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Berlin International Film Festival · 2024

Berlin International Film Festival 2024

Berlinale Special

Programme

21 films · 6 reviews

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Abiding Nowhere (Wu Suo Zhu)

Review preview for Abiding Nowhere

His rigorous journey conveys a deep sense of beauty.

Sergiu Inizian · 3 out of 5
A solitary monk slowly paces through bustling streets and tranquil parks. Across town, a curious young man explores an abandoned building.

(Country: US, Taiwain; Year: 2024; Director: Tsai Ming-liang; Stars: Lee Kang-Sheng, Anong Houngheuangsy)

Full review

At Averroès & Rosa Parks

A documentary portrait of life in two Parisian hospital wards.

(Country: France; Year: 2024; Director: Nicolas Philibert)

August My Heaven

(Country: Japan; Year: 2024; Director: Riho Kudo; Stars: Shuri Suwa, Yukino Murakami, Takuma Fujie)

The Box Man (Hako Otoko)

A man gives up his identity and his normal life to live with a cardboard box over his head. A photographer becomes fascinated and decides to try it himself.

(Country: Japan; Year: 2024; Director: Gakuryû Ishii; Writer: Kôbô Abe; Stars: Tadanobu Asano, Masatoshi Nagase, Kôichi Satô, Ayana Shiramoto)

Chime

Tashiro, a student at a culinary school, hears voices in his head. His teacher, Matsuoka, remains unconcerned. But then Tashiro claims that half of his brain has been replaced by a machine.

(Country: Japan; Year: 2024; Director: Kiyoshi Kurosawa; Writer: Kiyoshi Kurosawa; Stars: Mutsuo Yoshioka)

Dostoyevsky (Dostoevskij)

A detective becomes increasingly obsessed with tracking down the serial killer “Dostoyevsky”.

(Country: Italy; Year: 2024; Director: Damiano D'Innocenzo, Fabio D'Innocenzo; Writer: Damiano D'Innocenzo, Fabio D'Innocenzo; Stars: Filippo Timi, Simon Rizzoni, Tommaso Sacco, Gabriel Montesi, Carlotta Gamba, Federico Vanni)

Eleven Tomorrows: Berlinale Meets Football (Elf Mal Morgen: Berlinale Meets Fußball)

Eleven short documentaries about eleven youth football teams for different age groups and with varying prospects.

(Country: Germany; Year: 2024; Director: Maximilian Bungarten, Anna-Maria Dutoit, Kilian Armando Friedrich, Indira Geisel, Eva Gemmer, Felix Herrmann, Hannah Jandl, Justina Jürgensen, Hilarija Locmele, Daniela Magnani-Hüller, Sophie Mühe, Camille Tricaud, Marie Zrenner)

The Empty Grave (Das Leere Grab)

John Mbano and Cesilia Mollel are on a mission to bring the stolen remains of their ancestor back home to Tanzania.

(Country: Tanzania, Germany; Year: 2024; Director: Cece Mlay, Agnes Lisa Wegner)

Exergue - On Documenta 14

The film follows artistic director Adam Szymczyk and his curatorial team over two years as they prepare documenta 14.

(Country: Greece; Year: 2024; Director: Dimitris Athyridis; Writer: Dimitris Athyridis)

Filmmaking (Filmstunde_23)

In 1968, the young Edgar Reitz teaches filmmaking at a girls’ school – a ground-breaking educational experiment. Fifty-five years later, there is a class reunion.

(Country: Germany; Year: 2024; Director: Jörg Adolph, Edgar Reitz; Stars: Edgar Reitz)

Love Lies Bleeding

Review preview for Love Lies Bleeding

There's no doubt that by presenting several characters as pure id is quite a dangerous gambit for a filmmaker but Glass keeps things interesting by having them driven by different things.

Amber Wilkinson · 3.5 out of 5
Reclusive gym manager Lou falls hard for Jackie, an ambitious bodybuilder headed through town to Las Vegas in pursuit of her dream. But their love ignites violence, pulling them deep into the web of Lou’s criminal family.

(Country: UK, US; Year: 2024; Director: Rose Glass; Writer: Rose Glass, Weronika Tofilska; Stars: Kristen Stewart, Katy M O'Brian, Ed Harris, Dave Franco, Jena Malone)

Full review See: Olga Mill on creating the Eighties look of Love Lies Bleeding and being inspired by mold for Eileen

Made In England: The Films Of Powell And Pressburger

Review preview for Made In England: The Films Of Powell And Pressburger

Hinton’s documentary visually points to all the complicated, often triangular entanglements.

Anne-Katrin Titze · 5 out of 5
Documentary about the acclaimed directors, their work and its legacy.

(Country: UK; Year: 2024; Director: David Hinton; Stars: Martin Scorsese, Emeric Pressburger, Michael Powell)

Full review See: David Hinton on Made In England: The Films Of Powell And Pressburger, Martin Scorsese, Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger , Interview with David Hinton about Made In England: The Films Of Powell And Pressburger

The Roundup: Punishment (Beom-Joe-do-si 4)

“Monster Cop” Ma Seok-do is investigating an illegal online gambling organisation.

