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Berlin International Film Festival · 2023

Berlin International Film Festival 2023

Berlinale Special

Programme

19 films · 5 reviews

Jump to a film

Boom! Boom! The World Vs. Boris Becker

Documentary about the tennis ace.

(Country: UK, US; Year: 2023; Director: Alex Gibney)

World premiere

Der Vermessene Mensch

A young German ethnologist in their South West Africa colony is supposed to be collecting artefacts to bring back to Berlin, but is troubled by the cruel and racist treatment he witnesses the Herero and Nama peoples subjected to.

(Country: Germany; Year: 2023; Director: Lars Kraume; Writer: Lars Kraume; Stars: Leonard Scheicher, Girley Charlene Jazama, Peter Simonischek, Sven Schelker)

World premiere

Golda

Drama about the Israeli premier Golda Meir.

(Country: UK; Year: 2022; Director: Guy Nativ; Stars: Helen Mirren, Liev Schreiber, Camille Cottin, Ellie Piercy, Rami Heuberger)

World premiere

Infinity Pool

James and Em are enjoying an all-inclusive beach vacation when a fatal accident exposes the resort's perverse subculture of hedonistic tourism, reckless violence, and surreal horrors.

(Country: US; Year: 2023; Director: Brandon Cronenberg; Writer: Brandon Cronenberg; Stars: Alexander Skarsgård, Mia Goth, Cleopatra Coleman)

European premiere

The Innocents (Les Innocentes, Agnus Dei)

Review preview for The Innocents

The Innocents may well be a historical film but it still has plenty of relevance today.

Jennie Kermode · 4.5 out of 5
A young doctor becomes the soul hope for traumatised nuns.

(Country: France, Poland; Year: 2016; Director: Anne Fontaine; Writer: Pascal Bonitzer, Anne Fontaine, Sabrina B. Karine, Alice Vial; Stars: Lou de Laâge, Agata Buzek, Agata Kulesza, Vincent Macaigne, Joanna Kulig, Anna Próchniak, Dorota Kuduk, Eliza Rycembel, Katarzyna Dabrowska, Klara Bielawka, Helena Sujecka)

Full review

Kill Bok-soon

A single mother who is a renowned hired killer finds it difficult to achieve a balance between her personal and work life.

(Country: South Korea; Year: 2023; Director: Sung-hyun Byun; Stars: Hwang Jung-min, Jeon Do-yeon, Sol Kyung-gu, Esom, Koo Kyo-hwan)

World premiere

Kiss The Future

The inescapably current story of defiance amid the 1990s Siege of Sarajevo. An underground community uses music and art to effect change and garner global attention, and a post-war concert by U2 celebrates the city’s triumph over ethnic nationalism.

(Country: US, Ireland; Year: 2023; Director: Nenad Cicin-Sain)

World premiere

Last Night Of Amore (L'ultima Notte Di Amore)

Milan. On the night before his retirement after 35 years without having fired a shot, Lieutenant Amore sees his world turned upside down.

(Country: Italy; Year: 2022; Director: Andrea Di Stefano; Stars: Pierfrancesco Favino, Linda Caridi, Antonio Gerardi, Francesco Di Leva)

World premiere

Loriot's Great Cartoon Revue (Loriots Große Trickfilmrevue)

Selection of 31 films from the animator from across five decades.

(Country: Germany; Year: 2023; Director: Peter Geyer, Loriat)

World premiere

Love To Love You, Donna Summer

Review preview for Love To Love You, Donna Summer

Love To Love You, Donna Summer, has perhaps the best prism of all to observe the life of the Queen of Disco through - that of her family.

Amber Wilkinson · 4 out of 5
Documentary about the Disco star.

(Country: US; Year: 2023; Director: Roger Ross Williams, Brooklyn Sudano)

Full review

World premiere

Mad Fate (Ming On)

A woman seeks the help of a fortune teller to solve a murder.

