Femme

Source: Agile Films

‘Femme’

The Berlinale has completed the Panorama section for its 2023 edition with a raft of world premieres including UK thriller Femme, starring George MacKay and Candyman star Nathan Stewart-Jarrett.

The festival, which is set to run from February 16-26, has also revealed fresh titles selected for its Generation competition and the addition of U2 documentary Kiss The Future as a Berlinale Special screening.

The Panorama strand will comprise 35 films from 30 countries, including 28 world premieres and 11 debuts. Having previously announced several titles, the festival revealed that animated feature The Siren by Iranian filmmaker Sepideh Farsi will open the programme.

Among the new additions to the section is Femme, the feature directorial debut of duo Sam H. Freeman and Ng Choon Ping, based on their 2021 Bafta-nominated short of the same name. In the feature, Stewart-Jarrett plays a drag queen who is targeted in a horrific homophobic attack and plots revenge on one of the perpetrators, played by 1917 star MacKay.

Also set to world premiere in Panorama is Joan Baez I Am A Noise, a US documentary about the iconic singer-songwriter and civil rights activist, directed by Karen O’Connor, Miri Navasky and Maeve O’Boyle.

A documentary about Iranian cinema will spotlight the precarious situation for critics of the regime and the daily struggle of Iranian women. And, Towards Happy Valley is directed by India’s Sreemoyee Singh and will include contributions from former Berlin Golden Bear winner Jafar Panahi, who is six months into a six-year prison sentence for criticising the Iranian government.

Hong Kong-China film Green Night is from Han Shuai, who won best film in Berlin’s Kplus competition with Summer Blur in 2021. Her second feature stars Fan Bingbing and follows two lone female fighters who venture into Seoul’s underworld.

Toni Erdmann star Sandra Hüller, who won Berlin’s Silver Bear for best actress with Requiem in 2006, takes the lead in Sisi And I, directed by Frauke Finsterwalder. The German-language feature follows Empress Sisi of Austria from the point of view of her lady-in-waiting, Irma (played by Hüller).

Panorama includes an audience award and oversees the Teddy Award, which is open to all films with queer subject matter across all the sections of the Berlinale.

The festival has also added Nenad Cicin-Sain’s documentary Kiss The Future as a Berlinale Special screening. The US-Ireland co-production explores the struggle of the citizens of Sarajevo during the Bosnian War and how aid-worker Bill Carter’s determination resulted in the enlistment of popular Irish band U2, to help shine a light when the world wasn’t paying attention.

The Berlinale also announced that its Generation 14plus sidebar, focussed on younger people, will open on February 17 with When Will It Be Again Like It Never Was Before, from German filmmaker Sonja Heiss.

Based on Joachim Meyerhoff’s eponymous novel and with a starry cast that includes Devid Striesow, Laura Tonke and Leslie Murphy, it tells the story of a childhood spent on the grounds of a psychiatric clinic.

Meanwhile, Sea Sparkle from Belgium’s Domien Huyghe will kick off the Generation Kplus competition. The story centres on a 12-year-old girl who blames the death of her father on a sea monster and relentlessly battles with the tides of her grief.

Additional Panorama 2023 titles

Click here for previously announced Panorama titles

* world premiere

After (Fr) *
Dir. Anthony Lapia

All The Colours Of The World Are Between Black And White (Nig) *
Dir. Babatunde Apalowo

And, Towards Happy Alleys (India) * documentary
Dir. Sreemoyee Singh

The Beast In The Jungle (Fr-Bel-Austria) *
Dir. Patric Chiha

Drifter (Ger) *
Dir. Hannes Hirsch

The Eternal Memory (Chile) documentary
Dir. Maite Alberdi

Femme (UK) *
Dirs. Sam H. Freeman, Ng Choon Ping

Ghaath (Ambush) (India) *
Dir. Chhatrapal Ninawe

Green Night (HK-China) *
Dir. Han Shuai

Heroic (Mex-Swe)
Dir. David Zonana

Joan Baez I Am A Noise (US) * documentary
Dirs. Karen O’Connor, Miri Navasky, Maeve O’Boyle

