to show solidarity. But what she unwittingly also underlined was the absence of Africans and African filmmaking in mainstream cinema. If we really are all Africans, and if we are going to take black filmmaking more seriously, why are we not watching African films?” Again, Streep is not responsible for the Berlinale’s selection either.

Only five African films are being shown at this year's festival and they are not all sub-Saharan African, that is to say “black”, but are also North African -- that is to say of the Mena region or Arab. These are two very different aspects of the giant continent called Africa. We are seeing many films from the Mena, that is Arab and North African regions this year.

In an attempt to find answers to this question of why we are not seeing more “black” films, we attended the Berlinale World Cinema Fund’s “Africa Day”. This one-off, and therefore insufficient, day was dedicated to discussing the memory, present and future of African films. Insufficient for finding answers and for creating any call for action, the day was, nonetheless, important and for that we all should thank the German Federal Cultural Foundation for providing the funds which guarantee the existence of the World Cinema Fund until at least 2018 and to the German Foreign Office, which substantially raised its level of support allowing the Wcf additional discretion in its actions.

The presentation by Nigerian film critic Didi Anni Cheeka was a fascinating exposé of what has happened to the “archives” of Nigerian cinema. The 60s to the 80s’ post-colonial cinema is not discussed today at all and Cheeka has searched for those filmmakers, called “The Seven Ups” who worked along with such filmmakers as Chris Marker and Alain Resnais. The Ministry of Information in Nigeria gave him permission to organize the films of the 60s which were lost during the Civil War in a collective amnesia. In the process, he discovered a room closed, locked and forgotten in the 1960s at the end of the independent movements throughout Africa, a room containing movie machines and more than 2,000 cans of films laying around like dusty dead bodies. This and other sad cases have revealed that in fact, there are no archives of African cinema at all.

But even the later Nollywood producers do not have copies of their films. Memories of what Africa looked like are lost along with the artistic efforts of its cineastes. Silence has been instilled by the governments of today as well.

Cinema as culture does not really exist in Africa. To create awareness takes education, leisure, city life and a cultural and cinema community nourishing one another. More than production funds, awareness needs the support of people with ideas.

Cheeka also stated, "We have the strange situation that new cineplexes are coming up every day, but they only show Hollywood movies. It's a common problem all over Africa: High quality movies from the continent hardly find an audience or even a place to be shown. Without a market in sight, few high-quality movies are shot. Only so-called ‘Nollywood movies’, mostly produced in Nigeria in just a few days or weeks, are thriving. Nigeria's movie industry earns around Us $250 million from Nollywood movies. This is the first time an economy has been established around the notion of film. In 1999 the first Nollywood delegaton came to Sithengi, the South African Film Market and they took over. Last year in Nigeria, many layers of Nollywood were apparent; the usual low budget exploitation or dramatic movie was giving space to other kinds of film. This opens the possibility of further discussion of film economy in all Africa, from Algeria to South Africa.

Pedro Pimento, Director of the Durban International Film Festival, gave the keynote address analyzing the lack of African film and the lack of distribution for what few African films there are. This was the high point of the day as he was heard loud and clear, at least by me, as he was articulate and to the point.

Pedro Pimenta is a filmmaker and producer from Mozambique. He produced the 1997 film "Fools", the first feature film shot by a black South African, Ramadan Suleman, and the same year "Africa Dreaming" a chronicle of Africa in six acts, with the common theme the love. Pimenta is also "foreign corresponding member" of the "Association of Real Cinema" the international meeting of documentary films held at the Pompidou Center in Paris created in 1978 which invites the public and professionals to discover film auteurs. The producer-director is also the founder and director of the documentary film festival "Dockanema" in Maputo, Mozambique. The first edition was held in September 2006 with support from the Mozambican Ebano Multimedia, in association with Amocine (Mozambican Association of Filmmakers).

According to Pimenta, "the documentary is an observation and testimony which brings the spectator something which otherwise would be merely read as news and quickly forgotten. Directed by great filmmakers, it can be a work of art; made by an amateur holding a small hand-held camera, it is a daily familiar record of an historic moment. The documentary brings us closer to the great achievements of the better side of humanity even as it brings us the violent scourge of today's world. It thus gives us the opportunity to replace prejudice by solidly based judgments and to take conscious positions."

Pedro Pimenta started his movie career with the National film Institute of Mozambique in 1977. Since then, he has produced and co-produced numerous short fiction, documentaries and feature movies in his country as well as in other African nations.

