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Berlin International Film Festival · 2019

Berlin International Film Festival 2019

Panorama

Programme

46 films · 16 reviews

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37 Seconds

The story of Yuma, a young Japanese woman who suffers from cerebral palsy. Torn between her obligations towards her family and her dream to become a manga artist, Yuma struggles to lead a self-determined life.

(Country: Japan; Year: 2019; Director: HIKARI; Writer: HIKARI; Stars: Makiko Watanabe, Shunsuke Daitô, Yuka Itaya, Misuzu Kanno, Mei Kayama, Makiko Watanabe, Shunsuke Daitô, Yuka Itaya, Misuzu Kanno, Mei Kayama)

World premiere

Acid (Kislota)

Sex, drugs, and young adults’ search for meaning in modern-day Russia.

(Country: Russia; Year: 2018; Director: Aleksandr Gorchilin; Stars: Filipp Avdeev, Aleksandr Kuznetsov, Aleksandra Rebenok, Evgeniya Sheveleva, Pyotr Skvortsov)

International premiere

All My Loving (Geschwister)

Three siblings leading comfortable middle-class lives discover the gaps in their existences and begin searching for happiness and inner peace.

(Country: Germany; Year: 2019; Director: Edward Berger; Writer: Edward Berger, Nele Mueller-Stöfen; Stars: Lars Eidinger, Godehard Giese, Valerie Koch, Christine Schorn, Manfred Zapatka, Hans Löw, Nele Mueller-Stöfen, Nino Porzio, Merle Wasmuth, Maike Toussaint, Mathilde Berger, Lars Eidinger, Godehard Giese, Valerie Koch, Christine Schorn)

Beauty And Decay (Schönheit & Vergänglichkeit)

What happened to the young punks that East Berlin fashion photographer Sven Marquardt portrayed in his black-and-white photos over thirty years ago?

(Country: Germany; Year: 2019; Director: Annekatrin Hendel; Writer: Annekatrin Hendel; Stars: Dominique Hollenstein, Sven Marquardt, Robert Paris, Dominique Hollenstein, Sven Marquardt, Robert Paris)

Documentary

The Breath (Der Atem)

Twenty-six people talk about love and hardship, hope and bitterness, fear and happiness accompanied by celluloid images of Berlin at night.

(Country: Germany; Year: 2019; Director: Uli M Schüppel; Writer: Patricia Morosan)

Brief Story From The Green Planet

Review preview for Brief Story From The Green Planet

Whatever you expected to happen is not about to do so.

Jane Fae · 3 out of 5
When Tania finds out that her grandma has spent her final years in the caring company of a cute purple alien, she embarks on a journey through small-town Argentina with two close friends to deliver the creature back to its origins.

(Country: Argentina, Germany, Brazil, Spain; Year: 2019; Director: Santiago Loza; Writer: Santiago Loza)

Full review

Buoyancy

Review preview for Buoyancy

Rathjen captures the monotony of this existence and the casual violence of it with mounting tension as Chakra himself becomes brutalised - we view key violent acts, not by watching them, but by observing the effect they have

Amber Wilkinson · 4 out of 5
Story of a 14-year-old who is enslaved on a fishing trawler.

(Country: Australia; Year: 2019; Director: Rodd Rathjen; Writer: Rodd Rathjen; Stars: Sarm Heng, Thanawut Kasro, Mony Ros, Saichia Wongwirot, Yothin Udomsanti, Chan Visal, Chheung Vakhim, Terb Sophon, Phouen Nisa, Sareoun Sopheara, Nhim Chhun, Kunthea Sngoun, Phouern Mey Mey, Ros Leang Hong, Sim Lyma)

Full review

Chained (Eynayim Sheli)

The second part of Shani's “Love Trilogy” tells the story of policeman Rashi, whose private life is thrown out of balance by a sudden loss of authority on the job.

