With this morning's announcement of a further three titles, the main slate of the 67th installment of the Berlin Film Festival is complete. With three weeks to go until Europe's largest film festival (last year, over 400 films were screened) kicks off with Etienne Comar’s Gypsy Jazz biopic Django, three newly named world premieres from England, France and Belgium bring the number of films in the main section up to 24. Only one, the animated Chinese film Have a Nice Day by Lui Jian will join 17 previously-announced films in competing for the Gold and Silver Bears, the festival's top honors. Both Stanley Tucci's Final Portrait and Martin Provost's Sage Femme won't vie for the prizes, joining the five other features previously announced for "Competition - Out of Competition" slots.
On paper at least, the selection that Dieter Kosslick and his team have assembled looks to be one of the most artistically serious and global programs in recent years. The films chosen hail from Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Chile, Czech Republic, Finland, France, Germany, Hong Kong – China, Hungary, India, Ireland, Japan, Lebanon, Norway, People’s Republic of China, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Senegal, Slovakian Republic, Republic of Korea (South Korea), Spain, Sweden, Taiwan, United Kingdom, and USA. The 18 films in the running for the bears are all world premieres and, so far as I can tell, none of them is a vanity appointment (recent examples of this have included Vincent Perez's Alone in Berlin, Michael Grandage's Genius and Jeff Nichols' Midnight Special , last year alone!).
BERLINALE 67 MAIN SLATE LINE-UP:
Ana, mon amour by Calin Peter Netzer (Romania / Germany / France) Bamui haebyun-eoseo honja (On the Beach at Night Alone) by Hong Sangsoo (Republic of Korea - South Korea) Beuys by Andres Veiel (Germany) - Documentary Colo by Teresa Villaverde (Portugal / France) The Dinner by Oren Moverman (USA) Django by Etienne Comar (France) – First feature El bar (The Bar) by Álex de la Iglesia (Spain) – Out of competition Félicité by Alain Gomis (France / Senegal / Belgium / Germany / Lebanon) Final Portrait by Stanley Tucci (United Kingdom / France) – Out of competition Hao ji le (Have a Nice Day) by Liu Jian (People’s Republic of China) - Animation Helle Nächte (Bright Nights) by Thomas Arslan (Germany / Norway) Joaquim by Marcelo Gomes (Brazil / Portugal) Logan by James Mangold (USA) – Out of competition Mr. Long by Sabu (Japan / Hong Kong, China / Taiwan / Germany) The Party by Sally Potter (United Kingdom) Pokot (Spoor) by Agnieszka Holland (Poland / Germany / Czech Republic / Sweden / Slovakian Republic) Return to Montauk by Volker Schlöndorff (France / Germany / Ireland) Sage femme (Midwife) by Martin Provost (France / Belgium) – Out of competition T2 Trainspotting by Danny Boyle (United Kingdom) – Out of competition Teströl és lélekröl (On Body and Soul) by Ildikó Enyedi (Hungary) Toivon tuolla puolen (The Other Side of Hope) by Aki Kaurismäki (Finland / Germany) Una mujer fantástica (A Fantastic Woman) by Sebastián Lelio (Chile / USA / Germany / Spain) Viceroy’s House by Gurinder Chadha (India / United Kingdom) – Out of competition Wilde Maus (Wild Mouse) by Josef Hader (Austria) – First feature