(Country: South Korea; Year: 2024; Director: Heo Myeong Haeng; Stars: Ma Dong-seok, Kim Mu-yeol, Lee Joo-bin, Lee Dong-hwi, Park Ji-hwan, Kim Min-jae, Lee Beom-su, Lee Ji-hoon)

Sasquatch Sunset

Review preview for Sasquatch Sunset

David and Craig Zellner aren’t just here to make us laugh - although they certainly achieve that - they’re also in the business of building a detailed and delicate world around a year in the life of their creatures that proves surprisingly poignant.

Amber Wilkinson · 4 out of 5
A year in the life of a singular family.

(Country: US; Year: 2024; Director: David Zellner, Nathan Zellner; Writer: David Zellner; Stars: Riley Keough, Jesse Eisenberg, Nathan Zellner, Christophe Zajac-Denek)

Full review See: Bigfoot challenge - David and Nathan Zellner on turning a myth into a reality for Sasquatch Sunset

Seven Veils

Review preview for Seven Veils

Salome’s story has been shaped again and again by men; she is, perhaps, the first recorded subject of the male gaze. Egoyan is conscious that he is not in a position to resolve this, yet strives to bring female perspectives to the fore

Jennie Kermode · 5 out of 5
An earnest theatre director has the task of remounting her former mentor's most famous work, the opera Salome. Some disturbing memories from her past will allow her repressed trauma to colour the present.

(Country: Canada; Year: 2023; Director: Atom Egoyan; Writer: Atom Egoyan; Stars: Amanda Seyfried, Douglas Smith, Rebecca Liddiard, Mark O'Brien, Maia Jae Bastidas)

Full review See: Interview with Atom Egoyan about Seven Veils, Amanda Seyfried, Salome and Oscar Wilde , Interview with Atom Egoyan about Seven Veils and Salome

Shikun

Set within a single Israeli multi-use building, the Shikun, and inspired by Eugène Ionesco’s classic play Rhinoceros, a collection of theatrical episodes dramatises the rise of authoritarian thinking.

(Country: Israel, Switzerland, France; Year: 2024; Director: Amos Gitai; Writer: Amos Gitai, Rivka Gitai, Marie-Jose Sanselme; Stars: Irène Jacob, Yaël Abecassis, Menashe Noy, Naama Preis, Hana Laslo, Helena Yaralova, Pini Mittelman, Bahira Ablassi, Atalah Tannous, Minas Milad Qarawany, Sara Arenberg Gitai, Zvi Szkolnik, Amnon Rechter, Ram Mizrhi Spinoza)

Spaceman

Review preview for Spaceman

While the lo-fi production design on the spaceship - with its man-made webbing and items from food tins to tools strapped down left right and centre - is absorbing in its detail, there's only so long it can distract you from the film's bloated running time.

Amber Wilkinson · 2.5 out of 5
An astronaut, has been on a space mission for months. He realises that his wife might not be waiting for him once he returns to Earth. In his desperation, he turns for help to a mysterious creature lurking deep in the bowels of his spaceship.

(Country: US; Year: 2024; Director: Johan Renck; Writer: Colby Day, based on the novel Bohemian Spaceman by Jaroslav Kalfar; Stars: Adam Sandler, Carey Mulligan, Paul Dano, Kunal Nayyar, Isabella Rossellini, Lena Olin, Petr Papánek, Marian Roden, Zuzana Stivínová, Sinead Phelps, Sunny Sandler, John Flanders, Bash Doran, Petr Bláha, Mikulas Cizek)

Full review

The Strangers' Case

Tragedy strikes a Syrian family in Aleppo. This triggers a chain reaction of events involving five different families in four different countries.

(Country: Jordan; Year: 2024; Director: Brandt Andersen; Writer: Brandt Andersen; Stars: Omar Sy, Jason Beghe, Angeliki Papoulia, Yasmine Al Massri, Saleh Bakri, Yahya Mahayni, Baeyen Hoffman, Yumna Marwan, Ziad Bakri, Jay Abdo, Vicky Papadopoulou, Constantine Markoulakis, Thanos Tokakis, Ayman Samman, Grigoria Metheniti)

Supersex

Freely inspired by the life and memoirs of Rocco Siffredi, considers the hidden side of a porn star.

(Country: Italy; Year: 2024; Director: Matteo Rovere, Francesco Carrozzini, Francesca Mazzoleni with Alessandro Borghi, Jasmine Trinca, Adriano Giannini, Jade Pedri, Linda Caridi; Writer: Francesca Manieri; Stars: Alessandro Borghi, Linda Hardy, David Kammenos, Giulio Greco, Helena Antonio, Eva Cela, Alberto Ruano, Joelle Hélary, Jade Pedri, Axel Gallois, Filippo Valle, Jasmine Trinca, Adriano Giannini, Saul Nanni, Florence Guérin)

Treasure

In the early 1990s, New York music journalist Ruth travels with her father Edek, a Holocaust survivor, through his homeland of Poland.

(Country: Germany, France; Year: 2024; Director: Julia von Heinz; Writer: John Quester, Julia von Heinz; Stars: Lena Dunham, Stephen Fry, Zbigniew Zamachowski, Wenanty Nosul, Robert Besta, Oliver Ewy, David Krzysteczko)

Turn in the Wound

Explores human conflict and the search for peace and balance through the music and words of Patti Smith and the experiences of people at war in Ukraine.

(Country: US, Germany, UK, Italy; Year: 2024; Director: Abel Ferrara)