(Country: Israel; Year: 2019; Director: Yaron Shani; Stars: Eran Naim, Stav Almagor, Stav Patai)

World premiere

Dafne

Dafne is a self-aware and bright young woman with Down syndrome. When her mother dies, she has to attend to her father too, on top of attempting to process her own grief.

(Country: Italy; Year: 2019; Director: Federico Bondi; Stars: Stefania Casini, Antonio Piovanelli, Carolina Raspanti, Stefania Casini, Antonio Piovanelli, Carolina Raspanti)

World premiere

The Day After I'm Gone

The stories of injured animals, injured daughters and an injured country. Leaving Tel Aviv might be the last hope for the single father.

(Country: Israel, France; Year: 2019; Director: Nimrod Eldar; Writer: Nimrod Eldar; Stars: Menashe Noy, Zohar Meidan, Alon Neuman, Sarit Vino-Elad, Sharon Hacohen, Claudia Dulitchi, Evelin Kachulin, Miri Aloni, Eli Muallem, Ben Kippris, Yahav Viner, Ziv Peleg, Eran ben Zvi, Eran Naim, Maayan Eliasi)

World premiere

Divine Love (Divino Amor)

A deeply religious woman uses her position in a notary's office to advance her mission to save struggling couples from divorce. While waiting for a sign in recognition of her efforts, she's confronted with a crisis in her own marriage that ultimately brings her closer to God.

(Country: Brazil, Uruguay; Year: 2019; Director: Gabriel Mascaro; Writer: Esdras Bezerra, Rachel Daisy Ellis, Gabriel Mascaro, Lucas Paraizo; Stars: Dira Praes, Julio Machado, Emilio de Melo, Teca Pereira, Mariana Nunes, Thalita Carauta.)

A Dog Barking At The Moon

Review preview for A Dog Barking At The Moon

Lisa Zi Xiang's astutely written début uses the familiar formula of a multi-generation family saga as a launchpad for thematic and structural experiment.

Jennie Kermode · 4 out of 5
A Chinese family saga, told in different periods of time, commencing with the wife’s discovery of her husband’s homosexuality.

(Country: China, Spain; Year: 2019; Director: Lisa Zi Xiang; Writer: Lisa Zi Xiang; Stars: Naren Hua, Nan Ji, Naren Hua, Nan Ji)

Full review

A Dog Called Money

A glimpse into the creative process of groundbreaking British musician PJ Harvey, filmed in a London recording studio and during their travels to Afghanistan, Kosovo and Washington DC.

(Country: Ireland, UK; Year: 2019; Director: Seamus Murphy; Writer: Seamus Murphy; Stars: PJ Harvey)

Documentary. World premiere

Family Members (Los miembros de la familia)

In an abandoned house on the coast, the secrets of a pair of siblings gradually come to light.

(Country: Argentina; Year: 2019; Director: Mateo Bendesky; Writer: Mateo Bendesky; Stars: Sergio Boris, Edgardo Castro, Ofelia Fernández, Laila Maltz, Javier Abril Rotger, Alejandro Russek, Tomás Wicz)

World premiere

Flatland

Two young women are on the run through South Africa’s hinterland, hotly pursued by a policewoman who is trying to solve a murder case.

(Country: South Africa, Germany, Luxembourg; Year: 2019; Director: Jenna Bass; Stars: Faith Baloyi, Nicole Fortuin, Izel Bezuidenhout)

World premiere

Flesh Out

Review preview for Flesh Out

Ochipinti's film benefits from a strong documentary underpinning - with the lead actress saying that 70 per cent of what occurs is based on her own story at the film's Berlin screening - showing how strong cultural expectations like this can be.

Amber Wilkinson · 4 out of 5
Verida is due to marry in three months. According to a Mauritanian tradition, she has to put on a lot of weight to appeal to her husband. The weight gain process gets harder as it progresses, and Verida begins to ask herself if this is what she really wants.