Between 1997 and 2003 Pedro was the chief Technical Adviser of the Unesco Zimbabwe Film and Video Training Project for Southern Africa in Harare. As part of his function, he conceived and managed various training programs. He is one of the founders of Avea (Audio Visual Entrepreneurs of Africa) which runs an annual training program for professional producers in Southern Africa. Until December 2005, Pedro was a member of the Prince Claus Fund Awards Committee of the Netherlands.

He presented practical and pragmatic steps for a concrete approach to invigorate African Cinema.

First of all, there is no case for Africa as a country. It is too diverse and too vast. Knowing the context(s) of film, there is a solution. However, there is a total lack of reliable data vis á vis Africa, just as there has been a lack of data for the case of women in film until the past couple of years. A structure as a way to access information must be built. Experience has been accumulated for what works and what does not work in changing contexts; there are constant paradigm shifts; there is “generational regeneration” in content every few years; but all facts are anecdotal and not data oriented.

And there is the traditional value chain of cinema going like this:

The money follows from production costs to recoupment through distribution and it should be put back into film education along with production. The weakest point in the chain is exhibition.

Currently there is good energy, but there is no system. There are two recognized international film festivals and Mogadishu might be a third festival but it will take four to five years. There were attempts to create Pan African film distribution utopias, but they failed. Neither the British nor the French ever involved themselves in distribution systems and the models died.

From the mid 80s to 2000 the Imf World Bank’s involvement in Africa was built on a model of all nations feeding off of Mother Africa like a litter of trucks feeding off the oil tank that was Africa.

Today, the need to control distribution is apparent and it can generate money, but governments have made it clear that culture today is a “negative priority”. International corporations serve as African nations’ only means of survival.

While commercial distribution models have failed, the number of film festivals has increased. Out of the 54 countries in Africa, only two have no film festival. From 1980 to 2000 there were only two countries with festivals. Plus there is the current digital revolution which points to new directions one can go.

If any form of distribution reaches a critical mass like that of Nollywood, the governments can think critically about its policies. Keep an eye on the cinemas opening in Ethiopia which are based on local demands for local films. Ethiopia is currently producing 200 films per year. Uganda has informal screening spaces located all over the capital city. Pathé looks like it might have a shot in Francophone Africa. These examples all go to show there is a small cultural economy through cinema.

Morocco and Mauritius have local incentives to encourage local production.

But overall, exhibition is the weakest link in the value chain shown above.

In 2016 we see Netflix, Amazon, Apple, Iroko TV/ Buni. We see TV, African Films and TV, Vidi, On Tap TV etc.

However, I am of the belief that VOD is not the answer for Africa and African cinema. A minority of so-called middle class Africans, who do not identify or show interest for African films will have access. The majority of Africans (the market) are left on the sideline (once again) and are not really considered in any strategy.

But with 1.4 billion people, 60% of whom live in urban settings and with a majority of young people, young consumers – one out of three being “middle class”, there is a demand for entertainment. But we need to find the reality and economy of Our Cinema.

There is a demand for a mirror of oneself. The origin of an audience is Our Grandmother. What does she say about our ideas? She was the storyteller who passed our values on to this new generation. How can our creative cinema advance if we do not head this real mirror.

Here are the transversal issues:

1. Training vs. Education. There are many training initiatives in Africa, but what of film education? To train an audience, to train storytellers rather than to train support for outside production companies shooting in Africa is imperative.

2. Relevance of data. Data is limited to say the least.

3. Role of the producer in Africa’s content and support strategies.

4. Role of film festivals. By default they are the exhibitor of African content throughout Europe and they are part of a larger year-round circuit supporting African films for African audiences.

5. European support models only create two to three projects a year. This includes Hubert Bals Fund of Netherlands, Cinema du Monde of France, World Cinema Fund of Germany and Acp of the European Market.

We need new ways and a new system of support from Europe that is matched by support from Africa. Any system based on support however is not adequate.

“Screen space” is not necessarily a theater. It can be universities, museums; it might be similar to the recent attempts in Cuba of “salon cinemas” which were separate rooms in restaurants and hair salons.

Another model might be Argentina’s building of 45 digital cinemas throughout Latin America for Latin American content or the recent creation of Retina Latina, a free online service of Latin American films for Latin America.

The Market exists. There is a lot of money in Africa. The problem is that the money's offices are in London.

Pimento’s response when I sent him Meryl Streep’s comment as it was reported in The Guardian follows.

“Interesting but what bothers me really is the fact that we never really critically talk about quality (or not) of African films and also the belief that things will happen out of some divine intervention and not by triggering purposeful market dynamics .

I find also that using Ms. Streep’s comment as a way to reach some visibility does not necessarily reflect any intellectual honesty… it’s just a quick expedient for a sector of dogmatic- bordering-on-racism African filmmakers who claim the rest of the world needs to provide solutions to their problems/ frustrations/ obstacles .....

