The Berlinale is celebrating its 60th birthday - mazal tov!

Berlinale, or the Berlin Film Festival, is celebrating its 60th birthday this week. In the last decade, it’s steadily grown to be the second most important film festival and film market in the world, right after Cannes.

My Berlinale
The 2001 Berlinale was my first (working) visit to a major film festival. It began with a moving opening screening of Enemy at the Gates. Berlin has seen better opening films in its 60 years, but for me, as a Jew, it was a special experience to see this movie in the huge Berlinale Palast – although it’s not your “typical” Holocaust movie, or maybe because of that.

I tried to watch as much as possible, both festival and market films. And I watched a lot! If I didn’t like the first 10-15 minutes, I continued to the next screening (sorry filmmakers…). I tried to attend as many events as possible too and even do some sightseeing.

For me, the festival reached its grand finale in my hotel bed, where I lay with a high fever and other not-so-pleasant side effects of long nights, numerous parties, and consuming too many types of alcohol in a short period. (I’ve learned to hold my liquor better since…)

In sum, Berlin is an amazing city, and especially worth visiting during the festival.

Special Events This Year

As part of the special events for the festival’s 60th birthday, attendees will get the chance to see for the first time a reconstructed original cut of Fritz Lang’s Metropolis at the impressive and charged Brandenburg Gate, after the accidental recent finding of the full length 210min negative in the Museo Del Cine in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Another special event is the 4th Culinary Cinema event, this year with the motto of “In the Food for Love.” Eleven films revolving around the relationship between food and love, nature, and the environment will be presented, followed by large dinners inspired by the films and prepared by popular German chefs. And don’t worry, they will not screen a Saw-like movie before the meal… Guten appétit!

Top 5 Films to Watch

Unintentionally, it turns out that 3 out of the following 5 titles are fresh arrivals from last month’s Sundance. Do you also feel Sundance’s influence over Berlin in recent years?

Please Give
Screened out of competition, this is the fourth feature from the talented Nicole Holofcener. This indie director already created several urban relationship comedies (Friends with Money, Lovely & Amazing) and also directed several episodes in great TV series like Six Feet Under and Gilmore Girls.
Hopefully Please Give will display the same characteristics: The scene featured here proves Holofcener’s quirky sense of humor is present.

The Ghost Writer
This is Roman Polanski’s first feature since his 2005 adaptation of Oliver Twist, and already the center of a scandalous affair. Visiting the Zurich Film Festival last September, Polanski was arrested and work on the film had to be stopped. However, Polanski was eventually able to resume work from his house arrest in Switzerland (?!) and the film was finished in time to premiere at the Berlinale.

The trailer teases an atmospheric thriller with one of the most stellar casts at the Berlinale: Ewan McGregor, Pierce Brosnan, Olivia Williams, James Belushi and many more. Scandals or not, this is still a Polanski film and therefore probably a strong candidate in this year’s competition.

Na Putu (On The Path)
Bosnia-Herzegovinia has one of the most rapidly developing cinema industries in the world. In this film, one of the country’s most celebrated directors, Jasmila Zbanic (Grbavica), deals with one of the most painful subjects Europe faces these days: religious fundamentalism.

This bittersweet dramedy portrays the relationship of Luna and Amar, as Amar begins to be drawn to the Muslim religion. Their relationship crumbles as Amar becomes more and more conservative. This could be the 2nd Golden Bear for Zbanic, who already received the award for her 2006 Grbavica.

The Killer Inside Me
This neo-noir adaptation of a pulp classic from the 50s has been in production hell since the mid-80s. Many directors undertook the project, including Quentin Tarantino and Andrew Dominik (The Assasination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford), and mega-stars like Tom Cruise, Uma Thurman and Brad Pitt were supposed to star. But year after year the project was delayed until Michael Winterbottom took over.

Without revealing any spoilers, let’s just say the character of the patient, calm sheriff might change in the course of the movie…

WARNING: The following trailer contains R-rated scenes and spoilers!

Howl

Howl is a fascinating portrayal of counterculture creation, and an interesting exercise in filmmaking: it is in part a biopic of the famous poet Allen Ginsberg, in part a surreal animation adaptation of the poem itself and in part a courtroom drama following the controversy created around the poem, and the poet…, and all of this from directors who used to be documentarians till now.
Top all of the above with a strong cast: Jeff Daniels, Mary-Louise Parker, Jon Hamm and James Franco, and it promises to be one of the most intriguing indie films of the year.

Which screenings will you or would you book tickets to? Do you have any thoughts on the smaller films in the Panorama and Forum programs? Comment and let us know!

And are you about to see the long delayed and long anticipated Shutter Island? Watch for our upcoming post about it!

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