(Country: Hong Kong, China; Year: 2022; Director: Cheang Soi; Stars: Lam Ka Tung, Lokman Yeung, Berg Ng, Ng Wing Sze, Chan Charm Man Peter)

World premiere

#Manhole

Review preview for #Manhole

In the end, the film succeeds not so much because of its thriller elements as because it’s an interesting character piece.

Jennie Kermode · 4 out of 5
A real estate worker who is about to marry his boss' daughter falls down a deep manhole and can't work out how to escape.

(Country: Japan; Year: 2023; Director: Kazuyoshi Kumakiri; Writer: Michitaka Okada; Stars: Nakajima Yûto, Nao, Nagayama Kento)

Full review

International premiere

Massimo Troisi: Somebody Down There Likes Me (Laggiù Qualcuno Mi Ama)

A documentary about the much-loved Neapolitan actor and Il Postino director Massimo Troisi.

(Country: Italy; Year: 2023; Director: Mario Martone; Writer: Mario Martone, Anna Pavignano; Stars: Massimo Troisi)

World premiere

Seneca - On the Creation of Earthquakes

A look at the relationship between Seneca and Nero, the infamous Emperor he mentored since childhood and who accused him of plotting his assassination.

(Country: Germany; Year: 2023; Director: Robert Schwentke; Writer: Robert Schwentke, Matthew Wilder; Stars: John Malkovich, Louis Hofmann, Geraldine Chaplin, Lilith Stangenberg, Samuel Finzi)

World premiere

She Came To Me

The story of a composer who suffers writer's block and rediscovers his passion after an adventurous one-night stand.

(Country: US; Year: 2023; Director: Rebecca Miller; Writer: Rebecca Miller; Stars: Peter Dinklage, Marisa Tomei, Joanna Kulig, Brian d'Arcy James, Anne Hathaway)

World premiere

Sun And Concrete (Sonne Und Beton)

Four friends try to survive everyday life in Neukölln, Berlin between drugs, gangs, rap, violence and boredom, until they hatch a dangerous plan.

(Country: Germany; Year: 2023; Director: David Wnendt; Writer: Felix Lobrecht, David Wnendt; Stars: Levy Rico Arcos, Vincent Wiemer, Rafael Klein-Heßling, Aaron Maldonado-Morales)

World premiere

Superpower

On February 24, 2022, while directors Penn and Kaufman were filming in Kyiv, Putin’s invasion took the world by storm. As explosions rocked the city, they became inadvertent front-row witnesses to this historic “David and Goliath” struggle.

(Country: US; Year: 2022; Director: Sean Penn, Aaron Kaufman)

World premiere

Talk to Me

Review preview for Talk to Me

The reason the film works so well is in its well-established teenage relationships - with the Philippous showing the attraction of being in with the cool kids and that the dangers this presents are particularly acute for those, like Mia, who are already emotionally vulnerable or, like Riley, desperate to be included in an older peer group.

Amber Wilkinson · 4 out of 5
When a group of friends discover how to conjure spirits using an ancient embalmed hand, they become hooked on the new thrill. Until one of them goes too far and opens the door to the spirit world.

(Country: Australia; Year: 2023; Director: Danny Philippou, Michael Philippou; Writer: Danny Philippou, Bill Hinzman; Stars: Sophie Wilde, Miranda Otto, Alexandra Jensen, Joe Bird, Zoe Terakes, Otis Dhanji)

Full review

European premiere

Tár

Review preview for Tár

Phantom chimes at night produce an atmosphere that could tumble into horror movie territory, but the real damage is done during the day.

Anne-Katrin Titze · 3.5 out of 5
Set in the international world of classical music, this film centres on Lydia Tár. widely considered one of the greatest living composer/conductors and first-ever female chief conductor of a major German orchestra.

(Country: US; Year: 2022; Director: Todd Field; Writer: Todd Field; Stars: Cate Blanchett, Noémie Merlant, Nina Hoss, Sophie Kauer, Mila Bogojevic, Sylvia Flote, Sydney Lemmon, Mark Strong, Allan Corduner, Zethphan D. Smith-Gneist, Adam Gopnik)

Full review

German premiere