There are many less visible examples of positive African people and initiatives driven by the notion that our destiny is in our hands really and not in the hands of any international cooperation/ aid/ humanitarian system."...

We'll begin awardable speculations all over again starting April 1st as we do. Don't hate us because we're Ocd. So I'm prepping a cheat sheet list of releases that could factor in in ways very minor or major. Let me know if I've missed any juicy titles you're awaiting after the jump.

January through April

Which ones will people still care about in 10 months when top ten lists / awards season begins

10 Cloverfield Lane, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, The Boss, Demolition, Everybody Wants Some, Hail Caesar!, Hello My Name is Doris, A Hologram for the King, The Huntsman: Winter's War, Krisha, The Meddler, Midnight Special, Miles Ahead, Sing Street, Tale of Tales, The Witch, and Zootopia

Popcorn Season (May-August)

Some Oscar nominees always emerge in the summer. But the question is in which categories?

Alice Through the Looking Glass, Ben-Hur, The Bfg, A Bigger Splash, Captain America: Civil War,...

Exclusive: Former Focus Features executive James Schamus is building a busy but bespoke slate at his new company Symbolic Exchange, including a TV project with European partners.

Writer/producer and former Focus Features head James Schamus, who recently directed his first short, That Film About Money, and his first feature, an adaptation of Philip Roth’s Indignation, told Screen that he plans to direct again.

While he figures out what his next directing project will be, Schamus is busy assembling a development and production slate at his New York-based company, Symbolic Exchange.

“I’ve stayed more or less under the radar since I left Focus [in October 2013]. I had the opportunity to build up my own little company, I have a lovely arrangement with a company called Meridian Entertainment in China,” Schamus told Screen while attending this week’s Qumra event in Doha.

“I’ve kept my staff extremely small. In the next few months we’ll have announcements...

Exclusive: Former Focus Features executive James Schamus is building a busy but bespoke slate at his new company Symbolic Exchange, including a TV project with European partners.

Writer/producer and former Focus Features head James Schamus, who recently directed his first short, That Film About Money, and his first feature, an adaptation of Philip Roth’s Indignation, told Screen that he plans to direct again.

While he figures out what his next directing project will be, Schamus is busy assembling a development and production slate at his New York-based company, Symbolic Exchange.

“I’ve stayed more or less under the radar since I left Focus [in October 2013]. I had the opportunity to build up my own little company, I have a lovely arrangement with a company called Meridian Entertainment in China,” Schamus told Screen while attending this week’s Qumra event in Doha.

“I’ve kept my staff extremely small. In the next few months we’ll have announcements...

With the 2016 Berlin International Film Festival wrapping up this week, we’ve highlighted our five favorite films from the slate. Make sure to stay tuned in the coming months as we learn about distribution news for the titles. Check out our favorites below, followed by our complete coverage, and one can see the winners here.

Creepy (Kiyoshi Kurosawa)

One has to appreciate Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s winking self-awareness in calling his new feature Creepy. It’s as if the Coen brothers released a film entitled Snarky, or Eli Roth named his next stomach-churner Gory. Kurosawa, who’s still best known for Cure (1997) and Pulse (2001), two rare outstanding examples of the highly variable J-Horror genre, instills a sense of creepiness into virtually anything he does, regardless of subject matter. His latest, which sees him return to the realm of horror after excursions into more arthouse territory, certainly lives up to its name...

The Berlin International Film Festival continued to challenge expectations in its 66th edition, landing another auteur heavy competition line-up, albeit a slightly less sensational one than the landmark 2015 program. Although an attempt continues to be made to establish grand motifs between films in competition and the more experimental sidebars, topical issues seemed to be the name of the game across the board, particularly immigration. This culminated with this year’s Golden Bear winner, Gianfranco Rosi’s Fire at Sea, a documentary which was the clear early favorite and remained so up until the awards ceremony. Rosi has now won two major film festivals with his documentary work (previously taking home the top prize at Venice 2013 for Sacro Gra), and further solidifies an argument for the Cannes Film Festival to follow suit and allow documentary titles to play in the main competition. Berlin notably had two documentaries in the main competition this year,...

Gianfranco Rosi’s Golden Bear winner faced off challenges from Jeff Nichols, Mia Hansen-Love and Mohamed Ben Attia.

Fire At Sea, Gianfranco Rosi’s migrant crisis documentary set on the Mediterranean island of Lampedusa, has topped Screen’s final Berlin Jury Grid for 2016.

