Guy Nattiv’s Golda, in which Helen Mirren plays former Israeli prime minister Golda Weir, will have its world premiere as a Berlinale Special Gala at next month’s Berlin Film Festival (February 16-26).
The film is one of eight additions to the Berlinale Special section, seven of which are world premieres.
Scroll down for the full list of new Special titles
Produced by Michael Kuhn for the UK’s Qwerty Films, Jane Hooks and Nattiv’s New Native Pictures, Golda focuses on the responsibilities and decisions of Meir faced during the Yom Kippur War in 1973.
UK firm Embankment Pictures financed the film and is handling sales, with deals already in place for territories including the US, Canada, ANZ and Italy. Liev Schreiber as Henry Kissinger, Camille Cottin and Ed Stoppard are alongside Mirren on the cast.
Further additions to the Berlinale Special programme include Byun Sung-hyun’s Netflix film Kill Boksoon, starring Cannes 2007 best actress winner Jeon Do-yeon as a legendary contract killer.
Also added is Andrea Di Stefano’s Last Night Of Amore, a thriller about the final working night of a policeman before retirement, starring Pierfrancesco Favino; and Massimo Troisi: Somebody Down There Likes Me, a documentary tribute to the actor and filmmaker Massimo Troisi by Mario Martone.
14 films have now been selected for the Berlinale Special, after the initial selections from December last year.
Forum additions
The Forum Special, a complement to the Berlinale Forum independent sidebar, has programmed two further repertory titles: Dick Fontaine’s 1982 documentary I Heard It Through The Grapevine, and Antonio Carlos da Fontoura’s 1974 queer cinema title The Devil Queen.
The Fiktionsbescheinigung – which translates as ‘fiction certificate’ – strand also returns, with ten films comprised of a mixture of shorts and features. The series is dedicated to the work of Black directors and directors of colour in Germany, seeking to incorporate intersectional perspectives into German film historiography.
Berlinale Shorts has also selected 20 short films from 15 countries for its 2023, including Anthony Ing’s Jill, Uncredited, a documentary from UK producers Loop about the work of background actor Jill Goldston in some of the most acclaimed films in cinema history.
The full Berlinale programme will be announced on Monday, January 23.
Berlinale Special 2023 additions
Golda (US-UK) dir. Guy Nattiv
Kill Boksoon (S Kor) dir. Byun Sung-hyun
Massimo Troisi: Somebody Down There Likes Me (It) dir. Mario Martone
Last Night Of Amore (It) dir. Andrea Di Stefano
Mad Fate (HK-China) dir. Soi Cheang
Sun And Concrete (Ger) dir. David Wnendt
Talk To Me (Australia) dirs. Danny Philippou, Michael Philippou
Der vermessene Mensch (Ger) dir. Lars Kraume
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