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Berlin International Film Festival · 2020

Berlin International Film Festival 2020

Generation

Programme

32 films · 8 reviews

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Alice Junior

After moving to a conservative small town in southern Brazil, Alice, a transgender girl, has to confront her repressive new surroundings. But, full of courage, energy and self-confidence, the young YouTuber turns established stereotypes upside down.

(Country: Brazil; Year: 2019; Director: Gil Baroni; Stars: Anne Celestino Mota, Emmanuel Rosset, Thaís Schier, Surya Amitrano, Matheus Moura)

Always Amber (Alltid Amber)

Review preview for Always Amber

Conversations about internal and external experiences of gender provide structure, but there's much more to Amber as a person.

Jennie Kermode · 3.5 out of 5
Documentary about youngsters with fluid identities.

(Country: Sweden; Year: 2020; Director: Hannah Reinikainen Bergeman, Lia Hietala; Writer: Lia Hietala)

Full review

Anne At 13,000 ft

Review preview for Anne At 13,000 ft

It takes real craft to hold something like this together for 75 minutes - not to mention tremendous effort on Campbell's part.

Jennie Kermode · 4.5 out of 5
Even in her job at a children’s day care centre, Anne prefers fun to actual work and often alienates those around her with her erratic behaviour.

(Country: Canada, US; Year: 2019; Director: Kazik Radwanski; Writer: Kazik Radwanski, Deragh Campbell; Stars: Deragh Campbell, Matt Johnson, Dorothea Paas, Lawrene Denkers)

Full review See: Interview with Kazik Radwanski and Deragh Campbell about Anne At 13,000 Ft

Blue Eyes And Colorful My Dress (Ochite Mi Sini, Rokljata Sharena)

Three-year-old Zhana confidently explores the squares and streets of the housing estate where she lives. She makes friends and has little adventures.

(Country: Germany; Year: 2020; Director: Polina Gumiela; Stars: Zhana Henkes)

Chronicle Of Space (Sthalpuran)

After his father’s disappearance, eight-year-old Dighu seeks refuge from loneliness in his imagination and diary entries.

(Country: India; Year: 2020; Director: Akshay Indikar; Stars: Neel Deshmukh, Anushree Wani, Sonia Mahale, Rekha Thakur, Shashank Shende)

Cocoon (Kokon)

Nora grows through observation. Always at her big sister’s side, she drifts around the housing blocks and sees people being in love, being high, spiteful and tender. When Nora meets Romy, she suddenly feels trapped in her own skin, and she starts to recognize her true self.

(Country: Germany; Year: 2020; Director: Leonie Krippendorff; Stars: Lena Urzendowsky, Jella Haase, Lena Klenke, Elina Vildanova, Anja Schneider)

Cuties

Review preview for Cuties

The complex interactions between the girls are beautifully captured.

Jennie Kermode · 4.5 out of 5
Amy, 11 years old, meets a group of dancers called "Cuties”. Fascinated, she initiates herself to a sensual dance, hoping to join their band and escape family dysfunction...

(Country: France; Year: 2020; Director: Maïmouna Doucouré; Writer: Maïmouna Doucouré; Stars: Maïmouna Gueye, Fathia Youssouf Abdillahi, Demba Diaw, Medina El Aidi, Esther Gohourou, Ilanah Cami-Goursolas, Myriam Hamma, Maïmouna Gueye, Fathia Youssouf Abdillahi, Demba Diaw, Medina El Aidi, Esther Gohourou, Ilanah Cami-Goursolas, Myriam Hamma)

Full review

Death Of Nintendo

Review preview for Death Of Nintendo

The adventure of teenage life is represented in all its glory.

Amber Wilkinson · 3 out of 5
Hunting ghosts to impress girls. Undergoing circumcision in order to finally become a man. A pop homage to puberty and adolescence.

(Country: Philippines, US; Year: 2020; Director: Raya Martin; Writer: Valerie Castillo Martinez; Stars: Noel Comia Jr., Kim Chloie Oquendo, John Vincent Servilla, Jiggerfelip Sementilla, Elijah Alejo)

Full review

Die Adern Der Welt

When his father falls victim to a fatal accident, a young Mongolian herder strives to honour his legacy.

(Country: Germany, Mongolia; Year: 2020; Director: Byambasuren Davaa; Stars: Bat-Ireedui Batmunkh, Purevdorj Uranchimeg, Algirchamin Baatarsuren, Enerel Tumen, Yalalt Namsrai)

The Earth Is Blue As An Orange

To cope with the daily trauma of living in a warzone, Anna and her children make a film together about their life among surreal surroundings.

(Country: Ukraine, Lithuania; Year: 2020; Director: Iryna Tsilyk)

Goddess Of The Fireflies (La Déesse Des Mouches à Feu)

Sex, drugs, love and death – for Cat it’s a year of first times and radical experimentation. With her parents in the midst of a nasty divorce, the 16-year-old seeks solace and liberation in ecstatic states.