Screen’s jury of international critics were in tune with the Berlinale’s international jury, led this year by Oscar-winning actress Meryl Steep, which awarded the film with the coveted Golden Bear for Best Film.

Fire At Sea led for the majority of the festival after scoring an impressive 3.3 rating, including five maximum four-star ratings.

Second place was tied by three titles, with Mohamed Ben Attia’s Hedi, Jeff Nichols’ Midnight Special and Mia Hansen-Love’s Things To Come each clocking scores of 2.9.

Further titles to score an above-average rating were Lav Diaz’s eight-hour epic A Lullaby To The Sorrowful Mystery with 2.8 (averaged from five submitted ratings) and Alex Gibney’s cyber warfare...

The Berlin International Film Festival has wrapped up for another year with the big awards handed out last night. Meryl Streep led this year's jury which handed over the top award of the Golden Bear to Gianfranco Rosi's refugee documentary "Fire At Sea".

That film explores the journey undertaken by immigrants from Africa, the Middle East and Asia as they risk their lives to reach the Italian island of Lampedusa - with ultimately the hope of making it to mainland Europe. It beat out the likes of Jeff Nichols' "Midnight Special," Vincent Perez's "Alone in Berlin," and Michael Grandage's "Genius".

The Silver Bear Grand Jury Prize went to Danis Tanovic's Bosnian drama "Death in Sarajevo" which follows a staff and guests of a hotel hosting an international diplomatic delegation. The Silver Bear Alfred Bauer Prize went to Lav Diaz's eight-hour Filipino drama film "A...

Documentary Fire At Sea wins Golden Bear; Death In Sarajevo wins Jury PrizeWinners of 66th Berlin International Film FestivalGolden Bear for Best Film

Fire At Sea (It-Fr), dir. Gianfranco Rosi

Silver Bear Grand Jury Prize

Death In Sarajevo (Fr-Bos), dir. Danis Tanovic

Silver Bear Alfred Bauer Prize

A Lullaby To The Sorrowful Mystery (Phil-Sing), dir. Lav Diaz

Silver Bear for Best Director

Mia Hansen-Love for Things To Come

Silver Bear for Best Actress

Trine Dyrholm in The Commune

Silver Bear for Best Actor

Majd Mastoura in Hedi

Silver Bear for Best Script

Tomasz Wasilewski for United States Of Love (Pol-Swe), dir. Tomasz Wasilewski

Silver Bear for Outstanding Artistic Contribution

Mark Lee Ping-bing for cinematography of Crosscurrent (China), dir. Yang Chao

Best First Feature Award (€50,000)

Hedi (Tun-Bel-Fr), Mohamed Ben Attia

Golden Bear for Best Short Film

Batrachian’s Ballad (Balada de um Batráquio), Leonor Teles, Portugal

Berlin Short Film Nominee for the EFAs

A Man Returned, [link...

The Golden and Silver Bears are set to be awarded shortly. Keep up with the latest here…

Refresh the page for the latest

Silver Bear Grand Jury Prize

Death In Sarajevo (Fr-Bos), dir. Danis Tanovic

Silver Bear Alfred Bauer Prize

A Lullaby To The Sorrowful Mystery (Phil-Sing), dir. Lav Diaz

Silver Bear for Best Director

Mia Hansen-Love for Things To Come

Silver Bear for Best Actress

Trine Dyrholm in The Commune

Silver Bear for Best Actor

Majd Mastoura in Hedi

Silver Bear for Best Script

Tomasz Wasilewski for United States Of Love (Pol-Swe), dir. Tomasz Wasilewski

Silver Bear for Outstanding Artistic Contribution

Mark Lee Ping-bing for cinematography of Crosscurrent (China), dir. Yang Chao

Best First Feature Award (€50,000)

Hedi (Tun-Bel-Fr), Mohamed Ben Attia

Golden Bear for Best Short Film

Batrachian’s Ballad (Balada de um Batráquio), Leonor Teles, Portugal

Berlin Short Film Nominee for the EFAs

A Man Returned, Mahdi Fleifel (UK-Neth-Den)

Audi Short Film Award (€20,000)

Anchorage...

Amir Soltani is covering the Berlin International Film Festival. Two new reviews today.

Alone In Berlin (Pérez)

Alone in Berlin, adapted from the novel ‘Every Man Dies Alone’ by Hans Falada and directed by former actor Vincent Pérez, is about justice, and you best believe that. The film wants you to know this so badly that it goes out of its way to shoehorn into the film a scene in which, one character tells his wife, “I have a mistress whom I obey, and her name is justice.” In another scene, a man proves his son’s involvement in the war by showing a picture of him in uniform in Poland, holding a dead child, as though he’s a trophy hunted on a Safari trip. If these examples pain you with their lack of subtlety, you won’t be delighted to know that they are only two of many,...