(Country: Italy, France; Year: 2019; Director: Michela Occhipinti; Writer: Simona Coppini, Michela Occhipinti; Stars: Verida Beitta Ahmed Deiche, Sidi Mohamed Chinghaly, Aminetou Souleimane, Amal Saad Bouh Oumar, Verida Beitta Ahmed Deiche, Sidi Mohamed Chinghaly, Aminetou Souleimane, Amal Saad Bouh Oumar)

Full review See: Michela Occhipinti ‪in conversation on‬ Flesh Out (Il Corpo Della Sposa) and Open Roads: New Italian Cinema

Greta

An older, gay nurse takes one of his patients into his own home. His neighbour, an ailing transwoman, is part of this parallel society portrayed in this moving drama.

(Country: Brazil; Year: 2019; Director: Armando Praça; Stars: Marco Nanini, Denise Weinberg, Demick Lopes, Gretta Star)

World premiere

Hellhole

The portrait of a wounded city and its lost souls.

(Country: Belgium, Netherlands; Year: 2019; Director: Bas Devos; Writer: Bas Devos; Stars: Lubna Azabal, Hamza Belarbi, Alba Rohrwacher, Willy Thomas, Lubna Azabal, Hamza Belarbi, Alba Rohrwacher, Willy Thomas)

World premiere

Holy Beasts (La Fiera Y La Fiesta)

Aging punk diva Vera arrives in the Caribbean to direct an unfinished project by her beloved friend Jean-Louis Jorge. As preparations for the musical film commence, conflicts and death begin to creep up on the haunted production.

(Country: Argentina, Mexico, Dominican Republic; Year: 2019; Director: Israel Cárdenas, Laura Amelia Guzmán; Writer: Israel Cárdenas, Laura Amelia Guzmán; Stars: Geraldine Chaplin, Udo Kier, Jaime Pina, Luis Ospina, Jaime Piña, Jeradin Asencio, Fifi Poulakidas, Jackie Ludueña, Pau Bertolini, Geraldine Chaplin, Udo Kier, Jaime Pina, Luis Ospina, Jaime Piña, Jeradin Asencio)

Idol (Woo Sang)

Review preview for Idol

The challenging moral and psychological undercurrent that keeps it interesting as the primary narrative begins to flounder.

Jennie Kermode · 3 out of 5
Politician Koo Myung-hui discovers his wife in the garage, cleaning their son’s bloodstained car. He has just run someone over.

(Country: South Korea; Year: 2019; Director: Lee Su-jin; Writer: Lee Su-jin; Stars: Han Seok-kyu, Sul Kyung-gu, Chun Woo-hee)

Full review

Jessica Forever

Review preview for Jessica Forever

The real star here is Marine Altan's cinematography, investing locations both lavish and drab with the kind of spiritual wonder seen only through the eyes of those who have always been outsiders.

Jennie Kermode · 2.5 out of 5
A group of orphan rebels are fortified in a villa with heavy arms to brace for a drone war with a faceless enemy in a dystopian future.

(Year: 2018; Director: Caroline Poggi, Jonathan Vinel; Writer: Caroline Poggi, Jonathan Vinel; Stars: Aomi Muyock, Sebastian Urzendowsky, Augustin Raguenet, Lukas Ionesco, Paul Hamy, Eddy Suiveng, Maya Coline, Angelina Woreth, Théo Costa-Marini, Franck Falise, Florian Kiniffo, Jordan Klioua, Ymanol Perset, Jean-Marie Pittilloni, Iliana Zabeth)

Full review

European premiere

Lemebel

Review preview for Lemebel

This is not conventional narrative, start to end, born in, schooled at, died documentary.

Jane Fae · 4 out of 5
A multi-layered portrait of one of South America’s most important and most provocative artists, a tireless fighter in dictatorial Chile and an uncomfortable gay activist who spoke out – right up to the end of his life.

(Country: Chile, Colombia; Year: 2019; Director: Lissette Orozco, Joanna Reposi; Writer: Manuel Maira, Joanna Reposi)

Full review

Documentary

Light Of My Life

In a post-apocalyptic world a father is determined to protect his child at all costs.

