Berlin 2024: Screen’s guide to the Panorama titles

All Shall Be Well (HK)

Dir. Ray Yeung
Having played Suk Suk in Panorama in 2020, director Yeung returns to the Berlinale with an emotive LGBTQ+ drama about bereavement and unspoken prejudice revolving around a lesbian couple in their twilight years. When one of them dies unexpectedly, the other struggles to retain both her dignity and the home they shared for more than 30 years. The cast features Patra Au and Tai Bo, who won best supporting actress and best actor respectively at the Hong Kong Film Awards for Suk Suk, alongside veteran Maggie Li and rising actor Leung Chung Hang. Producers include Teresa Kwong, Chowee Leow, Michael J Werner and Sandy Yip, who all teamed on Suk Suk.
Contact: Films Boutique

Andrea Gets A Divorce (Austria)

Dir. Josef Hader
Leading Austrian actor and comedian Hader goes behind the camera again after his debut film, the satire Wild Mouse, premiered in the Berlinale’s Competition in 2017. His second feature Andrea Gets A Divorce centres on a policewoman who commits a hit-and-run after her drunken soon-to-be ex-husband runs out in front of her car — only to discover later that someone else has accepted responsibility. Hader stars alongside Birgit Minichmayr, a Berlinale best actress winner for 2009’s Everyone Else. The film is produced through Vienna-based Wega Film Filmproduktion.
Contact: Pluto Film 

Betania (Bra)

Dir. Marcelo Botta
Betania is the name of a village with white sand dunes, in the state of Maranhão in northeast Brazil, where the protagonist of the film, also called Betania (Diana Mattos), has lived her whole life. After the death of her husband, she is forced to leave her isolated area and discovers electricity and the internet. Produced by Salvatores Filmes, Betania received three post-production awards in Ventana Sur’s Primer Corte strand in 2022. This is the first solo feature of Botta, who has directed documentaries and fiction series for Para­mount+, MTV and Fox.
Contact: MPM Premium 

Between The Temples (US)

Dir. Nathan Silver
Receiving its international premiere after screening at Sundance last month, Silver’s film earned plenty of fans in Park City. Jason Schwartzman stars in the story of a cantor whose world is turned upside down when his grade-school music teacher re-enters his life as his new adult bat mitzvah student. The cast includes Carol Kane and Triangle Of Sadness breakout Dolly De Leon. Silver’s 2014 drama Uncertain Times played Deauville and Edinburgh, and three of his films have screened at AFI Fest: The Great Pretender (2018), Actor Martinez (2016) and Stinking Heaven (2015).
Contact: CAA Media Finance

Brief History Of A Family (China-Fr-Den-Qat)

Dir. Lin Jianjie
Chinese director Lin’s feature debut premiered last month in Sundance’s world cinema dramatic competition ahead of its European premiere at the Berlinale. It is a suspense drama about a middle-­class household whose seemingly harmonious life shifts when the son starts bringing home a schoolmate from a very different background, opening up hidden fears and tensions. The cast includes Zu Feng, Guo Keyu and Sun Xilun. Lou Ying, Wang Yiwen and Zheng Yue serve as producers. Director Lin graduated from New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts with an MFA in filmmaking. His short films include A Visit and Gu, while his latest short Hippopotami is in post-production.
Contact: Films Boutique

Crossing (Swe-Den-Fr-Turkey-Geo)

Dir. Levan Akin
Swedish director Akin broke out internationally with his third feature And Then We Danced, which premiered in Directors’ Fortnight at Cannes in 2019. That film brought protests from Georgia’s religious right for its LGBTQ+ content. Crossing is another queer story, about a woman travelling to Turkey in search of her longlost niece, alongside a trans-rights lawyer. Opening the Panorama strand, the film is inspired by the journeys Akin — who is of Georgian heritage — made across Turkey to Georgia as a child to visit family. Mubi snapped up the UK, North America, Germany and LatAm rights last month.
Contact: Margot Hervée, Totem Films 

Cu Li Never Cries (Viet-Phil-Fr-Sing-Nor)

Dir. Lan Pham Ngoc
Vietnamese director Lan’s first feature follows a retiree, played by veteran actress Minh Chau, who inherits a pygmy slow loris from her late estranged German husband, as her niece prepares for her wedding. Producers Nghiem Quynh Trang (also the co-writer and production designer) and Tran Thi Bich Ngoc lead the five-country co-­production, with Purple Tree Content and E&W Films from Singapore, France’s Acrobates Films, the Philippines’ Epicmedia and Norway’s Ape&Bjørn as co-producers. Director Lan previously premiered two of his short films, Another City and Blessed Land, in the Berlinale Shorts competition, while his The Unseen River is part of the anthology film Mekong 2030 and was selected for Locarno in 2020.
Contact: Square Eyes

