22/01/2024 - New efforts by Mati Diop, Viktor Kossakovsky, Bruno Dumont, Olivier Assayas and Andreas Dresen are just some of this year’s Golden Bear contenders

The Berlinale (15-25 February) has announced the full line-ups of its Competition and Encounters sections. Twenty films will vie for the Golden and Silver Bears, including two debut features, two documentaries and 19 world premieres. In total, 30 countries are represented, with six films directed or co-directed by women, and nine filmmakers returning to the German capital (six in competition).

“We are particularly proud of this year’s selection, which strikes the best possible balance between auteurs we cherish and admire, and powerful new voices in the independent cinema landscape. What drives the selection is, of course, the variety of the stories and their storytellers, but also – and even more so – the plurality of styles, with the goal being to show the extensive possibilities of cinema language,” said artistic director Carlo Chatrian.

Among the directors of European productions and co-productions set to be premiered at Berlin are well-known names such as Viktor Kossakovsky, Bruno Dumont, Olivier Assayas, Andreas Dresen and Mati Diop.

Kossakovsky is at the helm of one of the two documentaries playing in competition, titled Architecton [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Victor Kossakovsky
film profile] (Germany/France), whilst Dumont will regale viewers with a quirky sci-fi film, The Empire [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Bruno Dumont
film profile] (France/Italy/Germany/Belgium/Portugal), toplined by Brandon Vlieghe, Lyna Khoudri, Anamaria Vartolomei, Camille Cottin and Fabrice Luchini (see the news). The synopsis previously published by Cineuropa reads as follows: “From the banal daily life of a fisherman’s village on the Opal Coast emerges the epic parallel life of knights from interplanetary kingdoms. Rival clans are engaged in fierce and bloody battle following the announcement of the birth of Margat, the resurgent Prince, purple and ugly, the Beast of the Endtimes — located here on the Opal Coast, he is the child of a young couple already separated, as is common to life in a working-class neighbourhood…”

Meanwhile, Assays’ latest effort, Suspended Time (France), is a comedy set in COVID-19 times. “Every room, every object, reminds them of their childhood and the memories of those absent. This compels them to measure the distance that separates them from each other and the roots they share, those of their ground zero. As the world around them is becoming increasingly unsettling, unreality, and even a disturbing strangeness, invades their daily gestures and actions,” reads the synopsis. The main cast is made up of Vincent Macaigne, Micha Lescot, Nine D’Urso and Nora Hamzawi.

Two years after his previous feature, Rabiye Kurnaz vs. George W. Bush [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Andreas Dresen
interview: Meltem Kaptan
film profile], German director Andreas Dresen is back at Berlin with a World War II-set drama titled From Hilde, With Love [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Andreas Dresen
film profile]. The story unfolds in Berlin in 1942 and revolves around a couple who fall in love and spend a joyful summer together until they are captured by the Gestapo. The lead actors are Liv Lisa Fries and Johannes Hegemann.

Next, Mati Diop will present Dahomey [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile], the second documentary playing in competition (which sported the working title Le Retour). According to Variety, the picture should zoom in on “the journey of 26 royal treasures plundered by French colonial troops in the Kingdom of Dahomey, which have been exhibited at the Musée du Quai de Branly in Paris and are being returned to Cotonou in Benin”.

On this occasion, Italy will be represented by two titles: Piero Messina’s sophomore feature, Another End [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Piero Messina
film profile], and Margherita Vicario’s debut, Gloria! [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Margherita Vicario
film profile] (co-produced with Switzerland).

Some other buzzy European movies vying for the Golden and Silver Bears include Gustav Möller’s Sons [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] (Denmark/Sweden), Veronika Franz and Severin Fiala’s The Devil’s Bath [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Veronika Franz, Severin Fiala
film profile] (Austria/Germany), Mathias Glasner’s Dying [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Matthias Glasner
interview: Red Carpet @ European Film …
film profile] (Germany), Claire Burger’s Foreign Tongue (France/Germany/Belgium) and Abderrahmane Sissako’s Black Tea [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] (France/Luxembourg/Taiwan/Mauritania/Ivory Coast).

Meanwhile, the Encounters line-up is made up of 15 films, all of which are world premieres. The programme includes two first features and one debut documentary film, with 17 countries represented and six films helmed by women. Speaking about the Encounters line-up, Chatrian added: “Each film selected challenges the predetermined categories through which we evaluate cinema. Surreal detections, ironic tales, sentimental comedies, observational documentaries, parables and therapeutic exercises are just some of the genres at play here. At the same time, all 15 titles together offer an incredibly rich picture of the world in the 21st century, with all its beauty and tragedies.”

