Berlinale revealed the films showcased in Perspektive Deutsches Kino, Berlinale Classics and Retrospective programs of the 73rd Berlin International Film Festival.
This year’s Perspektive Deutsches Kino program is described as cutting-edge, controversial and emotional featuring four full-length fiction films, three documentaries and three mid-length fiction films.
The opening film Sieben Winter in Teheran (Seven Winters in Tehran) by Steffi Niederzoll documents a justice system scandal in Iran: A young student was hanged after seven years in prison. She was convicted for murder – but she had stabbed a man who was trying to rape her. Despite international protests and efforts, the Iranian justice system applied the principle of “blood vengeance”: If Reyhaneh Jabbari had publicly declared that there was no attempt to rape her, the verdict would not have been carried out. Reyhaneh stuck to the truth. And paid for it with her life.
The fiction films Elaha by Milena Aboyan, Ararat by Engin Kundag, and El secuestro de la novia (The Kidnapping of the Bride) by Sophia Mocorrea also focus on female perspectives and restrictive gender constructs: German-Kurdish protagonist Elaha thinks she has to restore her hymen prior to her wedding. A family drama characterised by sexual aggression and speechlessness plays out at the foot of the dormant volcano Ararat. And the kidnapped, designated bride of an Argentine-Brandenburgian relationship stumbles through confusing traditions.
In Fabian Stumm’s full-length film debut Knochen und Namen (Bones and Names), staged with subtle irony, the partnership between an actor and an author turns out to be more vulnerable to crises than expected. Siblings are the central characters of Langer Langer Kuss (Long Long Kiss), Lukas Röder’s work regarding mental health. Tanja Egen’s lovingly and carefully observed film Geranien (On Mothers and Daughters) poses the question whether daughters stay daughters once they become mothers themselves. And whether you can get the small town out of the girl when you get the girl out of the small town.
Concern for the future comes naturally to up-and-coming German filmmakers. The dystopian documentary film Nomades du nucléaire (Nuclear Nomads) by Kilian Armando Friedrich and Tizian Stromp Zargari looks at precarious employment systems and questions on clean energy in the dirtiest environment imaginable – nuclear power plants, where the film’s protagonists do maintenance work. Situated at a dizzying height, the documentary film Vergiss Meyn Nicht (Lonely Oaks) is based on the original material of a film student who fell to his death during a police evacuation of a treehouse in Hambacher Forst. Directors Fabiana Fragale, Kilian Kuhlendahl and Jens Mühlhoff contemplatively pose the question of how far activism should go.
Besides the Heiner Carow Prize, all selected fiction and documentary films will compete for the Compass-Perspektive-Award, endowed with 5,000 Euros. The jurors are actor Dela Dabulamanzi, editor Anne Fabini, and director Jöns Jönsson.
On Berlinale Publikumstag (“audience day”), February 26, 2023, Perspektive will present the documentary film winner of the 2022 FIRST STEPS Award (Kash Kash, directed by Lea Najjar).
The Berlinale Classics section shines a special spotlight on films from the 1980s and early 1990s. Oliver Schmitz’ Mapantsula marks the first time the section will screen a film from South Africa. Together with Nanni Moretti’s Sogni d’oro (Sweet Dreams) and the re-discovered Szürkület (Twilight) by Hungarian director György Fehér, the focus will be on restorations of more recent classics. Among those will be the 4K restoration of David Cronenberg’s Naked Lunch, which will open the Berlinale Classics section.
In addition, the section will celebrate the 100th anniversary of the release of Charlie Chaplin’s A Woman of Paris. The director composed the score for the silent film himself. Like the Swiss film Romeo und Julia auf dem Dorfe (Romeo and Juliet in the Village), it is the tale of lovers separated by fate. Various dimensions of colour are in evidence both in the Japanese melodrama Yoru no kawa (Undercurrent) by Kōzaburō Yoshimura and Stanley Kramer’s dramedy Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner.
