BERLIN —
The 72nd Berlin film festival opens Thursday, bucking a trend of pandemic on-the-couch streaming
with a packed program of live premieres featuring a stable of European screen
legends.
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Just as the
coronavirus outbreak roars
toward its peak in Germany, Berlinale organizers have opted for an 11-day,
in-person celebration of new movies and a gala ceremony to award its Golden
Bear top prize.
A golden and a silver Berlinale Bear trophy of the upcoming 72nd International Film Festival Berlinale are pictured at the Noack foundry in Berlin, on January 25, 2022. (File photo: AFP)
The festival said it was crucial to give
cinemas a boost when Covid-19 fears had fuelled home viewing on small screens,
and the German government called the "courageous" step of holding the
event "a sign of hope".
"It says: we won't let corona beat us.
We need cinema and culture," government spokesman Wolfgang Buechner said.
Artistic director Carlo Chatrian said the
Berlinale aimed to give weary audiences a break and some inspiration.
"Never before we have seen and welcomed
so many love stories as this year — crazy, improbable, unexpected and
intoxicating love, which is after all what all encounters are about deep
down."
Nick Cave, conflict zones
In competition are 18 films from around the
world from hot young auteurs and cinema veterans — including seven directed by
women. More than 200 other pictures are showing in sidebar sections.
A jury led by Indian-born American director
M. Night Shyamalan ("The Sixth Sense") will pick the winners.
The line-up includes new movies from French
directors Francois Ozon and Claire Denis, "Carol" screenwriter
Phyllis Nagy and Italy's Paolo Taviani, a previous winner and at 90 the oldest
award contender.
Italian horror master Dario Argento will
show his first new picture in a decade — "Dark Glasses", starring his
daughter Asia Argento.
Autograph seekers will be banned from the
red carpet but stars including Emma Thompson, Sigourney Weaver, Charlotte
Gainsbourg, Juliette Binoche, Isabelle Huppert, and Mark Rylance have been
invited to present their latest films.
Huppert will also pick up a Golden Bear for
lifetime achievement.
South Korean festival favorite Hong Sang-soo
will unveil "The Novelist's Film" and Li Ruijun, part of a new
generation of Chinese arthouse directors, will show his village romance
"Return to Dust".
In keeping with its tradition as the most
politically minded of the big festivals, the Berlinale will turn the spotlight
on conflict zones including
South Sudan, the Central African Republic, Myanmar,
and eastern Ukraine, with a slew of new documentaries.
Plus "This Much I Know To Be True"
will show how Australian rocker Nick Cave stayed creative under lockdown.
'Extra sausage' -
The Berlinale ranks among
Europe's top
festivals alongside Cannes and Venice, which also went live last year but
during ebbs in the pandemic.
The recent Sundance and Rotterdam festivals
were forced by COVID-19 to go entirely virtual and many expected Berlin to
follow suit.
But after an all-online festival last March,
followed by outdoor screenings in the summer, the Berlinale worked with
authorities to develop crowd safety measures.
The decision has caused controversy, with
local media asking how organizers could justify it while the virus has closed
hundreds of crèches and hospitals strain under the outbreak.
The B.Z. tabloid said the festival seemed to
be getting "extra sausage" — German for special treatment — while
public broadcaster RBB called it "delusional" and newspaper
Tagesspiegel warned: "The virus will be pleased".
Industry insiders noted that the festival's
requirements on vaccination, daily testing and reduced capacity marked a
valiant effort but wondered if it was all worth it.
"Berlin is quite well organized. The
safety measures are top-notch so if anyone could pull it off successfully and
safely, they can," Scott Roxborough, Europe bureau chief for The
Hollywood Reporter, told AFP.
"But it's a question as to whether it
was necessary or sensible to do it."
He said Berlin, as the first major global
cinema showcase of the year, was trying to live up to a responsibility to
promote daring new movies against the odds.
"There's been a massive success of the
latest 'Spiderman' — one of the most successful films of all time now — despite
the pandemic," he said.
He said independent films, by contrast, had
suffered.
"I think that's making the industry
very concerned about the future," Roxborough said.
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