The 69th Berlin International Film Festival has officially opened on February 7, local time, as one of the first three major European film festivals to open every year, this year's Berlin Film Festival has a significant feature: among the 17 works shortlisted for the main competition unit, 7 are directed by women, accounting for 41% of all works, much higher than other international film festivals, of which the female director Basil Shafi's "Stranger's Kindness" is still the opening film. In contrast, at the 2018 Venice Film Festival, only one female director's work was shortlisted for the main competition section. Historically, a total of five female directors have won the Golden Bear for Best Film at the Berlin Film Festival: Soviet female director Larissa Shepichenko for "Rising" in 1977, Bosnian female director Jasmila Zbanik in 2006, Peruvian female director Claudia Lotha in 2009 for "Sad Milk", and Ilidiku Nyyati and Adina Pintille in 2017 and 2018 for "Flesh and Spirit" and "Don't Touch Me", respectively. I wonder if a female director can perform a hat-trick for best picture at this year's Berlin Film Festival? It is reported that the 69th Berlin International Film Festival will close on February 17, 2019.
The Kindness of Strangers
Director: Basil Shafi
Starring: Andrea Respolog, Zoe Kazan
Genre: Drama
Stills from Strangers' Kindness.
The film should be the most dazzling star in the main competition unit of this film festival, including Andrea Reisbologg in "Shadow Dancer", Bill Ney in "True Love Supreme", Zoe Kazan in "The Man in the Love Book", etc., which may be the main reason why the film was selected as the opening film. The film takes the Russian tea room in manhattan, New York as an important scene, and the film has also used the title of "The Secret of the Russian Tea Room" before, telling the story of a group of people who want to get through the worst dangerous period of their lives, there are young mothers who want to escape domestic violence husbands, there are young people who are desperate to get a job, lawyers with high morals but lack self-respect, there are restaurant managers who have a criminal record, etc. The characters are intertwined in the Russian tea room in the way of group portraits. Judging from the current reaction of the media after watching the film, the word of mouth is not ideal, and the evaluation is mostly "boring and dull", "as an opening film, too mediocre".
"God Exists, Her Name Is Petruña"
Directed by: Tiona Struga Mitwiska
Starring: Rabina Mittwieska, Peter Mirchevsky
Stills from "God Exists, Her Name Is Petruña".
The film tells a very interesting story: the 31-year-old heroine Petrunia, because of her history major, ran into obstacles when looking for a job, encountered a traditional religious ceremony celebration in Macedonia that only men can participate in on the way home, dived to find the Holy Cross thrown into the river by the priest, but the heroine jumped into the river and finally raised the trophy in front of the TV camera, which triggered a series of encounters such as police and media reports. Written and directed by Tiona Struga Mitwiska, she satirizes the current state of democratic change in Macedonian society in an angry and melancholy tone, harshly criticizing the church, the judiciary, and the media. There's a line in the film: "What if God is a woman?" "It's the origin of the title of the film. Although this is the first time that the director has been shortlisted for the main competition unit of the Berlin Film Festival, with a solid script and humorous lines, he has gained a good reputation after the screening.
"Mr. Jones"
Director: Agneska Holland
Starring: Vanessa Kirby, James Norton
Genre: Thriller, Biography
Stills from "Mr. Jones."
Set against the backdrop of the Great Famine in the Soviet Union from 1932 to 1933, the film tells the story of a young journalist named Gareth Jones who comes to Ukraine and is the first to expose the Story of the Great Famine in Ukraine to the Western media. The film has a strong political connotation, and the film's Gareth Jones is indeed a person in history, and was assassinated on his 30th birthday, with a certain biographical color, which is also in line with the aesthetic taste of the Berlin Film Festival. Born in Warsaw, Poland, the film's director, Agnieska Holland, who in her early years as an assistant to the famous Polish directors Krśzytów Zanusi and Andjay Vajda, later directed films independently, with "The Harvest of Rage" and "Darkness Pervading" nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, and "The Land of Bones" winning the Berlin Film Festival Silver Bear Award for Alfred Bauer. As a close friend of the famous Polish director Kieslowski, she also participated in the screenwriting of "Blue" and the script consultant of "Red".
"Eliza and Marcella"
Directed by: Isabelle Cosette
Starring: Natalia de Molina, Greta Fernandez
Type: Biography
Stills from Eliza and Marcella.
Based on true events, the film focuses on the first lesbian wedding of a female couple in Spain in the early 20th century. The film's director Isabelle Cosette has never received formal film education, began to travel the world at the age of 17, worked and lived in London, New York, Paris, Tokyo and other cities, these experiences have been of great help to her later filmmaking, looking at things more globally, although it is a Spanish director, but her works do not have bullfighting, ham, tango and other well-known Spanish elements, she pays more attention to global universal topics. She considers herself a feminist, not demanding that women enjoy more rights than men, but that men and women be equal. "Eliza and Marcella" is a true attitude towards love and women's rights. The film will be distributed globally by streaming Netflix.
The Land Under Your Feet
Director: Marie Kreuze
Starring Valerie Pachner, Pia Hirzega
Stills from The Land Under Your Feet.
The film tells the story of Lola, who is less than 30 years old, who controls her life efficiently, and no one knows her sister Connie or her family's psychiatric history. But when a tragic event forces Connie back into Lola's life and her secrets begin to be uncovered, Lola's grip on reality seems to disappear. This is another work on the issue of urban women, written and directed by young Austrian female director Marie Kreuzze, who won the Grand Prize for The 11-16-year-old Young Director Competition at the Oberhausen Short Film Festival in 2001 and the Best Screenplay at the 2007 Swiss Film Festival for her screenwriting film Miss Darth in 2007. In 2011, "The Fatherless Man" won the Special Honor award for Best Film Debut at the 2011 Berlin Film Festival.
System Breaker
Director: Nora Finscheid
Starring: Helena Zenger, Albrecht Schuch
Stills from System Breaker.
The film focuses on a 9-year-old girl, a manic child, jealous and aggressive, and her mother is afraid to live with her. Wherever the girl is taken in, she will be kicked out of the house in a very short time, and this is exactly what she is after, because she hopes to be able to live with her mother again. Screenwriter and director Nora Finscheid recounts a child's intense need for love and security, and the potential violence that comes with it. After the film premiered at the Berlin Film Festival, the media generally praised the performance of the little girl in the film, and it is not easy to challenge such a difficult role at a young age, which is expected to impact the film queen.
"I was at home, but..."
Director: Angela Shana Lake
Starring: Marlen Eggert, Franz Rogovsky
Stills from "I was at home, but...".
The film tells the story of 13-year-old Philip, who returned home without a word after a week of disappearance. Both his mother, Astrid, and his teacher suspect that his disappearance may have been triggered by his father's death. After getting life back on track, the mother finds it increasingly difficult to accept her son's unique way of dealing with life and life, facing a mental breakdown and being destroyed by feelings of guilt and failure. The footage in the film is always at a discrete distance, giving the mother and children the space and time they need to rediscover and evaluate their emotions, and the family may be disintegrating, but only to re-form. The film was written and directed by Angela Xana lake, who was previously nominated for the Golden Leopard Award in the main competition section of the 69th Locarno International Film Festival for "Path in a Dream".
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