Every You Every Me (Ger-Sp)

Dir. Michael Fetter Nathansky
Billed as a romantic social drama, writer/director Fetter Nathansky’s second feature is about the painful process of falling out of love and the initial magic of falling in love. Rising German actress Aenne Schwarz stars as a factory worker trying to rekindle feelings for her husband, played by Carlo Ljubek. Every You Every Me won two work-in-progress awards last year under its previous title Mannequins at San Sebastian Film Festival. Fetter Nathansky’s 2019 graduation film You Tell Me picked up nominations at the German Film Critics Association Awards.
Contact: Be For Films

Faruk (Ger-Turkey-Fr)

Dir. Asli Özge
Özge returns to Panorama with a story of gentrification and father-daughter relationships. The titular Faruk is an old man who becomes the protagonist in a film his daughter is making about the impending demolition of his block of flats in Istanbul. Özge’s most recent film, suspense drama Black Box, premiered at Munich last year and also examined gentrification. Two of her films — All Of A Sudden (2016) and Lifelong (2013) — debuted in Berlinale Panorama. Faruk is produced through Germany’s EEE Films and The Post Republic, Turkey’s FC Istanbul and France’s Parallel 45.
Contact: Heretic  

I Saw The TV Glow (US)

Dir. Jane Schoenbrun
Schoenbrun wowed critics with the beguiling 2021 Sundance horror We’re All Going To The World’s Fair and follows that up with another tale of youth isolation, identity and the mesmerising power of the small screen as two teens bond over a disturbing TV show. The film premiered in Sundance to rave reviews and will be distributed by A24 worldwide.
Contact: A24 Films

I Saw Three Black Lights (Col-Mex-Fr-Ger)

Dir. Santiago Lozano Alvarez
An old man in search of safe passage to the afterlife walks into the Colombian jungle where he encounters paramilitaries. Alvarez’s solo feature debut follows 2015 Locarno selection Siembra, which he directed with Angela Maria Osorio Rojas. I Saw Three Black Lights shot in autumn 2022 in Aguaclara near Buenaventura, Colombia. The project received support from, among others, Cannes Cinefondation Residence, BAM in Bogota, Proimágenes Colombia, Ibermedia, the Berlinale’s World Cinema Fund and Visions Sud Est in Switzerland. Colombia’s Contravia Films produced in co-production with Malacosa Cine (Mexico), Dublin Films (France), Autentika Films (Germany) and Alvarez’s Bárbara Films (Colombia).
Contact: Felix Glück, Arthood Entertainment 

Janet Planet (US)

Dir. Annie Baker
Playwright Baker, winner of the 2014 Pulitzer Prize for drama with The Flick, makes her feature debut on this mother-daughter tale. Set over the summer of 1991 in rural Massachusetts, the story follows an imaginative young girl who is enthralled by her mother Janet, played by Julianne Nicholson. Present Company produced the film, which debuted at Telluride last year.
Contact: A24 Films

Meanwhile On Earth (Fr)

Dir. Jérémy Clapin
Clapin follows his Cannes Critics’ Week-premiering, Oscar-nominated animation I Lost My Body with his second feature, the live-action Meanwhile On Earth. The story follows a girl (Megan Northam) who is mourning her brother, lost during a space mission. Three years after his disappearance, she is contacted by an unknown lifeform that claims to be able to bring her brother back safely to Earth — but with a price to pay. Meanwhile On Earth is produced by One World Films.
Contact: Charades

Memories Of A Burning Body (Costa Rica-Sp)

Dir. Antonella Sudasassi Furniss
Fresh from a triumphant Ventana Sur in Buenos Aires where it won a handful of prizes late last year, Furniss’s second feature follows three women raised during a repressive era who channel their sexuality to explore memories and desires through the form of a single 65-year-old woman. The film shot in Costa Rica from November to December 2022, and Barcelona served as the post-­production hub. Producing partners Substance (Costa Rica) and PlayLab (Spain) received backing from Costa Rica’s El Fauno national fund, Ibermedia and Catalan fund ICEC. Furniss’s 2019 feature The Awakening Of The Ants won awards in Costa Rica, Guanajuato and Seattle.
Contact: Bendita Film Sales 

My New Friends (Fr)