"Babylon Berlin," the path-breaking joint serial project of X-Filme, Ard Degeto, Sky and Beta Film, is finalizing its pre-production and will start shooting in April. The high-end series, set in the roaring 1920s in Berlin, will be produced until the end of the year. Created by showrunner Tom Tykwer (“Sense 8”, “Cloud Atlas”, “Run Lola Run”) and his writer/director team Achim von Borries (“Alone in Berlin”) and Hendrik Handloegten (“Good Bye, Lenin”), "Babylon Berlin" stars “Generation War”-lead Volker Bruch and multiple-award-winning and up-and-coming actress Liv Lisa Fries (“She Deserved It”). The four partners have already signed in for two seasons. X-Filme producer Stefan Arndt: “We’re particularly happy that we’ll be able to complete two series of eight episodes each during the first shooting. This shows how enthusiastic and confident all of the partners are in our joint project.”

Kutscher’s "Babylon Berlin," centering on police inspector Gereon Rath, delivers an atmospheric portrayal of Berlin as the most exciting city in the world of that time, a hotbed of drugs and politics, murder and art, emancipation and extremism.

Sky will broadcast the series in 2017 and Ard in 2018. As co-producer, Beta Film will be responsible for the worldwide distribution of the series.

Beta Film’s director Jan Mojto explains, “Made in Germany is also a hallmark of quality in television. Due to the subject, the creative energy invested in the project, the names involved, its high standards, and not least, its budget, the first international reactions to the project have been very positive. 'Babylon Berlin' doesn’t need to take second stage to any of the major international series.”

The broadcasting team at Sky Deutschland and Ard Degeto emphasized how unique this collaboration is going to be. In the words of Volker Herres, program director at Erstes Deutsches Fernsehen: “We would like to build on the incredible success of Volker Kutscher’s novels. These are exciting stories with a historical background, and we want to present them to German television audiences in a serial production that holds up to international standards. With this goal, we benefit from a collaboration between three strong partners so X Filme and Tom Tykwer can implement the detective series in grand style.”

“Babylon Berlin,” Carsten Schmidt, Chief Executive Officer of Sky Deutschland reports, “is an exceptional project and a perfect match for Sky – bold storytelling, an outstanding cast, and Tom Tykwer’s incredibly creative team. The cooperation between X Filme, Ard, Degeto, and Beta Film is an impressive example of a fruitful and fair collaboration where all the partners are striking a unique path for Germany and Austria. With 'Babylon Berlin,' we are adding an in-house German production segment to our exclusive international agreements with such major partners as HBO and Showtime – a direction we will be moving in even more in the future.”

And Christine Strobl, managing director of Ard Degeto adds, “'Babylon Berlin' is a special project and very important for Ard. With this series, Ard Degeto will be offering Das Erste audiences a real treat that can stand up to international comparison from both the narrative and visual points of view. With regard to cooperation and financing, such an exceptional project deserves an exceptional approach. I am looking forward to the upcoming start of filming – judging from the screenplays, we can expect some outstanding television.”

A special challenge for the three authors and directors, Tom Tykwer, Achim von Borries, and Hendrik Handloegten. “For a long time, we were searching for subject matter that could tell the story of this unique era in all its facets,” Tom Tykwer explains. “We finally found it in Kutscher’s novels. And after Achim, Hendrik, and I spent three years working intensively on the screenplay, I can hardly wait now to get started.”

Achim von Borries adds, “The final years of the Weimar Republic were a time of continual crisis and constant attacks from political extremists. A rapidly growing city with immigrants from all over the world was in the middle of it all – Berlin, the international melting pot, with the pressure constantly mounting. This was a source of inexhaustible material for us as authors. And to finally have the opportunity to portray the atmosphere of the late 20s is a challenge to us as directors – absolutely huge and incredibly exciting.”

For Hendrik Handloegten, the city of Berlin plays one of the key roles: “Berlin in the final Weimar years was characterized by its fast pace, freedom, and diversity. But soon it was too much speed, too much freedom, too much diversity. A city that is always becoming, but never is. In 'Babylon Berlin,' the city is the protagonist. And Berlin in 1929 is a bestial, monstrous, famished and satiated, exalted and down-to-earth, elegant and degenerate, perverse and chaste… and mysterious protagonist. The best thing that could happen to an author and director.”