(Country: Canada; Year: 2020; Director: Anaïs Barbeau-Lavalette; Stars: Kelly Depeault, Éléonore Loiselle, Caroline Néron, Normand D'Amour, Robin L'Houmeau)

Gunda

Review preview for Gunda

The language captured here speaks volumes. The animals’ faces, their reactions and movements, remind doubters of their sentient nature in every shot.

Anne-Katrin Titze · 5 out of 5
Pigs, cows and chickens. Intimate portraits of living beings who wind up dead on a plate every day.

(Country: Norway, US; Year: 2020; Director: Victor Kossakovsky)

Full review

H Is For Happiness

Candice Phee has no end of enthusiasm when it comes to making other people happy.

(Country: Australia; Year: 2019; Director: John Sheedy; Stars: Daisy Axon, Wesley Patten, Richard Roxburgh, Emma Booth, Joel Jackson)

Jumbo

Review preview for Jumbo

It's a far from perfect film, but it's a lot better than the critical consensus suggests, and at the heart of it is a fascinating character study.

Jennie Kermode · 3 out of 5
Jeanne, a shy young woman, works in an amusement park. Fascinated by carousels, she still lives at home with her mother. That’s when Jeanne meets Jumbo, the park’s new flagship attraction...

(Country: France, Luxembourg, Belgium; Year: 2020; Director: Zoé Wittock; Writer: Zoé Wittock; Stars: Noémie Merlant, Emmanuelle Bercot, Sam Louwyck)

Full review

Los Lobos

Young brothers Max and Leo dream of going to Disneyland, but having just emigrated from Mexico to the USA they first have to settle in their new homeland. And they have to stick to the seven rules their mother has set down for them.

(Country: Mexico; Year: 2019; Director: Samuel Kishi Leopo; Stars: Maximiliano Nájar Márquez, Leonardo Nájar Márquez, Martha Reyes Arias, Cici Lau, Johnson T Lau)

Monty And The Street Party (Mugge & Vejfesten)

Dark clouds have gathered over Monty‘s perfect world: his best friend has decided she is too old to play with him, his mother is in love with her CrossFit trainer and his father has become depressed. And to top it all, the street party has been cancelled.

(Country: Denmark; Year: 2019; Director: Anders Morgenthaler, Mikael Wulff; Stars: Jens Jacob Tychsen, Anders Morgenthaler, Iben Hjejle, Stephania Potalivo, Nikolaj Kopernikus)

Mum, Mum, Mum (Mamá, Mamá, Mamá)

Erin has drowned and her sister Cleo has to come to terms with a changed reality. Memories and pain cut into the present – but so, too, do new experiences.

(Country: Argentina; Year: 2020; Director: Sol Berruezo Pichon-Rivière; Stars: Agustina Milstein, Chloé Cherchyk, Camila Zolezzi, Matilde Creimer Chiabrando, Siumara Castillo)

My Name Is Baghdad

With her hair short, trousers pulled up high and sweater tucked into the waistband, 17-year-old Baghdad from São Paulo spends her days skateboarding with her mates. But her world of swag and freedom is also tainted by sexism and violence.

(Country: Brazil; Year: 2020; Director: Caru Alves de Souza; Stars: Grace Orsato, Karina Buhr, Marie Maymone, Helena Luz, Nick Batista)

Naked Animals

Coming-of-age drama focused on five young people in provincial Germany.

(Country: Germany; Year: 2020; Director: Melanie Waelde; Writer: Melanie Waelde; Stars: Michelangelo Fortuzzi, Luna Baptiste Schaller, Markus von Lingen, Luna Arwen Krüger, Marie Tragousti, Sammy Scheuritzel, Ulrike Hübschmann, Paul Michael Stiehler, Florian Schmidtke, Xenia Tiling, Marie Meissner, Katrin Beckmann, Gustav Stolze, Marianna Linden)

Ordinary Justice

A day in court: a routine occurrence for some, for others a dramatic event. Out in the hall, two girls await the end of a trial impacting both their families.

(Country: Italy, Switzerland; Year: 2020; Director: Chiara Bellosi; Stars: Daphne Scoccia, Bianca Leonardi, Sarah Short, Nicola Rignanese, Giovanni Anzaldo)

Our Lady Of The Nile (Notre Dame Du Nil)

In the Rwanda of 1973, a Belgian-run Catholic boarding school prides itself on being an ‘institute for the elite’. Prejudice still flourishes among these privileged girls as anti-Tutsi sentiments are fanned into bitter conflict.

