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Berlin International Film Festival · 2021

Berlin International Film Festival 2021

Encounters

Programme

12 films · 9 reviews

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As I Want

Review preview for As I Want

The personal emotion of its director Samaher Alqadi punches through the centre of it hard - which gives her film a searing edge even if much of it feels scrappy and politically muddied.

Amber Wilkinson · 3 out of 5
A consideration of violence against women in Egypt in the wake of Morsi's rise to power.

(Country: Egypt, France, Norway, Palestine; Year: 2021; Director: Samaher Alqadi; Writer: Samaher Alqadi)

Full review

Azor

Review preview for Azor

Many doors are not very open, they give us merely a little glimpse into a strange world.

Anne-Katrin Titze · 5 out of 5
Thriller set in the world of high finance.

(Country: Argentina, Switzerland, France; Year: 2021; Director: Andreas Fontana; Writer: Andreas Fontana, Mariano Llinas; Stars: Fabrizio Rongione, Stéphanie Cléau, Juan Pablo Geretto, Elli Medeiros, Yvain Juillard, Gilles Privat, Carmen Iriondo, Pablo Torre Nilson, Juan Trench, Alexandre Trocki)

Full review See: Andreas Fontana in conversation on Azor, Howard Hawks, and Jorge Luis Borges

The Beta Test

Review preview for The Beta Test

Cummings and McCabe want to have it all - and go a fairly long way towards getting it.

Amber Wilkinson · 4 out of 5
A man's life starts to fracture after he receives an unusual invitation.

(Country: US, UK; Year: 2021; Director: Jim Cummings, PJ McCabe; Writer: Jim Cummings, PJ McCabe; Stars: Jim Cummings, Virginia Newcomb, PJ McCabe, Kevin Changaris, Olivia Grace Applegate, Jessie Barr, Christian Hillborg, Malin Barr, Jacqueline Doke, Wilky Lau, Grant Rosenmeyer, Keith Powell, Monroe Cline, Laura Coover, Boni Mata)

Full review

Bloodsuckers (Bloodsuckers - A Marxist Vampire Comedy, Blutsauger)

Review preview for Bloodsuckers

The world presented by Radlmaier is a creation in which not only are the social relations absurd but the time is mixed up.

Mateusz Tarwacki · 2.5 out of 5
A penniless Soviet refugee who dreams of making a career in Hollywood at the end of the 1920s falls in love with a wealthy young vampire spending the summer at the seaside with her awkward servant – with unforeseen consequences.

(Country: Germany; Year: 2021; Director: Julian Radlmaier; Writer: Julian Radlmaier; Stars: Aleksandre Koberidze, Lilith Stangenberg, Alexander Herbst)

Full review

District Terminal

Review preview for District Terminal

The daily routine of a simple junkie-dreamer-poet who slowly gets lost in all the layers and worlds of the film just becomes too chaotic.

Mateusz Tarwacki · 2.5 out of 5
A narcotic dream reflecting Iranian national psychosis.

(Country: Iran, Germany; Year: 2021; Director: Ehsan Mirhosseini, Bardia Yadegari; Writer: Ehsan Mirhosseini, Bardia Yadegari; Stars: Bardia Yadegari, Ali Hemmati, Farideh Azadi, Sara Ajorlou)

Full review

The Girl And The Spider (Das Mädchen und die Spinne)

Review preview for The Girl And The Spider

The Zürchers carefully construct their web of relationships, showing how a small vibration somewhere can lead to unexpected consequences elsewhere.

Amber Wilkinson · 3.5 out of 5
Tensions ebb and flow as a young woman moves apartment.

(Country: Switzerland; Year: 2021; Director: Ramon Zürcher, Silvan Zürcher; Writer: Ramon Zürcher, Silvan Zürcher; Stars: Henriette Confurius, André Hennicke, Sabine Timoteo, Ursina Lardi, Liliane Amuat, Birte Schnöink, Dorian Heiniger, Dagna Litzenberger-Vinet, Flurin Giger, Ivan Georgiev, Lea Draeger, Margherita Schoch, Ella Gfeller, Yuna Andres, Philippe Schuler)

Full review See: Silvan Zürcher and Ramon Zürcher in conversation on The Girl And The Spider and fairy tales

Moon, 66 Questions

Review preview for Moon, 66 Questions

This is impressionistic filmmaking and the young director handles it with extraordinary confidence.

Jennie Kermode · 4.5 out of 5
When a grave illness strikes down her father Paris, Artemis decides to return home to Greece after an absence of some years and the pair embark on a new beginning.

(Country: Greece, France; Year: 2020; Director: Jacqueline Lentzou; Writer: Jacqueline Lentzou; Stars: Lazaros Georgakopoulos, Sofia Kokkali, Peter Rundle, Nikitas Tsakiroglou, Lazaros Georgakopoulos, Sofia Kokkali, Peter Rundle, Nikitas Tsakiroglou)

Full review See: Interview with Jacqueline Lentzou about Moon, 66 Questions (Selini, 66 Erotiseis)

Rock Bottom Riser

Essay film that traverses geology, ethnography and astronomy.

(Country: US; Year: 2021; Director: Fern Silva; Writer: Fern Silva)

The Scary Of Sixty-First

Review preview for The Scary Of Sixty-First

Drifting through the angst-ridden conversations of a classic New York drama before morphing into something more like giallo, the film makes a positive asset of its low production values, which give it a sense of freshness and urgency.

Jennie Kermode · 3 out of 5
Two mismatched roommates discover and relive the murky secrets of their new Upper East Side apartment.

(Country: US; Year: 2021; Director: Dasha Nekrasova; Writer: Dasha Nekrasova, Madeline Quinn; Stars: Betsey Brown, Madeline Quinn, Dasha Nekrasova, Michael M. Bilandic, Aaron Dalla Villa, Jason Grisell, Stephen Gurewitz, Ruby McCollister, Mark H Rapaport)

Full review See: Interview with Mark Rapaport about The Scary Of Sixty-First

Social Hygiene (Hygiène sociale)

Review preview for Social Hygiene

Côté has often played with artifice, particularly in his documentaries, and here he pushes things to experimental extremes.

Amber Wilkinson · 3 out of 5
Hedonistic philosopher-cum-delinquent, Antonin gets stuck between five women.

(Country: Canada; Year: 2021; Director: Denis Côté; Writer: Denis Côté; Stars: Maxim Gaudette, Eve Duranceau, Éléonore Loiselle, Larissa Corriveau, Kathleen Fortin, Evelyne Rompré, Maxim Gaudette, Eve Duranceau, Éléonore Loiselle, Larissa Corriveau, Kathleen Fortin, Evelyne Rompré)

Full review

Taste (Vi)

A Nigerian man creates a primal world with four middle-aged women but their utopia can't last forever.

(Country: Vietnam, Singapore, France, Thailand, Germany, Taiwan; Year: 2021; Director: Le Bao; Writer: Le Bao; Stars: Olegunleko Ezekiel Gbenga, Thi Minh Nga Khuong, Thi Dung Le, Thi Cam Xuan Nguyen, Thi Tham Thin Vu)

We (Nous)

Documentary revealing stories around the RER B, an urban train that traverses Paris and its environs from north to south.

(Country: France; Year: 2021; Director: Alice Diop; Writer: Alice Diop; Stars: Ethan Balnoas, Marcel Balnoas, Pierre Bergounioux, Ndeye Sighane Diop, Bamba Sibi, Ismael Soumaïla Sissoko)