NAME OF FESTIVAL: Berlin International Film Festival
SINCE: 1951
WHERE: Berlin, Germany, Europe
ABOUT THE FESTIVAL
The Berlinale is a unique place of artistic exploration and entertainment. It is one of the largest public film festivals in the world, attracting tens of thousands of visitors from around the globe each year. For the film industry and the media, the eleven days in February are also one of the most important events in the annual calendar and an indispensable trading forum.
The Berlin International Film Festival enjoys an eventful history. The festival was created for the Berlin public in 1951, at the beginning of the Cold War, as a “showcase of the free world”. Shaped by the turbulent post-war period and the unique situation of a divided city, the Berlinale has developed into a place of intercultural exchange and a platform for the critical cinematic exploration of social issues. To this day it is considered the most political of all the major film festivals.
Berlin International Film Festival
The international premiere of The Grandmaster by Chinese director and president of this year’s jury, WONG Kar Wai, will open the 63rd Berlin International Film Festival. The Grandmaster is an epic martial arts drama set against the tumultuous backdrop of 1930’s China and inspired by the life and times of the legendary IP Man (Tony LEUNG Chiu Wai), mentor to Bruce LEE. The plot encompasses themes of war, family, revenge, desire, love, and memory. The all-star cast headed […]
Films from the US featuring Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Julianne Moore, Rob Epstein, Jeffrey Friedman, Amanda Seyfried, Juno Temple and Noah Baumbach were among the first films announced for the Panorama section of the 2013 Berlin International Film Festival. Other films included on the lineup include works by European filmmakers, such as Lars Kraume and Felix van Groeningen.
Documentary films announced include those tackling explosive international issues, such as Palestine and the Middle East in State 194 and Alam laysa lana (A World Not Ours); or they attempt to come to terms with the past in Indonesia, as in The Act of Killing. The film Gut Renovation focuses on the rapid advance of gentrification in Western countries. And a portrait is dedicated to one of the most inspirational figures of German cinema: Roland Klick. The Panorama Dokumente series will make up about one third of the entire programme.
Fictional films in the Main Programme and Panorama Special (15)
The 63rd Berlin International Film Festival unveiled the poster for the 2013 festival which will take place from February 7 to 17, 2013. “The poster for the Berlinale 2013 will again add a bright note to the city’s winter landscape and set the mood for the Festival. The Berlinale Bear has no time to sleep in winter,” says Festival Director Dieter Kosslick.
Fifteen films have already been invited to compete in Generation Kplus and Generation 14plus at the 2013 Berlin International Film Festival. The early list includes 3 films from the US including Hide Your Smiling Faces directed by Daniel Patrick Carbone, The Cold Lands directed by Tom Gilroy and Tough Bond by Austin Peck, Anneliese Vandenberg. The complete Generation program will be announced in mid January. The 63rd Berlin International Film Festival will run February 7 – 17, 2013.
Films include:
The 63rd Berlin International Film Festival has picked the first six films for the Berlinale’s Competition section. They include Gloria from Chile/Spain, Nugu-ui Ttal-do Anin Haewon (Nobody’s Daughter Haewon) from Republic of Korea, Paradies: Hoffnung (Paradise: Hope) from Austria/France/Germany, Poziţia Copilului (Child’s Pose) from Romania, Promised Land starring Matt Damon and the animanted 3D film, The Croods from the US. In addition, Christian Rost and Claus Strigel will present the world premiere of their documentary Unter Menschen (Redemption Impossible) in the Berlinale Special.
French documentary filmmaker and producer Claude Lanzmann will be honored with a Homage and awarded the Honorary Golden Bear for his lifetime achievement at the 63rd Berlin International Film Festival.
Claude Lanzmann’s film Shoah (1985) made cinematic history as an unparalleled masterpiece of commemorative culture. The nine-and-a-half hour documentary on the genocide of European Jews was screened in the Berlinale Forum in 1986 and received numerous international awards. The preparation and film work for Shoah lasted nearly twelve years. In the film, Lanzmann shows only interviews with survivors and witnesses of the Shoah, including perpetrators, and visits sites of extermination, vividly calling into consciousness the unfathomable horrors of the Nazi genocide.
The Italian film, Caesar Must Die, (Cesare deve morire) by directors Paolo & Vittorio Taviani was awarded the top prize, the Golden Bear at the 2012 Berlin International Film Festival.
Filmmakers Paolo and Vittorio Taviani spent six months following rehearsals for the stage production of Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar; their film demonstrates how the universality of Shakespeare’s language helps the actors to understand their roles and immerse themselves in the bard’s interplay of friendship and betrayal, power, dishonesty and violence. This documentary does not dwell on the crimes these men have committed in their ‘real’ lives; rather, it draws parallels between this classical drama and the world of today, describes the commitment displayed by all those involved and shows how their personal hopes and fears also flow into the performance.
All the awards – official and independent juries – of the 62nd Berlin International Film Festival {jathumbnail off}
With Wang Quan’an’s Bai lu yuan (White Deer Plain) from the People’s Republic of China, the Competition of the 62nd Berlin International Film Festival is now complete. 18 films will be vying for the Golden and Silver Bears in the Berlinale Palast. A total of 23 films will be showing in the Competition programme. There will also be two special screenings in the Berlinale Palast. Bai lu yuan (White Deer Plain) People’s Republic of Chinaby […]
Debut feature films from the sections Competition, Panorama, Forum, Generation and for the first time also debut films from the Perspektive Deutsches Kino will compete for the Best First Feature Award in 2012. The award is endowed with 50,000 Euros to be split between the producer and the director of the winning film. The winners will be announced at the official award ceremony in the Berlinale Palast on February 19. A three-person jury will decide […]
With the addition of a series of Special Screenings to the titles already announced, the program of the Berlinale Forum is now complete. In the documentary Lawinen der Erinnerung, Dominik Graf, one of Germany’s most influential film and television directors, puts together a portrait of another leading television personality in the form of author, director and producer Oliver Storz. In the process, his film also contributes to German television history and German history in general. […]
The Generation 14plus competition at the 2012 Berlin International Film Festival will open with the US directorial debut Electrick Children by Rebecca Thomas. The director and her leading actors Julia Garner (Martha Marcy May Marlene), Rory Culkin (Lymelife) and Billy Zane (Titanic) are expected on the red carpet for this world premiere on February 10. Garner plays a young Mormon who breaks out of her strict religious community and plunges herself into the nightlife of […]
This year’s Panorama is presenting 53 feature films: 18 in the main programme, 15 in Panorama Special and 20 in Panorama Dokumente. Among the final films to be included in the Panorama is the US indie Cherry with Heather Graham, James Franco and Lili Taylor. It portrays a confident young woman who explores her own sexuality and has to deal with the prejudice of those around her. In The Convoy, Alexei Mizgirev presents an apocalyptic […]
“Trust in Taste” is the motto of the 6th Culinary Cinema of the 62nd Berlinale that will be held from February 12 to 17, 2012. Fifteen films about food and the environment will be presented in the Martin-Gropius-Bau. This year’s Culinary Cuisine includes a remarkable number of premieres. In Felipe Ugarte’s and Juantxo Sardon’s Mugaritz B.S.O., musician Felipe Ugarte translates delicious and visually pleasing culinary dishes made by Basque star chef Andoni Luis Aduriz from […]