Screen critics select some of the best titles from this year’s Berlinale.
Competition
So Long My Son
Dir. Wang Xiaoshuai
Our critic said: “In So Long My Son, ‘Sixth Generation’ director Wang Xiaoshuai (Beijing Bicycle) constructs a complex family chronicle that spans four decades and depicts some of the repercussions, cultural and psychological, of Chinese national policy since the 1980s.”
International sales: The Match Factory, info@matchfactory.de
Ondog
Dir. Wang Quan’an
Our critic said: “Wang returns with a hugely engaging, disgressively structured piece that combines a cosmic sense of landscape with intimate character drama; affecting performances, dazzling landscape photography and charismatic animal presence should earn critical applause and a more than respectable reception wherever accessible ethnographically-flavoured art cinema is welcome.”
International sales: Arclight Films, greg@arclightfilms.com
God Exists, her name is Petrunya
Dir. Teona Strugar Mitevska
Our critic said: “With God Exists, Her Name Is Petrunya, Teona Strugar Mitevska makes her Berlinale competition debut with a sharp Macedonia-set satire about power, change and a woman’s place in a patriarchal world.”
International sales: Pyramide International, sales@pyramidefilms.com
Out of Competition
Marighella
Dir. Wagner Moura
Our critic said: “Brazilian drama Marighella is an urgent film in its commitment and cinematic intensity, and it could hardly be more timely. As Brazil faces a new far-right government under Jair Bolsonaro, Wagner Moura’s political biopic looks back to the dictatorship that subjugated the nation just a few decades ago and asks its audience to consider the role that militant rebels might play in the near future.”
International sales: Elle Driver, sales@elledriver.eu
Varda by Agnes
Dir. Agnès Varda
Our critic said: “Everyone’s favourite maverick nonagenarian guides us through a lively and engaging account of her inspirations, work practises and engagement with the audience.”
International sales: mk2 Films, intlsales@mk2.com
Panorama
All My Loving
Dir. Edward Berger
Our critic said: “An immersive study of three middle-class siblings as they face the day-to-day realities of deep middle-age, Edward Berger’s drama is palpably well-crafted and tremendously-acted, reinforcing the German director’s burgeoning reputation from his debut feature Jack to HBO’ series Patrick Melrose.”
International sales: Beta, tassilo.hallbauer@betacinema.com
Buoyancy
Dir. Rodd Rathjen
Our critic said: In surveying the plight of workers sold into modern-day slavery on Thai vessels, this brutal, powerful drama draws upon true tales and never shies away from the South East Asian industry’s punishing reality.
International sales: Charades, sales@charades.eu
Berlinale Special
Who You Think I Am
Dir. Safy Nebbou
Our critic said: “Juliette Binoche excels as 50-year-old woman who forms an obsessive virtual attachment, both to the younger man she initially friends on Facebook as a way of spying on her former lover, and to the desirable, 24-year-old avatar she creates for herself.”
International sales: Playtime festival@playtime.group
Generation 14plus
Knives & Skin
Dir. Jennifer Reeder
Our critic said: Jennifer Reeder’s third feature [is] be no run-of-the-mill coming of age. Indeed, it may be the most anarchic and refreshing take on the American teen’s existential malaise since Heathers.
International sales: WTFilms sales@wtfilms.fr
Forum
Bait
Dir. Mark Jenkin
Our critic said: “With his first full-length feature, British director Mark Jenkin continues both his celebration of hand-made filmmaking and his chronicling of Cornish communities under threat from the modern world.”
International sales: Early Day Films, linn@earlydayfilms.com (The Festival Agency lv@thefestivalagency.com)
Sundance premieres at Berlin
The Souvenir (Panorama)
Dir. Joanna Hogg
Our critic said: “There seems little doubt that The Souvenir is a brilliant little gem, a rigorously-authentic, highly-personal and admirably-open memoir by a British director whose reputation is as slow-burning as her films.”
International sales: Protagonist
Monos (Panorama)
Dir. Alejandro Landes
Our critic said: “With clear references to Lord Of The Flies, this meditative thriller from director Alejandro Landes (Porfirio) pushes into familiar terrain but seeks its own path, shifting our sympathies and broadening its perspective so that we see many of these characters as both victims and villains.”
International sales: Le Pacte, c.neel@le-pacte.com
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