Berlinale Special program of the 73rd Berlin International Film Festival finalized its lineup with 2 new titles – the documentary Love to Love You, Donna Summer, and 100 Years of Disney Animation – a Shorts Celebration. Additionally, cinematographer Caroline Champetier will be honored at the festival with the Berlinale Camera.
The documentary Love to Love You, Donna Summer by Oscar-winning director Roger Ross Williams and Brooklyn Sudano tells the extraordinary story of disco’s first lady through a rich archive of unpublished film extracts, home video, photographs, artwork, writings, personal audio and other recordings that span the life of this iconic performer.
With 100 Years of Disney Animation – a Shorts Celebration the Berlinale Special commemorates this jubilee. Academy Award winner/Walt Disney Animation Studios President Clark Spencer shares his favorite shorts from the studios’ 100 years of filmmaking. Among them are rare treats from the earliest days of animation through the introduction of sound and Mickey Mouse.
Since 1986, the Berlinale has awarded the Berlinale Camera to honor personalities and institutions who have made a special contribution to filmmaking and with whom the festival feels closely connected. The Berlinale Camera will be awarded to Caroline Champetier on Thursday, February 23, at 2.45 pm in the Haus der Berliner Festspiele. Champetier has chosen Anne Fontaine’s The Innocents, for which she did the cinematography. The film will be screened after the Award Ceremony as part of Berlinale Special.
Known for her talent beyond borders, Caroline Champetier has garnered numerous awards, notably the César for Best Cinematography, the Gianni di Venanzo Prize for Of Gods and Men by Xavier Beauvois in 2011, and the Silver Frog at Camerimage 2012 for Holy Motors. She was nominated four more times at the César for Holy Motors (2012), Les Innocentes (2016), Les Gardiennes (2017) and Annette (2021). The latter earned her the Lumière Award in 2022.
Caroline Champetier’s most recent work includes Fyzal Boulifa’s The Damned Don’t Cry, shown at the Venice Film Festival 2022 and she has just completed filming Cliquot, with Haley Bennett, Sam Riley and Tom Sturridge.
The Executive Director Mariëtte Rissenbeek and the Artistic Director Carlo Chatrian on awarding Caroline Champetier: “With her extraordinary body of work, Caroline Champetier has shaped the vision of many unique filmmakers, creating a bridge between the Nouvelle Vague and the younger generation. More recently her collaboration with Leos Carax has shown new digital potential. Among the many films we could name, the ones she did with Jean-Luc Godard and Jean-Marie Straub and Danièle Huillet are very dear to us these days.”