(Country: US; Year: 2019; Director: Casey Affleck; Writer: Casey Affleck; Stars: Elisabeth Moss, Casey Affleck, Anna Pniowsky, Tom Bower, Timothy Webber, Hrothgar Mathews, Lloyd Cunningham, Kory Grim, Patrick Keating, Jesse James Pierce, Monk Serrell Freed, Tommy Clarke, Sydnee Parker Anderson, Elisabeth Moss, Casey Affleck)

See: Anna Pniowsky in conversation on Casey Affleck, the script. storytelling and the haircut for Light Of My Life

Mid90s

Review preview for Mid90s

This is astonishing stuff.

Andrew Robertson · 4 out of 5
The story of a teenager and his life between domestic violence and the newfound recognition from a group of local skaterboarders.

(Country: US; Year: 2018; Director: Jonah Hill; Writer: Jonah Hill; Stars: Sunny Suljic, Katherine Waterston, Lucas Hedges, Na-kel Smith, Olan Prenatt, Gio Galicia, Ryder McLaughlin, Alexa Demie, Fig Camila Abner, Liana Perlich, Ama Elsesser, Judah Estrella Borunda, Mecca Allen, Aramis Hudson, Sonny Greenback) , Trailer

Full review

European premiere

Midnight Traveler (Midnight Traveller)

Review preview for Midnight Traveler

Unlike a more conventional refugee documentary - shot by an outsider parachuting in - this is an intimate and ongoing study in which the family have complete agency, lending the film an additional ring of truth.

Amber Wilkinson · 4.5 out of 5
When the Taliban puts a bounty on Afghan director Hassan Fazili’s head, he is forced to flee with his wife and two young daughters. Capturing their uncertain journey, Fazili shows firsthand the dangers facing refugees seeking asylum and the love shared between a family on the run.

(Country: US; Year: 2019; Director: Hassan Fazili)

Full review See: Midnight Traveler interview with Emelie Mahdavian and Su Kim

Documentary

The Miracle Of The Sargasso Sea (To Thávma Tis Thálassas Ton Sargassón)

Crime drama.

(Country: Greece, Germany, Netherlands, Sweden; Year: 2019; Director: Syllas Tzoumerkas; Writer: Youla Boudali, Syllas Tzoumerkas; Stars: Angeliki Papoulia, Youla Boudali, Hristos Passalis, Argyris Xafis, Thanasis Dovris, Laertis Malkotsis, Maria Filini, Michalis Kimonas, Christian Culbida, Thanos Tokakis, Laertis Vasiliou, Katerina Helmy, Alkistis Poulopoulou, Romanos Kalokyris, Areti Seidaridou)

World premiere

Monos

Review preview for Monos

Landes' film has the queasy, uneasy feel of a nightmare - and that's before magic mushrooms are involved.

Amber Wilkinson · 4 out of 5
On a faraway mountaintop, eight kids with guns watch over a hostage and a conscripted milk cow.

(Country: Colombia, Argentina, Netherlands, Germany, Sweden, Uruguay; Year: 2019; Director: Alejandro Landes; Writer: Alexis Dos Santos, Alejandro Landes, Alejandro Landes; Stars: Julianne Nicholson, Moises Arias, Jorge Román, Laura Castrillón, Wilson Salazar, Sofia Buenaventura, Deibi Rueda, Karen Quintero, Julian Giraldo, Paul Cubides, Sneider Castro, Julianne Nicholson, Moises Arias, Jorge Román, Laura Castrillón)

Full review

European premiere

Normal

Documentary examines rigidly defined gender roles and many people’s uncritical submission to the dictates of (hetero-)normativity.

(Country: Italy; Year: 2019; Director: Adele Tulli; Writer: Adele Tulli)

Documentary

On The Starting Line (La Arrancada)

The life of competitive athlete Jenniffer is on the brink of change, just like the whole country. She is poised on the starting blocks – and not just in the 100-meter dash.

(Country: France; Year: 2019; Director: Aldemar Matias; Writer: Aldemar Matias)

O Beautiful Night

In this Faustian tale, anxious Yuri finds himself face-to-face with Death. Yuri is forced to confront his fears over the course of a fateful night.