Kokomo City (US) documentary
Dir. D. Smith

The Teachers’ Lounge (Ger) *
Dir. İlker Çatak

Matria (Sp) *
Dir. Alvaro Gago

Opponent (Swe) *
Dir. Milad Alami

Property (Bra)
Dir. Daniel Bandeira

Midwives (Fr) *
Dir. Léa Fehner

Sira (Burkina Faso-Fr-Ger-Sen) *
Dir. Apolline Traoré

Sisi & I (Ger-Switz-Austria) *
Dir. Frauke Finsterwalder

Do You Love Me? (Ukr-Swe) *
Dir. Tonia Noyabrova

Under The Sky Of Damascus (Den-Ger-US-Syr) * documentary
Dirs. Heba Khaled, Talal Derki, Ali Wajeeh

Generation Kplus

Click here for previously announced Gernation titles

Cinderella (US) animation
Dirs. Wilfred Jackson, Clyde Geronimi, Hamilton Luske

Closing Dynasty (US) * short
Dir. Lloyd Lee Choi | with Milinka Winata, Eleven Lee, Allen Chen

Dancing Queen (Nor) *
Dir. Aurora Gossé

Of Dreams In The Dream Of Another Mirror (Fr) *
Dir. Yunyi Zhu

I Woke Up With A Dream (Arg-Uru)
Dir. Pablo Solarz

Gaby’s Hills (Can) * short
Dir. Zoé Pelchat

George-Peterland (Swe) * short
Dir. Christer Wahlberg

A Greyhound Of A Girl (Lux-It-Ire-UK-Lat-Est-Ger) * animation
Dir. Enzo d’Alò

Kiddo (Neth) *
Dir. Zara Dwinger

Magma (Neth) * short
Dir. Luca Meisters

Mimi (She – Hero) (Slov) *
Dir. Mira Fornay

Deep Sea (China) animation
Dir. Tian Xiaopeng

Somni (Ger) * short animation
Dir. Sonja Rohleder

Spin & Ella (Bel) short animation
Dir. An Vrombaut

The Shift (Den) * short
Dir. Amalie Maria Nielsen

Sweet As (Australia)
Dir. Jub Clerc

Dusk (Senegal) * short
Dir. Awa Moctar Gueye

Pond (Switz) * short animation
Dirs. Lena von Döhren, Eva Rust

Xiaohui and His Cows (China) * short
Dir. Xinying Lao

Generation 14plus

Autobio-Pamphlet (India) *
Dir. Ashish Avinash Bende

Almamula (Fr-Arg-It) *
Dir. Juan Sebastian Torales

And The King Said, What A Fantastic Machine (US)
Dirs. Axel Danielson, Maximilien Van Aertryck

Delegation (Isr-Pol-Ger) *
Dir. Asaf Saban

Hito (Phil) * short
Dir. Stephen Lopez

Hummingbirds (US) * documentary
Dirs. Silvia Del Carmen Castaños, Estefanía “Beba” Contreras

When A Rocket Sits On The Launch Pad (China-US) * short documentary
Dir. Bohao Liu

Incroci (US-Ger) * short
Dir. Francesca de Fusco

Madden (Swe) short
Dir. Malin Ingrid Johansson

Ma Mère Et Moi (Neth) * short
Dir. Emma Branderhorst

And Me, I’m Dancing Too (Ger-Cze-Iran) * short
Dir. Mohammad Valizadegan

Mirror Mirror (S Afr) short
Dir. Sandulela Asanda

Catching Birds (Ger) * short
Dirs. Lea Marie Lembke, Simon Maria Kubiena

Mutt (US)
Dir. Vuk Lungulov-Klotz

Ramona (Dom Rep) * documentary
Dir. Victoria Linares Villegas

Simo (Can) short
Dir. Aziz Zoromba

From the Corner of My Eyes (Hun) * short animation
Dir. Domonkos Erhardt

When Will It Be Again Like It Never Was Before (Ger-Bel) *
Dir. Sonja Heiss

We Will Not Fade Away (Ukr-Fr-Pol) * documentary
Dir. Alisa Kovalenko

Now.Here (China) * short
Dir. Hao Zhao