Stefan Arndt adds, “We’re really looking forward to capturing this exuberant episode of Berlin’s history here in the city itself, thanks to all our partners and sponsors. A stunning outdoor set is being built right now in Babelsberg that will evoke so many impressions of the city at the time. Together with our experienced film artists from our previous productions, we are greatly looking forward to bringing the world of the 1920s to life in a TV series. For all of us, this project is the dawn of a new epoch in television production.”

Volker Bruch captivated millions of television viewers with his portrayal of Wehrmacht officer Wilhelm in “Generation War”. As one of the five leading actors, he won a special prize at the 2013 Bavarian TV Awards for his performance, as well as a German Television Award and Emmy Award.

Liv Lisa Fries won considerable acclaim in the Ard film “She Deserved it”, where she plays the aggressive teenager Linda who tortures her classmate to death. She was awarded the 2012 Golden Camera as Best Young Actress for her convincing performance, and also won the 2011 Günter Strack Television Award.

The chief editors of "Babylon Berlin" are Christine Strobl, Sascha Schwingel, and Carolin Haasis (Ard Degeto), Gebhard Henke and Caren Toenissen (Wdr), and Marcus Ammon and Frank Jastfelder (Sky Deutschland). The producers for X Filme are Stefan Arndt, Uwe Schott, and Michael Polle.

The project is sponsored by Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg, Creative Europe Media, and the Nrw Film and Media Foundation.

WW2 drama with Emma Thompson and Brendan Gleeson scores low with the Screen jury.

Vincent Perez’s Second World War drama Alone In Berlin, starring Emma Thompson and Brendan Gleeson, clocked up a new low for the 2016 Screen Berlin Jury Grid.

The film amassed a meagre 1.3 rating from seven reviews, with one yet to be submitted.

Still reigning top is Gianfranco Rosi’s migrant crisis documentary Fire At Sea, which is the only film to have scored over 3 points.

New additions to the grid are Yang Chao’s Crosscurrent, which has a 2.4 rating, including one four-star award from critic Anke Westphal, and Danis Tanovic’s Death In Sarajevo, which has a 2.1 rating. Both titles have one score yet to be submitted.

Second place remains a three-way tie between Jeff Nichols’ Midnight Special, Mohamed Ben Attia’s Hedi and Mia Hansen-Love’s Things To Come.

Screening at Berlin today (Feb 16) are Rafi Pitts’ Soy Nero and Michael Grandage’s [link...

WW2 drama with Emma Thompson and Brendan Gleeson failed to impress Screen’s jury.

Vincent Perez’s Second World War drama Alone In Berlin, starring Emma Thompson and Brendan Gleeson, clocked up a new low for the 2016 Screen Berlin Jury Grid.

The film amassed a meagre 1.3 rating from seven reviews, with one yet to be submitted.

Still reigning top is Gianfranco Rosi’s migrant crisis documentary Fire At Sea, which is the only film to have scored over 3 points.

New additions to the grid are Yang Chao’s Crosscurrent, which has a 2.4 rating, including one four-star award from critic Anke Westphal, and Danis Tanovic’s Death In Sarajevo, which has a 2.1 rating. Both titles have one score yet to be submitted.

Second place remains a three-way tie between Jeff Nichols’ Midnight Special, Mohamed Ben Attia’s Hedi and Mia Hansen-Love’s Things To Come.

Screening at Berlin today (Feb 16) are Rafi Pitts’ Soy Nero and Michael Grandage’s [link...

This should've been so much better. The story is so good, but the filmmaking is just so bad, and it deserved better. Alone in Berlin is a film directed by Vincent Perez telling the story of Otto Quangel (in real life: Otto Hampel), a German living in Berlin during WWII that decided to write post cards with "free press" notes opposing Hitler and his regime. It was one of the most awkward screening experiences I've ever had - sitting in a theater full of German critics, in Berlin for the Berlin Film Festival, watching a film set in Berlin, but everyone in the film speaks English with German accents. One of the worst decisions they made. Even though I understand it's about getting this film to a wider audience, it just doesn't work, the performances are stilted, and everything seems off for the entire film. Which is unfortunate because I do love Otto's story.

Alone in Berlin actor says she ‘feels European’, and that she would definitely vote to remain in Europe in the referendum

Emma Thompson called for Britain to stay in the European Union, saying the UK would be “mad not to”. Describing Britain as “a tiny little cloud-bolted, rainy corner of sort-of Europe, a cake-filled misery-laden grey old island”, Thompson said she “just felt European” and would “of course” vote to remain in the EU in the upcoming referendum. “We should be taking down borders, not putting them up.”