Some of the most highly anticipated European productions are Yorgos Zois’s Arcadia [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Yorgos Zois
film profile] (Greece/Bulgaria/USA), Guillaume Cailleau and Ben Russell’s Direct Action [+see also:
film review
film profile] (Germany/France), Christine Angot’s A Family [+see also:
film review
film profile] (France), Ruth Beckermann’s Favoriten [+see also:
film review
interview: Ruth Beckermann
film profile] and Margarida Gil’s Hands in the Fire [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] (Portugal).

The selected titles are listed below:

Competition

Small Things Like These [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] - Tim Mielants (Ireland/Belgium) (opening film)
Another End [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Piero Messina
film profile] - Piero Messina (Italy)
Architecton [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Victor Kossakovsky
film profile] - Viktor Kossakovsky (Germany/France)
Black Tea [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] - Abderrahmane Sissako (France/Luxembourg/Taiwan/Mauritania/Ivory Coast)
La Cocina - Alonso Ruizpalacios (Mexico/USA)
Dahomey [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] - Mati Diop (France/Senegal/Benin)
A Different Man - Aaron Schimberg (USA)
The Empire [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Bruno Dumont
film profile] - Bruno Dumont (France/Italy/Germany/Belgium/Portugal)
Gloria! [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Margherita Vicario
film profile] - Margherita Vicario (Italy/Switzerland)
Suspended Time [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] - Olivier Assayas (France)
From Hilde, With Love [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Andreas Dresen
film profile] - Andreas Dresen (Germany)
My Favourite Cake [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] - Maryam Moghaddam, Behtash Sanaeeha (Iran/France/Sweden/Germany)
Foreign Tongue [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Claire Burger
film profile] - Claire Burger (France/Germany/Belgium)
Who Do I Belong To [+see also:
film review
interview: Meryam Joobeur
film profile] - Meryam Joobeur (Tunisia/France/Canada/Norway/Qatar/Saudi Arabia)
Pepe [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Nelson Carlo De Los Santos …
film profile] - Nelson Carlo De Los Santos Arias (Dominican Republic /Namibia/Germany/France)
Shambhala [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] - Min Bahadur Bham (Nepal/France/Norway/Hong Kong/China/Turkey/Taiwan/USA/Qatar)
Dying [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Matthias Glasner
interview: Red Carpet @ European Film …
film profile] - Matthias Glasner (Germany)
The Devil's Bath [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Veronika Franz, Severin Fiala
film profile] - Veronika Franz, Severin Fiala (Austria/Germany)
Sons [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] - Gustav Möller (Denmark/Sweden)
A Traveller's Needs - Hong Sangsoo (South Korea)

Encounters

Arcadia [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Yorgos Zois
film profile] - Yorgos Zois (Greece/Bulgaria/USA)
Cidade; Campo [+see also:
film review
film profile] - Juliana Rojas (Brazil/Germany/France)
Demba [+see also:
film review
film profile] - Mamadou Dia (Senegal/Germany)
Direct Action [+see also:
film review
film profile] - Guillaume Cailleau, Ben Russell (Germany/France)
Sleep With Your Eyes Open [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] - Nele Wohlatz (Brazil/Argentina/Taiwan/Germany)
The Fable - Raam Reddy (India/USA)
A Family [+see also:
film review
film profile] - Christine Angot (France)
Favoriten [+see also:
film review
interview: Ruth Beckermann
film profile] - Ruth Beckermann (Austria)
Ivo [+see also:
film review
interview: Eva Trobisch and Adrian Cam…
film profile] - Eva Trobisch (Germany)
The Great Yawn of History - Aliyar Rasti (Iran)
Some Rain Must Fall [+see also:
film review
film profile] - Qiu Yang (China/USA/France/Singapore)
Hands in the Fire [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] - Margarida Gil (Portugal)
Matt and Mara - Kazik Radwanski (Canada)
Through the Graves the Wind Is Blowing - Travis Wilkerson (USA)
You Burn Me [+see also:
film review
interview: Matías Piñeiro
film profile] - Matías Piñeiro (Argentina/Spain)

Find the titles selected so far in the rest of sections here.