The international directors, actors, and screenwriters invited to select films for the section include Maren Ade, Pedro Almodóvar, Wes Anderson, Juliette Binoche, Lav Diaz, Alice Diop, Ava DuVernay, Nora Fingscheidt, Luca Guadagnino, Ryūsuke Hamaguchi, Ethan Hawke, Karoline Herfurth, Niki Karimi, Nadine Labaki, Nadav Lapid, Sergei Loznitsa, Mohammad Rasoulof, Céline Sciamma, Martin Scorsese, Aparna Sen, M. Night Shyamalan, Carla Simón, Abderrahmane Sissako, Tilda Swinton, Wim Wenders, and Jasmila Žbanić.
Perspektive Deutsches Kino
Ararat
by Engin Kundag | with Rasim Jafarov, Merve Aksoy, Funda Rosenland, Aziz Capkurt, Baran Seyhan
Germany 2023
Perspektive Deutsches Kino | World premiere | Debut film
Zeynap has caused a traffic accident in Berlin. She escapes to her parents’ home in Turkey where her self-destructive and sexually assertive behaviour infuriates more than just her family. Looming above them like a portent is the dormant volcano Ararat.
Ash Wednesday
by Bárbara Santos, João Pedro Prado | with Uriara Maciel, Ronni Maciel, Jefferson Preto, João Eduardo Albertini
Germany 2023
Perspektive Deutsches Kino | World premiere | mid-length film
In a favela in Rio de Janeiro, Demétria waits for her daughter on the last day of Carnival. But a brutal police raid seals the fate of the two women. Set to Brazilian rhythms, this short musical addresses racism and other social conflicts.
Dora oder Die sexuellen Neurosen unserer Eltern (Dora or the Sexual Neuroses of Our Parents)
by Stina Werenfels | with Jenny Schily, Victoria Schulz, Lars Eidinger, Urs Jucker
Germany / Switzerland 2015
Perspektive Match | Followed by a conversation between Jenny Schily and Bayan Layla.
When Kristin stops giving her mentally disabled daughter her meds, the 18-year-old Dora discovers sex. But her parents feel she is allowing herself to be abused. A sensitive performance from Jenny Schily as the mother who also experiences her own body anew.
Ein Hologramm für den König (A Hologram for the King)
by Tom Tykwer | with Tom Hanks, Alexander Black, Sarita Choudhury, Sidse Babette Knudsen, Tom Skerritt
Germany / USA 2016
Perspektive Match | Followed by a conversation between Frank Kruse and Daris Somesan.
An American businessman is supposed to sell a teleconferencing system to the King of Saudi Arabia. But while he waits for an audience, the project becomes secondary. The sound design by Frank Kruse in Tom Tykwer’s tragicomedy is as convincing as lead actor Tom Hanks.
Elaha
by Milena Aboyan | with Bayan Layla, Armin Wahedi, Derya Dilber, Derya Durmaz, Cansu Leyan
Germany 2023
Perspektive Deutsches Kino | World premiere | Debut film
Elaha, 22, believes she must restore her supposed innocence before she weds. A surgeon could reconstruct her hymen but she cannot afford such an operation. She asks herself: why does she have to be a virgin anyway, and for whom?
Geranien (On Mothers and Daughters)
by Tanja Egen | with Friederike Becht, Marion Ottschick, Peer Martiny, Jasmina Musić, Stefanie Meier
Germany 2023
Perspektive Deutsches Kino | World premiere | Debut film
Nina, a young actor, returns to the Ruhr region for her grandmother’s funeral. Tensions surface between her and her mother. The noises of a small town fill the eloquent silences in the complex mother-daughter relationships explored in this endearing film.
Jakob der Lügner (Jacob the Liar)
by Frank Beyer | with Vlastimil Brodský, Erwin Geschonneck, Henry Hübchen, Blanche Kommerell, Manuela Simon
German Democratic Republic 1974
Guest of Perspektive Deutsches Kino
A Polish ghetto during the Second World War. Jakob Heym, a Jew, overhears a confidential message at an SS police station that the Red Army is advancing. What should he do with this uplifting news? Will people believe him?
Kash Kash
by Lea Najjar
Germany 2022
Guest of Perspektive Deutsches Kino | No premiere | Documentary Form | Winner of the First Steps Award 2022
The pigeons flying over Beirut can be seen as a beacon of hope in an age-old game of chance, “kash hamam”, that is all about increasing the size of one’s own flock. This film portrays three pigeon fanciers and a girl hoping to fly her own birds one day.
