Russia (bbabo.net), - The Berlin International Film Festival kicks off for the 72nd time in the capital of Germany. Last year's experience of holding it online turned out to be short-lived - despite the intensive growth of omicron infections and the decision of film forums in Park City (Sundance) and Rotterdam to go virtual, the directorate decided to return to the usual format of showing in cinema halls.
From its main arguments: cinemas are in poverty, people have lost the habit of going there, preferring to watch at home. The festival should help them overcome their fear and return to the cinema halls. This purely symbolic gesture gave the German government a reason to call the festival a sign of hope: "We will not let the coronavirus defeat us!".
The Berlinale is taking place at the peak of another "wave" in extreme conditions, and the management is criticized for frivolity. "The virus will be happy," writes Tagesspiegel. Germany's borders with many countries are closed, and visiting the Berlinale not only by journalists, but even by members of film crews of competitive films from the UK, from the American continent, from Asian countries is associated with insurmountable difficulties. The European Film Market has suffered the most: it has been completely moved online, although it is precisely the personal informal meetings of filmmakers and distributors that are the main trigger for the successful distribution of films in the world. It is difficult to find logic in this decision of the Berlinale management: it is not clear why business meetings at the Film Market are more dangerous than mass gatherings of crowds in the halls and cramped foyers of competition cinemas, even if they are 50 percent full. Under the current conditions, Film Market participants can work without leaving their countries, but the most enterprising of them are still going to negotiate in Berlin - not in the halls of the Film Market, but at least at cafe tables.
According to 2G sanitary standards, all festival participants will have to take PCR tests daily and wear special masks everywhere, and competitive programs - the "active" part of the festival - are compressed from eleven days to seven, that is, the most disciplined guests and the press will need to watch 4- 5 films per day. The presentation of the Golden and Silver Bears will take place on February 16, and all other days will be devoted to re-showing of the festival films to the Berlin public. But the Berlinale will fulfill its main task: it will draw attention to the most notable films of the year and become a launching pad for them and dope on the way to the screens.
Today - the first competition film "Peter von Kant" by Francois Ozon. As artistic director of the Berlinale Carlo Shatrian explains, for the opening, the directorate was looking for a picture that could "bring light and life into our gloomy everyday life." According to him, this is a theatrical tour de force on the themes of self-isolation, a free interpretation of Rainer Werner Fassbinder's masterpiece "Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant" in 1972. But Ozon's fantasy turned the owner of a model studio, Petra, into a film director, Peter (played by Denis Menoche). In this figure, Ozone combined not only the main psychological motifs of the original film, but also the features of Fassbinder himself and even elements of a self-portrait. The film also starred Isabelle Adjani and Hanna Shigulla, who in Fassbinder played the heroine's prudent seductress. This is the sixth visit of François Ozon to the Berlinale. In 1999, he made his film debut there with Raindrops on Hot Rocks.
There are no Russian films in the main competition of the Berlinale, but there are several films in its parallel programs
20 years ago he received the Silver Bear for the acting ensemble of the film "Eight Women", this picture will also be shown these days during the celebration of the actress Isabelle Huppert, who will be awarded the honorary Golden Bear for her contribution to cinema. The director was awarded another "Silver Bear" two years ago for the film "By the Grace of God" - a vicious satire based on documentary materials on rampant pedophilia in church chambers.There are 18 films from 15 countries in the main competition, Russia is not among them. Among the most famous participants are 90-year-old Paolo Taviani, Claire Denis, Hong San-Su, Ursula Mayer, Ulrich Seidl ... The Encounters program, established two years ago, involves Alexander Zolotukhin's drama "Brother in Everything" about the fate of twin brothers: military cadets they dream of heaven, but quite earthly concerns interfere with their plans. Alexander Sokurov's student Zolotukhin has already participated in the Berlinale 2019 with his debut film "Russian Boy" from the First World War. In the parallel program "Panorama" - based on real events, debutant Mikhail Borodin's social drama "Products-24" about guest workers from Central Asia who became "slaves" in one of the suburban Moscow supermarkets. The picture was shot in co-production with Turkey and Slovenia, mostly non-professional actors were filmed. The playbill of the Generation 14plus section features the directorial debut of Yulia Trofimova, the youth drama "Country Sasha" about seventeen-year-old Sasha, who still cannot decide on his future fate. The program of the short film includes the scenic film Haulout by Evgenia Arbugaeva, a native of Yakutia, now an internationally famous documentary photographer who glorified the Russian Arctic in her photos; The film was made in co-production with the UK. In the same program - "Trap" by Anastasia Weber, a graduate of the St. Petersburg University of Cinema and TV; according to her description, a slice of extreme feeling, which most young people in Russia live today. A total of 256 films will be screened at the Berlinale, a quarter fewer than usual.
The prizes will be decided by an international jury chaired by director M. Night Shyamalan, who was once nominated for an Oscar with The Sixth Sense, but his latest film, Time, cast doubt on the viability of his artistic gift. As has been customary in recent years, the acting awards in Berlin have lost their gender orientation, and now the performers of the main and secondary roles are no longer divided into male and female roles.
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