(Country: France, Belgium, Rwanda; Year: 2019; Director: Atiq Rahimi; Stars: Amanda Mugabezaki, Albina Kirenga, Malaika Uwamahoro)

Paradise Drifters

Yousef, Chloe and Lorenzo’s paths intersect on the concrete-jungle periphery of European affluent society. In their quest for intimacy and independence, each of them dares to make their own irrevocable decision.

(Country: Netherlands; Year: 2020; Director: Mees Peijnenburg; Stars: Jonas Smulders, Tamar van Waning, Bilal Wahib, Joren Seldeslachts)

Perro

When the local school is closed down, Perro has to leave his grandmother behind and move to the city in this documentary film about a quiet boy whose indigenous home is threatened by the planned construction of the Nicaraguan Gran Canal.

(Country: Germany; Year: 2020; Director: Lin Sternal; Stars: Joshua McCree, Miss Charyl)

Pinocchio

Review preview for Pinocchio

Garrone establishes very early on that Pinocchio's woodness means he doesn't feel pain - during an unfortunate fire incident - so even when our hero is in deep trouble, there's always the sense he is protected.

Amber Wilkinson · 4 out of 5
A faithful adaptation of the well-known story of Pinocchio, about a wooden boy who longs to be real.

(Country: Italy, France, UK; Year: 2019; Director: Matteo Garrone; Writer: Matteo Garrone, Massimo Ceccherini, based on the book by Carlo Collodi; Stars: Roberto Benigni, Federico Ielapi, Rocco Papaleo, Massimo Ceccherini, Marine Vacth)

Full review

Pompei

A desert gang of young people busy themselves with digging for relics of a past civilisation. The group’s strict hierarchical order starts to rupture with the arrival of a girl called Billie, with whom Victor falls in love.

(Country: Belgium, France, Canada; Year: 2019; Director: Anna Falguères, John Shank; Stars: Garance Marillier, Aliocha Schneider, Auguste Wilhelm, Vincent Rottiers, Judit Williquet)

Schoolgirls (Las Niñas)

In 1990s Spain, Celia’s cosmopolitan new classmate Brisa prompts her to start questioning the value system of her strict Catholic environment. Her newfound curiosity about pop bands and her own body is accompanied by questions about her family background.

(Country: Spain; Year: 2020; Director: Pilar Palomero; Stars: Andrea Fandos, Natalia de Molina, Zoé Arnao, Julia Sierra, Francesca Piñón)

Sisters In The End Of The World (Irmã)

Two sisters travel to southern Brazil in search of their father. On the way, they see mysterious beings, fossils and rare natural events.

(Country: Brazil; Year: 2020; Director: Luciana Mazeto, Vinícius Lopes; Stars: Maria Galant, Anaís Grala Wegner, Felipe Kannenberg, Marina Mendo, Nicholas Perlin)

Sune - Best Man

Torn between going on a school trip and attending a family celebration, Sune fears that either decision will disappoint a loved one.

(Country: Sweden; Year: 2019; Director: Jon Holmberg; Stars: Elis Gerdt, Baxter Renman, Tea Stjärne, Fredrik Hallgren, Sissela Benn)

Sweet Thing

Nico and Billie are not protected by their dysfunctional and irresponsible parents, so the siblings embark on a journey with young Malik – full of cinematic references and intense moments of freedom.

(Country: US; Year: 2020; Director: Alexandre Rockwell; Stars: Lana Rockwell, Nico Rockwell, Jabari Watkins, Will Patton, Karyn Parsons)

Voices In The Wind (Kaze No Denwa)

Eight years after the devastating tsunami, the wounds it left in Japan have still not healed. In her touching search for answers, Haru sets out on a long, eventful journey to her home town, where she lost her family in the flood.

(Country: Japan; Year: 2020; Director: Nobuhiro Suwa; Stars: Serena Motola, Hidetoshi Nishijima, Toshiyuki Nishida, Tomokazu Miura, Makiko Watanabe)

White Riot

Review preview for White Riot

White Riot is as brisk, to the point and direct as any punk song of the period.

Sunil Chauhan · 4.5 out of 5
Profiling punk reggae protest movement Rock Against Racism.

(Country: UK; Year: 2019; Director: Rubika Shah; Writer: Ed Gibbs, Rubika Shah)

Full review

Yalda, A Night For Forgiveness

Maryam accidentally killed her husband Nasser and is sentenced to death. The only person who can save her is Mona, Nasser's daughter. All Mona has to do is appear on a TV show and forgive Maryam. But forgiveness proves difficult when they are forced to relive the past.

(Country: Iran, France, Germany, Switzerland; Year: 2020; Director: Massoud Bakhshi; Writer: Massoud Bakhshi; Stars: Sadaf Asgari, Behnaz Jafari, Babak Karimi, Fereshteh Sadr Orafaee, Forough Ghajebeglou, Fereshteh Hosseini)