(Country: Germany; Year: 2019; Director: Xaver Böhm; Writer: Ariana Berndl, Xaver Böhm; Stars: Noah Saavedra, Marko Mandic, Vanessa Loibl, Johanna Polley, Eva-Maria Kurz, Peter Clös, Gerhard Bös, Noah Saavedra, Marko Mandic, Vanessa Loibl, Johanna Polley, Eva-Maria Kurz, Peter Clös, Gerhard Bös)

World premiere

Searching Eva

Eva shares everything about her nomadic life online. Staging her private life on Tumblr and Instagram, she reinvents herself again and again: sex worker, model, feminist, queer writer?

(Country: Germany; Year: 2019; Director: Pia Hellenthal; Writer: Pia Hellenthal, Giorgia Malatrasi; Stars: Eva Collé)

Documentary

Selfie

Documentary dealing with police violence and the long shadow the Mafia still casts over today’s Italy. Two adolescent Neapolitans portray themselves and their surroundings with their smartphones.

(Country: France, Italy; Year: 2019; Director: Agostino Ferrente; Writer: Agostino Ferrente; Stars: Pietro Orlando)

Documentary. World premiere

Serendipity

Review preview for Serendipity

Whilst the film will surely help to promote her as an artist, one cannot help but feel that, from an artistic perspective, she took on this challenge too soon.

Jennie Kermode · 2.5 out of 5
Prune Nourry is a French multi-disciplinary artist and a survivor of breast cancer. This documentary merges the artist and the cancer patient, offering an appraisal of her oeuvre and its newfound connection to her illness.

(Country: US; Year: 2019; Director: Prune Nourry; Writer: Prune Nourry, Alastair Siddons; Stars: Prune Nourry)

Full review

Documentary

The Shadow Play (Cloud In The Wind, Feng Zhong You Duo Yu Zuo De Yun)

Review preview for The Shadow Play

The actors do their best but Lou is far more interested in how rain looks blazing in the light of car headlights or how a fight scene might benefit from some nice pirouettes than he is in developing character.

Amber Wilkinson · 2 out of 5
After a property boss falls to his death, a rookie cop investigates.

(Country: China; Year: 2018; Director: Lou Ye; Writer: Ma Yingli, Mei Feng, Qiu Yujie; Stars: Jing Boran, Song Jia, Qin Hao, Ma Sichun, Zhang Songwen)

Full review

Skin

Review preview for Skin

There are some powerful moments in Skin, but however lasting some of its impacts the film isn't as deep as it hopes.

Andrew Robertson · 3.5 out of 5
The true story of white supremacist skinhead Bryon Widner and his attempts to leave his extreme right-wing past behind.

(Country: US; Year: 2018; Director: Guy Nattiv; Writer: Guy Nattiv; Stars: Danielle Macdonald, Vera Farmiga, Jamie Bell, Mary Stuart Masterson, Mike Colter, Bill Camp, Jenna Leigh Green, Louisa Krause, Kylie Rogers, Daniel Henshall, Zoe Margaret Colletti, Russell Posner, Rob Figueroa, Colbi Gannett, Joanna Herrington)

Full review

European premiere

The Souvenir

Review preview for The Souvenir

The costumes in The Souvenir speak volumes about female and male desire and the search for identity that garments can encompass.

Anne-Katrin Titze · 5 out of 5
A quiet film student begins finding her voice as an artist while navigating a turbulent courtship with a charismatic but untrustworthy man.

(Country: UK; Year: 2019; Director: Joanna Hogg; Writer: Joanna Hogg; Stars: Honor Swinton Byrne, Tom Burke, Tilda Swinton, Richard Ayoade, Ariane Labed, Jack McMullen)

Full review See: Joanna Hogg, Honor Swinton Byrne and Tilda Swinton ‪in conversation on‬ the costumes for The Souvenir

European premiere

Staff Only

Marta is 17, spanish and wants to discover things off the beaten tourist track in Senegal. But a thoughtless act has serious consequences.