Thompson was speaking at a press conference in Berlin for the world premiere of Alone in Berlin, the screen adaptation of Hans Fallada’s 1947 novel about a German act of resistance to the Nazis in wartime Berlin. She plays Anna Quangel who, with her husband Otto (played by Brendan Gleeson), distributes anonymous handwritten postcards containing anti-Nazi messages around the city. Based on...

There is a way that you do World War II films. You adapt a well-known book. You pay a lot of attention to locations and period costuming. You send up the bat-signal for Daniel Brühl and/or Sebastian Koch to lend some genuine Germanness, get a respected Dp to lend texture to the mandatory brown/gray palette (with splashes of shocking Nazi red), and secure the services of an Oscar-winning composer known for his neo-classical/orchestral talents. And you cast notable, never-miss non-German thesps as your main leads and have them speak in accented English. "Alone in Berlin," adapted by French actor-turned-director Vincent Perez from the bestselling novel by Hans Fallada with cinematography from Christophe Beaucarne ("Coco Before Chanel," "Beauty and the Beast"), is an English-language film, scored by Alexandre Desplat, starring Brendan Gleeson, Emma Thompson and Brühl—one imagines Koch must have been indisposed. This film adheres...

A simple act of defiance against the Nazi regime inspired German author Hans Fallada to write the novel Every Man Dies Alone. The themes of Fallada’s novel resonated and adaptations of the book were made in the ’60s in West Germany, the ’70s in East Germany, and the Czech Republic in the early 2000s. The latest adaptation, this time a U.S. production, again seeks to translate the power of Fallada’s prose for modern audiences in several ways.

Alone in Berlin has enlisted the dynamic Brendan Gleeson and the formidable Emma Thompson to play Otto and Anna Quangel, respectively. The Quangels are good Germans for their respective time and place. Anna belongs to a women’s group which enlists females to partake in keeping up the homefront while Otto is a mechanic building Nazi equipment. As the film starts, the city of Berlin shares in the Quangels’ complacency and optimism,...

Fire At Sea comfortably remained top of the pile, with the new entries failing to post significant scores.

Sunday’s three new entries on the 2016 Berlinale Screen Jury Grid all proved divisive, picking up mixed scores across the board.

Andre Techine’s Being 17 scored the first X (no score) of the festival, from Anton Dolin, though also clocked up a top-rating courtesy of David Fear. Overall it rated 2.5, though there are two scores yet to be declared.

Ivo Ferreira’s Letters From War posted a slightly better 2.6 overall, including two top ratings from Jan Schulz-Ojala and Screen.

Anne Zohra Berrached’s 24 Weeks languished to a rating of 2.3, the second lowest score to date behind Denis Cote’s Boris Without Beatrice.

Still topping the table is Gianfranco Rosi’ documentary Fire At Sea.

Monday’s titles are Denis Tanovic’s Death In Sarajevo, Vincent Perez’s Alone In Berlin and Yang Chao’s Crosscurrent.

Berlin Film Festival competition drama-thriller Alone In Berlin stars Emma Thompson, Brendan Gleeson and Daniel Bruhl in the story of a German couple who began a campaign against Hitler during World War II. One of the more sought out main selection offerings, it’s been acquired by Picturehouse Entertainment and Altitude Film Distribution for the UK. Alison Thompson and Mark Gooder’s Cornerstone Films is handling international rights. The Vincent Perez-helmed film is based…...

Exclusive: Altitude and Picturehouse strike deal for Second World War drama starring Emma Thompson and Brendan Gleeson.

Picturehouse Entertainment and Altitude Film Distribution have struck a deal for UK rights to Vincent Perez’s Alone In Berlin, ahead of the film’s world premiere at the Berlin Film Festival.

The deal was negotiated between Altitude Film Entertainment’s Will Clarke, Picturehouse’s Clare Binns, producers Paul Trijbits and Christian Grass and Alison Thompson from sales outfit Cornerstone Films, which handles international rights.

Emma Thompson (Saving Mr Banks), Brendan Gleeson (The Guard) and Daniel Brühl (Rush) star in the Second World War drama-thriller based on the true story of a working class couple who conducted a series of anonymous protests against the Nazi regime in Berlin.

Actor-director Perez’s feature is adapted from the classic novel Every Man Dies Alone by German writer Hans Fallada.

Producers are X Filme powerhouse duo Stefan Arndt (Amour) and Uwe Schott ([link...

Exclusive: Jonathan Teplitzky (The Railway Man) to direct feature heading to Efm with Metro International.

Metro International has boarded sales ahead of the Efm on crime-comedy Mr. Cranky, which has Brendan Gleeson (In Bruges) on board to star as a crime boss debt collector with a raging temper who is saddled with an orphaned seven year old in the middle of a gangland war.