Knochen und Namen (Bones and Names)
by Fabian Stumm | with Fabian Stumm, Knut Berger, Marie-Lou Sellem, Susie Meyer, Magnus Mariuson
Germany 2023
Perspektive Deutsches Kino | World premiere | Debut film
Boris and Jonathan’s relationship is at a turning point. Actor Boris begins to confuse work and reality and writer Jonathan must face his fears. This very personal film explores notions of distance and closeness with razor-sharp wit.
Langer Langer Kuss (Long Long Kiss)
by Lukas Röder | with Nils Thalmann, Luisa Bocksnick, Michael Zittel, Christian Erdt, Katrin Filzen
Germany 2023
Perspektive Deutsches Kino | World premiere | mid-lenght film
To preserve the memory of his ex-boyfriend’s kisses, Aaron no longer brushes his teeth. His sister’s appeals to reason fail and everything escalates when their authoritarian father visits. A touching drama about mental health.
Nomades du nucléaire (Nuclear Nomads / Atomnomaden)
by Kilian Armando Friedrich, Tizian Stromp Zargari | with Vincent Jouet, Marie Lore Porchert, Florian Wernert, Jérome Bienmont
Germany 2023
Perspektive Deutsches Kino | World premiere | Debut film | Documentary Form
The French workers who clean nuclear reactors are exposed to high levels of radiation. With impressive images the film portrays “nuclear nomads” who travel from one nuclear power plant to another in caravans, risking their health in the name of the future.
Requiem
by Hans-Christian Schmid | with Sandra Hüller, Burghart Klaußner, Imogen Kogge, Frederike Adolph, Anna Blomeier
Germany 2006
Perspektive Match | Followed by a conversation between Hansjörg Weissbrich and Evelyn Rack.
In the mid-1970s, Michaela, an epileptic, becomes the victim of exorcisms performed on her by two priests. After several sessions, she dies. This moving film is shaped by Hansjörg Weißbrich’s assured and sensitive editing.
El secuestro de la novia (The Kidnapping of the Bride / Die Brautentführung)
by Sophia Mocorrea | with Rai Todoroff, David Bruning, Anne Kulbatzki, Tatiana Saphir, Patricia Pilgrim
Germany 2023
Perspektive Deutsches Kino | European premiere | mid-lenght film
The relationship between German Fred and Argentinian Luisa is a partnership of equals that eschews conventions. At their wedding they are caught up in others’ expectations. The strange tradition of “kidnapping the bride” challenges the way they want to live.
Sieben Winter in Teheran (Seven Winters in Tehran)
by Steffi Niederzoll | with Reyhaneh Jabbari, Shole Pakravan, Feridoon Jabbari, Shahrzad Jabbari, Sharareh Jabbari
Germany / France 2023
Perspektive Deutsches Kino | World premiere | Debut film | Documentary Form
After seven years in prison, a female student in Tehran is hanged for murder. She had acted in self-defence against a rapist. For a pardon, she would have had to retract her testimony. This moving film reopens the case.
Teheran Tabu (Tehran Taboo)
by Ali Soozandeh | with Elmira Rafizadeh, Zar Amir Ebrahimi, Arash Marandi, Bilal Yasar
Germany / Austria 2017
Perspektive Match | Animation | Followed by a conversation between Ali N. Askin and Ole Wiedekamm.
Three Iranian women confronted by taboos in Tehran are denied the right to sexual self-determination and professional fulfilment. Ali N. Askin’s pulsating score intensifies the compelling plea for equality in this multi-layered animated film.
Vergiss Meyn Nicht (Lonely Oaks)
by Fabiana Fragale, Kilian Kuhlendahl, Jens Mühlhoff | with Steffen Meyn, Alaska, Diam, Frodo, Lilie
Germany 2023
Perspektive Deutsches Kino | World premiere | Debut film | Documentary Form
In 2018, Steffen Meyn died from a fall during the protests in Hambach Forest. This film combines the footage he shot on a 360-degree helmet camera with interviews with environmentalists and asks how far activism should go.