(Country: Spain, France; Year: 2019; Director: Neus Ballús; Writer: Neus Ballús, Pau Subirós; Stars: Elena Andrada, Sergi López, Madeleine C. Ndong, Diomaye Augustin Ngom, Ian Samsó, Elena Andrada, Sergi López, Madeleine C. Ndong, Diomaye Augustin Ngom, Ian Samsó)

Stitches

Ana believes that she and other Serbian women have had their newborn babies stolen from them to be given up for illegal adoption for money. She sets out on a quest.

(Country: Serbia, Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina; Year: 2019; Director: Miroslav Terzić; Stars: Snezana Bogdanovic, Marko Bacovic, Jovana Stojiljkovic, Vesna Trivalic, Dragana Varagic)

System K (Système K)

A documentary about Kinshasa’s vibrant street art scene and a group of people who are passionately taking their political messages to the streets – with the aid of bullet cases, smoke, blood, wax, plastic waste, music and their bodies.

(Country: France; Year: 2019; Director: Renaud Barret)

Documentary

Talking About Trees

In an attempt to revive an old cinema in Sudan, four friends encounter insurmountable resistance.

(Country: France, Sudan, Chad; Year: 2019; Director: Suhaib Gasmelbari; Writer: Suhaib Gasmelbari; Stars: Suleiman Ibrahim, Ibrahim Shaddad, Suleiman Ibrahim, Ibrahim Shaddad)

Documentary

They Called Him Amigo (Sie nannten ihn Amigo)

Germany, 1939. Thirteen-year-old Amigo finds Pepp, an escaped political prisoner, in the cellar and decides to help him. But one of Amigo’s confidants tells his Nazi father about Pepp.

(Country: East Germany; Year: 1958; Director: Heiner Carow; Writer: Heiner Carow, Claus Küchenmeister, Wera Küchenmeister; Stars: Ernst-Georg Schwill, Angelika Hurwicz, Wilhelm Koch-Hooge, Erich Franz, Fred Düren, Horst Dau, Ursula Dücker, Siegfried Fomm, Gerhard Freudel, Peter Kalisch, Hans Klering, Claus Küchenmeister, Wolf Lucas, Emil Riemer, Georgetta Sager)

Heiner Carow Prize screening

Tremors (Temblores)

Review preview for Tremors

Bustamante employs physical earthquakes as well, with a similar subtlety that he goes on to use the myth of La Llorona in his follow up film

Amber Wilkinson · 3.5 out of 5
The coming out of an evangelical father shatters his family, his community and uncovers a profoundly repressive society.

(Country: Guatemala, France, Luxembourg; Year: 2019; Director: Jayro Bustamante; Writer: Jayro Bustamante; Stars: Juan Pablo Olyslager, Mauricio Armas, Diane Bathen, María Telón, Pedro Javier Silva Lira)

Full review

World premiere

Waiting For The Carnival (Estou Me Guardando Para Quando O Carnaval Chegar)

A documentary film about the Brazilian town of Toritama, the self-proclaimed capital of jeans. The workers of the city’s self-managed small businesses only get one real break from their self-exploiting lives in the textile business - the annual carnival.

(Country: Brazil; Year: 2019; Director: Marcelo Gomes)

Documentary. World premiere

Western Arabs

Omar feels culturally torn between his Danish mother and his Palestinian father. In documentary and fictional scenes he explores his father’s latent aggression and its impact on his own identity as a father himself.

(Country: Denmark, Netherlands; Year: 2019; Director: Omar Shargawi)

Documentary

What She Said: The Art Of Pauline Kael

A portrait of legendary film critic Pauline Kael which revisits late 20th Century cinema through her lens, using ample film clips, never-before-seen archive material, wide-ranging interviews and her writings

(Country: US; Year: 2018; Director: Rob Garver; Stars: Pauline Kael, Sarah Jessica Parker)

International premiere