The Railway Man director Jonathan Teplizky is due to direct Chris Nyst’s (Crooked Business) script which is to be produced by Chris Brown (The Railway Man).

The film reunites Teplitzky with Nyst after the two collaborated on 2003 Australian crime-comedy Gettin’ Square, starring Sam Worthington and Timothy Spall.

In Mr. Cranky, when a gangland war erupts thanks to crime boss Kevin Darcy’s short temper, his ex-girlfriend becomes the victim of a car bomb intended for him, and he finds himself saddled with her seven-year-old daughter.

More used to...

Exclusive: First still from Berlin Competition drama based on the classic wartime novel.

ScreenDaily can reveal the first production still of anticipated Berlin Competition entry Alone In Berlin, actor-director Vincent Perez’s adaptation of the classic German novel of the same name.

Based on the true story of a working class couple who conducted a series of anonymous protests against the Nazi regime during the Second World War, Emma Thompson (Saving Mr. Banks) and Brendan Gleeson (Calvary) star alongisde Daniel Brühl (Rush).

Producers are Stefan Arndt and Uwe Schott for X-Filme, the German production outfit whose credits include Amour, The White Ribbon and Cloud Atlas, Master Movie’s Marco Pacchioni (Bye Bye Blondie) together with James Schamus (Brokeback Mountain) and FilmWave’s Christian Grass (Sing Street) and Paul Trijbits (Jane Eyre).

Cornerstone Films handles international sales.

Hans Fallada’s classic 1947 novel centres on Otto and Anna Quangel (Gleeson and Thompson), who live in a shabby apartment block during...

Exclusive: First still from Berlin Competition drama based on the classic wartime novel.

ScreenDaily can reveal the first production still of anticipated Berlin Competition entry Alone In Berlin, actor-director Vincent Perez’s adaptation of the classic German novel of the same name.

Based on the true story of a working class couple who conducted a series of anonymous protests against the Nazi regime during the Second World War, Emma Thompson (Saving Mr. Banks) and Brendan Gleeson (Calvary) star alongisde Daniel Brühl (Rush).

Producers are Stefan Arndt and Uwe Schott for X-Filme, the German production outfit whose credits include Amour, The White Ribbon and Cloud Atlas, Master Movie’s Marco Pacchioni (Bye Bye Blondie) together with James Schamus (Brokeback Mountain) and FilmWave’s Christian Grass (Sing Street) and Paul Trijbits (Jane Eyre).

Cornerstone handles international sales.

Hans Fallada’s classic 1947 novel centres on Otto and Anna Quangel (Gleeson and Thompson), who live in a shabby apartment block during...

New titles from Thomas Vinterberg, Mia Hansen-Løve, Danis Tanovic, Lav Diaz and Gianfranco Rosi among line-up.Scroll down for full list

Berlin International Film Festival (Feb 11-21) has added nine titles to its Competition line-up, bringing the current total to 14 (the full Competition programme will be announced soon, according to the fest).

The new additions include The Commune, marking the first time Danish director Thomas Vinterberg (The Hunt, Far From The Madding Crowd) has been in Competition at Berlin since Submarino in 2010. The film centres on a Danish commune in the 1970s and will be released in Denmark this weekend (Jan 14).

French director Mia Hansen-Løve (Eden) has been selected with her drama Things to Come, starring Isabelle Huppert as a woman embarking on a new life after her husband leaves her for another woman. The film will world premiere at Berlin.

Another world premiere will be documentary Fire at Sea, capturing life on...

With Coens‘ Hail, Caesar! set to open the 66th Berlin International Film Festival early next year, we now have a glimpse at some of the other titles making their premieres there. Perhaps most notably there’s Jeff Nichols‘ highly-anticipated Midnight Special (see the trailer here), which will hit U.S. theaters around a month after its premiere, as well as Genius, which stars Colin Firth, Jude Law, and Nicole Kidman. Also including new films from Denis Côté, Alex Gibney, and more, check out the new titles below and return for our coverage.

Competition

(all world premieres)

Boris without Béatrice (Canada)

Denis Côté

Cast: James Hyndman, Simone-Elise Girard, Denis Lavant, Isolda Dychauk, Dounia Sichov

Genius (UK-us)

Michael Grandage

Cast: Colin Firth, Jude Law, Nicole Kidman, Laura Linney, Guy Pearce, Dominic West

Alone in Berlin (Ger-Fra-uk)

Vincent Perez

Cast: Brendan Gleeson, Emma Thompson, Daniel Brühl, Mikael Persbrandt

Midnight Special (Us)

Jeff Nichols

Cast: Michael Shannon,...