Berlinale Classics 2023
Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner (Rat mal, wer zum Essen kommt)
by Stanley Kramer | with Spencer Tracy, Sidney Poitier, Katharine Hepburn, Katharine Houghton, Cecil Kellaway
USA 1967
Berlinale Classics | World premiere
Mapantsula
by Oliver Schmitz | with Thomas Mogotlane, Marcel Van Heerdan, Thembi Mtshali, Dolly Rathebe, Peter Sephuma
South Africa / Australia / United Kingdom 1988
Berlinale Classics | World premiere
Naked Lunch
by David Cronenberg | with Peter Weller, Judy Davis, Ian Holm, Julian Sands, Roy Scheider
United Kingdom / Canada 1991
Berlinale Classics | World premiere
Romeo und Julia auf dem Dorfe (Romeo and Juliet in the Village)
by Valerien Schmidely, Hans Trommer | with Margrit Winter, Erwin Kohlund, Emil Gyr, Johannes Steiner, Walburga Gmür
Switzerland 1941
Berlinale Classics | World premiere
Sogni d’oro (Sweet Dreams / Goldene Träume)
by Nanni Moretti | with Nanni Moretti, Dario Cantarelli, Nicola Di Pinto, Alessandro Haber, Laura Morante
Italy 1981
Berlinale Classics | World premiere
Szürkület (Twilight)
by György Fehér | with Péter Haumann, János Derzsi, Judit Pogány, Kati Lázár, István Lénárt
Hungary 1990
Berlinale Classics | World premiere
A Woman of Paris (Die Nächte einer schönen Frau)
by Charles Chaplin | with Edna Purviance, Adolphe Menjou, Carl Miller, Lydia Knott, Charles K. French
USA 1923
Berlinale Classics | World premiere
Yoru no Kawa (Undercurrent)
by Kōzaburō Yoshimura | with Fujiko Yamamoto, Ken Uehara, Keizō Kawasaki, Michiko Ai, Kazuko Ichikawa
Japan 1956
Berlinale Classics | International premiere
2023 Retrospective “Young at Heart – Coming of Age at the Movies”
Retrospective side-bar events will be held at the Deutsche Kinemathek.
À nos amours (To Our Loves / Auf das, was wir lieben)
by Maurice Pialat | with Sandrine Bonnaire, Evelyne Ker, Dominique Besnehard, Maurice Pialat, Anne-Sophie Maille
France 1983
Retrospective
A 16-year-old girl views sex as a way to escape her dysfunctional family. This partially improvised film is a character study of a young Parisian rebel, marking the prize-winning screen debut of Sandrine Bonnaire.
Aparajito (The Unvanquished / Der Unbesiegbare)
by Satyajit Ray | with Pinaki Sen Gupta, Smaran Ghosal, Kanu Bannerjee, Karuna Bannerjee, Ramani Sen Gupta
India 1956
Retrospective
A young man’s journey from a village school in Bengal to university in Kolkata, where he discovers a new world. In a film inspired by Italian neo-realism, an individual coming-of-age presages Indian modernization and its path to independence.
De bruit et de fureur (Sound and Fury / Lärm und Wut)
by Jean-Claude Brisseau | with Bruno Cremer, François Négret, Vincent Gasperitsch, Fabienne Babe, Lisa Hérédia (= María Luisa García)
France 1988
Retrospective
A sensitive teenager tries to gain a foothold in a Paris banlieue amidst gang wars and a criminal family. The film is a social grotesquerie that uses lyrical exaggeration and surreal scenes of violence to track youthful sensibilities.
El espíritu de la colmena (The Spirit of the Beehive / Der Geist des Bienenstocks)
by Victor Erice | with Fernando Fernán Gómez, Teresa Gimpera, Ana Torrent, Isabel Tellería, Ketty de la Cámara
Spain 1973
Retrospective
After seeing the film, a young girl develops an eerie fascination with the monster in the horror classic Frankenstein. An ambiguous film about childhood fears that masterfully blends reality and imagination onscreen.