Dir. André Téchiné
Veteran French filmmaker Téchiné has directed nearly 30 features. His latest stars Isabelle Huppert as a policewoman whose daily life is disrupted when a young couple move into her housing estate with their little girl, and she has to balance her professional conscience with her affinity for the family. Hafsia Herzi co-stars in the film produced by Les Films du Worso (which produced the Oscar-­nominated Robot Dreams). Téchiné and Huppert previously collaborated on 1979’s The Brontë Sisters.
Contact: Alberto Alvarez, Pyramide International

The Outrun (UK-Ger)

Dir. Nora Fingscheidt
Fingscheidt returns to the Berlinale after System Crasher walked away with the Silver Bear Alfred Bauer prize in 2019. The Outrun sees a woman fresh out of rehab return to Scotland’s Orkney Islands following more than a decade away. The drama, which launched at Sundance in January, is adapted from Amy Liptrot’s 2015 memoir of the same name. Saoirse Ronan, Stephen Dillane, Nabil Elouahabi and Paapa Essiedu star, while producers are Sarah Brocklehurst, Ronan, Jack Lowden, Dominic Norris, Ignacio Salazar-Simpson and Ricardo Marco, with co-­producers Jonas Weydemann and Jakob D Weydemann. Screen Scotland and BBC Film are among its backers. CAA is co-­repping the North America sale.
Contact: Protagonist Pictures; CAA Media Finance

Paradises Of Diane (Switz)

Dirs. Carmen Jaquier, Jan Gassmann
Jaquier’s first feature Thunder debuted in Toronto International Film Festival’s Platform section in 2022 and was Switzerland’s Academy Award submission, while Gassmann’s most recent film 99 Moons premiered in the ACID section at Cannes in 2022. They have teamed up for this story of a woman who abandons her boyfriend and baby in a hospital straight after the birth. Billed as the portrait of a woman at an existential moment in her life, it stars actress and musician Dorothée De Koon. The film world premiered at Switzerland’s Solothurn Film Festival in January. Gassmann also produces with Lisa Blatter through 2:1 Film and RTS Radio Télévision Suisse.
Contact: Sebastien Chesneau, Cercamon 

Scorched Earth (Ger)

Dir. Thomas Arslan
His first feature in seven years, thriller Scorched Earth is the second part of German-Turkish director Arslan’s ‘Trojan’ trilogy that began with 2010’s In The Shadows. Misel Maticevic reprises his role as career criminal Trojan, who returns to Berlin to steal a valuable painting — but it’s all about survival once the heist goes wrong. Arslan’s two previous films — Bright Nights (2017) and Gold (2013) — played in Competition at the Berlinale.
Contact: The Match Factory

Sex (Nor)

Dir. Dag Johan Haugerud
Inspired by Krzysztof Kieslowski’s Three Colours trilogy, Norwegian novelist-turned-filmmaker Haugerud intends Sex to be the first of three features, followed by Dreams and Love. This first part focuses on two men in heterosexual marriages whose views on sexuality and gender roles are challenged. Producers Yngve Saether and Hege Hauff Hvattum previously collaborated on 2021 comedy Ninjababy (Hvattum as line producer). Financing for Sex comes from the Nordisk Film & TV Fond and Nordic streamer Viaplay.
Contact: m-appeal

The Visitor (UK)

Dir. Bruce LaBruce
Canadian queer artist LaBruce puts a twist on Pier Paolo Pasolini’s classic film Teorema, transporting the story to London and following a sexually fluid refugee who washes up naked on the bank of the Thames. The film is produced by radical art collective a/political and co-produced by Victor Fraga and Alex Babboni. Bishop Black, Macklin Kowal and Amy Kingsmill star. LaBruce won Berlin’s Teddy award for queer cinema with Pierrot Lunaire in 2014.
Contact: Best Friend Forever

Zeit Verbrechen (Ger)

Dirs. Mariko Minoguchi, Jan Bonny, Helene Hegemann, Faraz Shariat
Based on a hit German podcast, this true-crime series for Paramount+ is made by four directors, each creating a standalone episode inspired by a specific story from the podcast. It is billed as an “artist-led take on the true crime genre”. One of the directors, Faraz Shariat, is a Panorama alum, having premiered his 2020 film No Hard Feelings in the strand. Zeit Verbrechen is produced through X Filme Creative Pool, the makers of German series Babylon Berlin.
Contact: Paramount+

Profiles by Ellie Calnan, Ben Dalton, Tim Dams, Elaine Guerini, Jeremy Kay, Rebecca Leffler, Michael Rosser, Mona Tabbara, Shaurya Thapa, Silvia Wong

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