Day six and more than half of this year’s Berlinale is already gone. But don’t be disappointed; as a little encouragement, there are two more wonderfully diverse films that are being shown in the cinemas for the first time today!
As the days are passing by, you can still find the films that have already been shown and will be shown again today at the end of this article.
London, the present: Gemma is a chef, Kieran a paramedic and Ray, who moves in with the young couple, is at a loss. They fall in love, each with the other and all together. Can this possibly work out? Or might it actually be the best thing that could ever happen o them?
With her hair short, trousers pulled up high and sweater tucked into the waistband, 17-year-old Baghdad from Sao Paulo spends her days skateboarding tainted by sexism and violence.
It is the fourth day and today we have five new adventurous films for you. The selection you can watch today in the cinemas listed below is spread over several themes. We hope there is something for every taste. The movies that have already been shown can be found at the end of this article. If you are interested, you can also find all film information on our website.
Lucho knows who he is. It’s the others who seem mixed up, with their probing looks and pointed questions. Lovingly though awkwardly, a father attempts to support his trans-identifying child.
Composed of vgnettes in different techniques and materialities, Untitled Sequence of Gaps uses the form of an essay film to approach traumarealted memory loss via reflections on light outside the visible spectrum – on what is felt but never seen.
Joana studies: the female bodies in the swimming pool, herself in the mirror, the reactions of the others. Her friend Nina is depressed, Joana tries to cheer her up. And she experiments: with drawn penises, tampons and music.
BABYDYKE stands on her forehead, but Frede sticks to her plan: she wants to win back her ex-girlfriend and experiences a night of close encounters. The next day not only her sister sees her in a different light, but Frede also sees herself.
Parvis’ life revolves around pop culture, sex dates and raves. Through the fled siblings Banafshe Arezu and Amon, the German-Iranian rediscovers his roots. A sensitive film about first love and life as a migrant*in Germany.
Yesterday the starting signal was already given with “Las Mil Y Una”. We hope you all had a good start into the Berlinale. Today is the first day that several films will be shown in one day. The most difficult decision today will be to decide which film to go to, as all films are very promising. But don’t worry, you can find all information about the films on our website. There you will find information such as film descriptions, biographies of the directors and screening data of the films.
After her mother’s death, Ida moves in with her aunt and cousins. Theirs is a loving family, but it soon transpires that the clan is engaged in criminal activities. A female driven exploration of family conflict fuelled by affection and cut-throat ethics.
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.
Amber belongs to a queer generation which no longer wants to allow society to dictate their identity. The teenagers proudly inhabit a spectrum of fluid identities and master their first loves and losses.
Curated by Panorama and organised with the Queer Academy, A Directors Exchange analyses the work of filmmakers whose films are being presented at the festival and are in contention for the TEDDY AWARD.
TIMETABLE
11.30am – 12.30pm: A Directors Exchange on Queering the Framework – In conversation with Patric Chiha and Matthew Rankin
Patric Chiha, director of Si c’était de l’amour, and Matthew Rankin, director of The Twentieth Century, use various styles and artistry in their films to queer the framework where stories told through dance and theatrical staging become celebrations of transformation.
Patric Chiha & Matthew Rankin
Patric Chiha: Born in Vienna, Austria in 1975, he studied fashion design in Paris and then film editing at the INSAS film school in Brussels. His short and documentary films have screened at several festivals. His feature film debut Domaine, starring Béatrice Dalle, premiered at the 2009 Venice Film Festival. His documentary Brothers of the Night screened in the 2016 Panorama.
Matthew Rankin: Born in Winnipeg, Canada in 1980. He studied at the Department of History and Classical Studies at McGill University in Montreal, as well as Université Laval in Quebec. In 2011, Rankin participated at Berlinale Talents. Following numerous short films, The Twentieth Century is his first feature film.
Moderation: Ana David
1pm – 2pm: A Directors Exchange on New Queer German Cinema – In conversation with Faraz Shariat and Leonie Krippendorff
Two films with a fresh take on coming of age and coming to terms with ideas of home and belonging in a post-migrant society. Faraz Shariat, director of Futur Drei and Leonie Krippendorff, director of Kokon, talk about their motivations, inspirations and desires for creating their own stories.
Faraz Shariat & Leonie Krippendorff
Faraz Shariat: Born in Cologne, Germany in 1994, he worked first as a director and actor at Schauspiel Köln and on video installations for the Staatstheater Hannover before studying dramatic arts at the University of Hildesheim. His work focuses on post-migrant experiences and stories about immigrant families. His debut feature film, Futur Drei, evolved from his autobiographical documentaries exploring his family history and from his work as a translator for refugees. The film was developed in collaboration with Paulina Lorenz and Raquel Molt in the Jünglinge film collective, where the three have been working together ever since they met at university.
Leonie Krippendorff: Born in Berlin, Germany in 1985, she studied directing at the Film University Babelsberg Konrad Wolf from 2009 to 2016. Her graduation film, Looping, was nominated for numerous national and international prizes and won several. The screenplay for her debut feature film, Kokon, was selected for the 2018 Berlinale Talents Script Station. She is currently working on the screenplays for two new feature film projects. Variety chose her as one of “10 Europeans to Watch 2020.”
The Queer Academy is an annual convention of international filmmakers and festival organizers in the gay-lesbian-transgender context at the Berlinale. The QUEER ACADEMY aims to establish itself as an institute of queer cultural memory. The ACADEMY will become an archive of queer culture and history that binds together queer cultural productions and cooperates with other organizations. Since memories are essential for the identity construction, the QUEER ACADEMY will offer an opportunity for queer people to form and find their identity in queer memory.
TIMETABLE
1pm – 1.30pm: KEYNOTE – Darick Qin, Director of Operations, ShanghaiPRIDE
Established in 2009, ShanghaiPRIDE has faced extraordinary challenges in its fight to show queer films. Battling censorship and legal issues, every year it is more than a film festival, becoming a central cultural community event sharing screen stories about the love, hardships, growth and triumphs of LGBTQI* in China.
1.30pm – 3.30pm: PANEL: From Shorts to Series – Interdisciplinary Storytelling in Queer Narratives
In conversation with: Athina Rachel Tsangari, Director of Trigonometry, Berlinale Series
Lia Hietala & Hannah Reinikainen, Directors of Always Amber, Berlinale Panorama
Ray Yeung, Director of Suk Suk, Berlinale Panorama
Omer Sterenberg, Director of HaMa’azin (Listening In), Berlinale Shorts Gil Baroni, Director of Alice Júnior, Berlinale Generation
Athina Rachel Tsangari, Lia Hietala & Hannah Reinikainen, Ray Yeung, Omer Sterenberg and Gil Baroni
Moderation: Kristian Petersen
The queer narratives on display are strong examples of the different approaches taken by filmmakers to share their stories. Series delve into the complex layers of a character; fiction features experiment with different forms of storytelling to communicate our desires; documentaries present the courage of people taking authorship of their stories; shorts compress a complex story conveying more with images than words. With the diverse guests from this year’s festival the potentials of cinematic approaches will be analysed and discussed.
