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.