Ferris Bueller’s Day Off (Ferris macht blau)
by John Hughes | with Matthew Broderick, Alan Ruck, Mia Sara, Jeffrey Jones, Jennifer Grey
USA 1986
Retrospective
A school principal tries in vain to put a stop to the antics of a notorious truant. With its generation-specific references, this high school comedy by John Hughes set the benchmark for the genre and gleefully showcased Matthew Broderick’s talents.
Gražuolė (The Beauty)
by Arūnas Žebriūnas | with Inga Mickytė, Lilija Žadeikytė, Sergejus Martinsonas, Arvydas Samukas, Tauras Ragalevičius
USSR / Lithuania 1969
Retrospective
A six-year-old girl is used to being adored. She has an identity crisis when a new boy in the neighbourhood refuses to idolise her. This sensitive portrait of a youngster does not trivialise childhood distress, but takes it seriously.
Groundhog Day (Und täglich grüßt das Murmeltier)
by Harold Ramis | with Bill Murray, Andie MacDowell, Chris Elliott, Stephen Tobolowsky, Brian Doyle-Murray
USA 1993
Retrospective
A grouchy TV weatherman ends up in a time loop that keeps him trapped in a small town. His inner transformation, which wins him the sympathy of the locals and the affections of his producer, is as heart-warming as it is funny.
Jeder für sich und Gott gegen alle (The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser)
by Werner Herzog | with Bruno S., Walter Ladengast, Brigitte Mira, Hans Musäus, Willy Semmelrogge
Federal Republic of Germany 1974
Retrospective
A drama about young foundling Kaspar Hauser, who resists all attempts to integrate him into the Biedermeier society of the 1830s. In Herzog’s version, lay actor Bruno S. delivers a fascinating portrayal of the romanticised misfit.
Kiseye Berendj (Bag of Rice / Ein Sack Reis)
by Mohammad-Ali Talebi | with Masume Eskandari, Jairan Abadzade, Shirin Bina, Hossain Kalantar, Aghdas Abadzade
Iran / Japan 1996
Retrospective
A young child and her elderly neighbour encounter a host of hurdles buying a bag of rice in the teeming metropolis of Teheran. This formally reductive, yet delightful film features a vivid amateur performance in the child lead.
The Last Picture Show (Die letzte Vorstellung)
by Peter Bogdanovich | with Timothy Bottoms, Jeff Bridges, Cybill Shepherd, Ben Johnson, Cloris Leachman
USA 1971
Retrospective
In small-town Texas at the beginning of the 1950s, two friends deal with the dilemma of growing up. When the local movie theatre shuts down, they are forced to bid farewell to their youth. The film is a bittersweet, beautiful New Hollywood classic.
Little Fugitive (Der kleine Ausreißer)
by Ray Ashley, Morris Engel, Ruth Orkin | with Richard Brewster, Winnifred Cushing, Jay Williams, Will Lee, Charley Moss
USA 1953
Retrospective
A young runaway roams the beach and amusement park at Coney Island. Filmed from his perspective, the film becomes a dense weave of everyday observation, and a masterpiece of location shooting that powerfully influenced the French New Wave.
Maynila: Sa mga kuko ng liwanag (Manila in the Claws of Light / Manila)
by Lino Brocka | with Hilda Koronel, Rafael Roco, Jr., Lou Salvador, Jr., Tommy Abuel, Jojo Abella
Philippines 1975
Retrospective
Searching for his missing girlfriend in the titular teeming metropolis, a rural young fisherman is marginalised and oppressed. But he also discovers solidarity among the poorest of the poor. A milestone social melodrama from the developing world.
Muriel’s Wedding (Muriels Hochzeit)
by P. J. Hogan | with Toni Collette, Bill Hunter, Rachel Griffiths, Sophie Lee, Rosalind Hammond
Australia / France 1994
Retrospective
Zaftig, 22-year-old Muriel Heslop dreams of a fairy prince and a glamorous wedding. She escapes a toxic family situation and finds independence and self-confidence in this wacky romantic comedy enriched with ample irony and oodles of ABBA songs.
Prima della rivoluzione (Before the Revolution / Vor der Revolution)
by Bernardo Bertolucci | with Adriana Asti, Francesco Barilli, Allen Midgette, Morando Morandini, Cristina Pariset
Italy 1964
Retrospective
In 1962 Parma, a well-heeled young man flirts with Marxism and sleeps with his aunt. With intense dialogue and moody black-andwhite images, this essayistic-experimental film evokes the emotional landscape before the upheavals of the late sixties.
Rebel without a Cause (… denn sie wissen nicht, was sie tun)
by Nicholas Ray | with James Dean, Natalie Wood, Sal Mineo, Jim Backus, Ann Doran
USA 1955
Retrospective
In Los Angeles, a 17-year-old is at odds with his parents and at violent loggerheads with a teenage clique. Seeking a path forward in life, he is helped by love. The film made James Dean immortal and inspired countless teen movies around the world.
Rue Cases-Nègres (Sugar Cane Alley)
by Euzhan Palcy | with Garry Cadenat, Darling Légitimus, Douta Seck, Joby Bernabé, Francisco Charles
France 1983
Retrospective
The life of privation of Martinique’s Black population under French colonial rule, seen from the point of view of a young man. The Martinican director’s film version of the eponymous book won a host of awards.
Sans toit ni loi (Vagabond / Vogelfrei)
by Agnès Varda | with Sandrine Bonnaire, Macha Méril, Stéphane Freiss, Yolande Moreau, Patrick Lepczynski
France 1985
Retrospective
After a young vagabond freezes to death, chance acquaintances reminisce about their encounters with her. Inspired by Orson Welles’ Citizen Kane, Agnès Varda paints a fictive-documentary portrait of a young person on the margins of society.
Sedmikrásky (Daisies / Tausendschönchen)
by Věra Chytilová | with Ivana Karbanová, Jitka Cerhová, Marie Češková, Jiřina Myšková, Marcela Březinová
Czechoslovakia 1966
Retrospective
Two friends fleece older gentlemen and go on a spree. This experimental film, banned for a time, was a milestone of the Czechoslovak New Wave. With its razzmatazz collage of women in revolt, it is also a celebration of the visual variety of cinema.
Seishun zankoku monogatari (Cruel Story of Youth / Nackte Jugend)
by Nagisa Ōshima | with Yūsuke Kawazu, Miyuki Kuwano, Yoshiko Kuga, Jun Hamamura, Fumio Watanabe
Japan 1960
Retrospective
The story of a fatal amour fou between two desperate outsiders, set during the 1960 student protest in Tokyo. This gaudy, violenceladen pop melodrama was the starting signal for a “new wave” in Japanese cinema.
Splendor in the Grass (Fieber im Blut)
by Elia Kazan | with Natalie Wood, Warren Beatty, Pat Hingle, Audrey Christie, Barbara Loden
USA 1961
Retrospective
In 1928 Kansas, young love collides with the class divide and puritan morals. The film is considered a key work in the “teen angst” genre, with Natalie Wood and Warren Beatty bringing a captivating emotional authenticity to their roles.
Taifū kurabu (Typhoon Club)
by Shinji Sōmai | with Yuichi Mikami, Yūki Kudō, Tomokazu Miura, Toshiyuki Matsunaga, Shigeru Benibayashi
Japan 1985
Retrospective
As a typhoon rages outside a school near Tokyo, inside a tragedy unfolds. In an escalating series of episodes, this school drama depicts erotic experiences and emotional confrontations among the pupils.
Touki Bouki
by Djibril Diop Mambéty | with Magaye Niang, Mareme Niang, Christophe Colomb, Moustapha Toure, Aminata Fall
Senegal 1973
Retrospective
A young couple in Dakar dreams of getting to Paris. They engage in a series of risky adventures to try and raise money for the trip. A modern, post-colonial film from Senegal that imaginatively caricatures a mind-set still hanging on colonial norms.
Trois couleurs: Bleu (Three Colors: Blue / Drei Farben: Blau)
by Krzysztof Kieślowski | with Juliette Binoche, Benoît Régent, Florence Pernel, Charlotte Véry, Emmanuelle Riva
France / Poland / Switzerland 1993
Retrospective
After the accidental death of her husband and daughter, a young woman seeks solace and anonymity in Paris before facing up to her responsibilities. Lead Juliette Binoche garnered Best Actor in Venice for her haunting portrayal in this powerful drama.