Berlin International Film Festival 2017

View other Berlin International Film Festival Films by strand: Berlinale Classics, Berlinale Goes Kiez, Berlinale Special, Culinary Cinema, Forum, Generation, Homage, LOLA at Berlinale, NATIVe - Indiginous Cinema, Panorama, Perspektive Deutches Kino, Retrospective: Future Imperfect. Science. Fiction. Film.

Spoor Spoor
Spoor and A Fantastic Woman
Ana, Mon Amour (Country: Romania; Year: 2017; Director: Cãlin Peter Netzer; Writer: Cãlin Peter Netzer, Cezar Paul Badescu, Iulia Lumânare; Stars: Mircea Postelnicu, Diana Cavallioti, Carmen Tanase, Vasile Muraru, Adrian Titieni, Tania Popa, Igor Caras-Romanov, Ionut Caras, Ioana Flora, Vlad Ivanov, Razvan Vasilescu, Elena Voineag, Irina Noaptes, Meda Andreea Victor, Catalina Moga)
A man's endurance is pushed to the limit by his romance with a woman who suffers mental health issues.
World premiere
The Bar (Country: Spain; Year: 2017; Director: Álex de la Iglesia; Writer: Álex de la Iglesia, Jorge Guerricaechevarría; Stars: Mario Casas, Blanca Suárez, José Sacristán, Carmen Machi, Terele Pávez, Jaime Ordóñez, Joaquín Climent, Secun de la Rosa, Alejandro Awada, Jordi Aguilar, Diego Braguinsky, Mamen García)
A group of strangers are trapped inside a bar.
World premiere. Out of competition
Beuys (Country: Germany; Year: 2017; Director: Andres Veiel; Writer: Andres Veiel; Stars: Joseph Beuys)
Portrait of the German artist.
World premiere
Bright Nights (Helle Nächte) (Country: Germany, Norway; Year: 2017; Director: Thomas Arslan; Stars: Georg Friedrich, Tristan Göbel, Marie Leuenberger, Hanna Karlberg)
A man who hasn't seen his teenage son in years travels to a funeral with him.
World premiere
Colo (Country: Portugal, France; Year: 2017; Director: Teresa Villaverde; Writer: Teresa Villaverde; Stars: João Pedro Vaz, Alice Albergaria Borges, Beatriz Batarda, Clara Jost, Rita Blanco, Simone de Oliveira, Marcello Urgeghe, Dinis Gomes, Ricardo Aibéo, Tomás Gomes, Angela Cerveira)
A family find their roles shifting in the wake of the economic crisis.
World premiere
Final Portrait Final Portrait
Final Portrait and On Body And Soul
The Dinner (Country: US; Year: 2017; Director: Oren Moverman; Writer: Oren Moverman, based on the novel by Herman Koch; Stars: Richard Gere, Laura Linney, Steve Coogan, Rebecca Hall, Chloë Sevigny, Charlie Plummer, Adepero Oduye, Michael Chernus, Taylor Rae Almonte, Joel Bissonnette, Seamus Davey-Fitzpatrick, Dominic Colón, Benjamin Snyder, Robert McKay, Onika Day)
How far will parents go to protect their children?
World premiere
A Fantastic Woman (Una mujer fantástica) (Country: Chile, Germany; Year: 2017; Director: Sebastián Lelio; Writer: Sebastián Lelio, Gonzalo Maza; Stars: Daniela Vega, Francisco Reyes, Luis Gnecco, Aline Küppenheim, Amparo Noguera)
A transgender woman fights for the right to grieve after the death of her partner.
World premiere
Final Portrait (Country: UK; Year: 2017; Director: Stanley Tucci; Writer: Stanley Tucci; Stars: Armie Hammer, Geoffrey Rush, Sylvie Testud, Clémence Poésy, Tony Shalhoub, James Faulkner, Attila G. Kerekes, Martyn Mayger, Philippe Spall, Begona F. Martin, Dolly Jagdeo, Laura Bernardeschi, Takatsuna Mukai, Maria Teresa Capasso, Laetitia Cazaux)
Swiss painter and sculptor Alberto Giacometti tries to paint a portrait.
Out of competition
Félicité (Country: France, Belgium; Year: 2016; Director: Alain Gomis; Writer: Alain Gomis, Olivier Loustau, Delphine Zingg; Stars: Véro Tshanda Beya Mputu, Gaetan Claudia, Papi Mpaka, Nadine Ndebo, Elbas Manuana, Diplome Amekindra, Célestin Mokono, François Kasonga, Prince Mbasi, Ferdinand Minga, Aziza Kengumbe, José Lusala, Plaisir Mumbula, Nathan Mulumba, Claudine Lumbu)
Story of a singer who finds herself in desperate circumstances after her son has an accident.
World premiere
Have A Nice Day (Hao ji le) (Country: China; Year: 2017; Director: Liu Jian)
A bag containing a million yuan draws several people from diverse backgrounds with different personal motives into a bloody conflict.
Out of competition
The Other Side Of Hope The Other Side Of Hope
The Other Side Of Hope and T2 Trainspotting
Joaquim (Country: Brazil, Portugal; Year: 2017; Director: Marcelo Gomes; Stars: Nuno Lopes, Welket Bungué, Diogo Dória, Rômulo Braga, Júlio Machado, Isabél Zuaa, Paulo André, Eduardo Moreira, Miguel Pinheiro, Antônio Edson, Chico Pelúcio)
Historical drama sees a man go on the hunt for gold in order to secure his lover's freedom.
World premiere
Logan (Country: US; Year: 2017; Director: James Mangold; Writer: Scott Frank, James Mangold, Michael Green; Stars: Hugh Jackman, Patrick Stewart, Dafne Keen, Stephen Merchant, Richard E Grant, Elizabeth Rodriguez, Boyd Holbrook)
In the near future, an ageing Wolverine and Professor X must protect a young female clone of Wolverine from an evil organisation.
World premiere. Out of competition
The Midwife (Sage Femme) (Country: France; Year: 2017; Director: Martin Provost; Writer: Martin Provost; Stars: Catherine Deneuve, Catherine Frot, Olivier Gourmet, Quentin Dolmaire, Mylène Demongeot, Pauline Etienne, Pauline Parigot, Marie Gili-Pierre, Jeanne Rosa, Élise Oppong, Ingrid Heiderscheidt, Jacques Mechelany, Ana Rodriguez, Karidja Touré, Jisca Kalvanda)
A midwife's life is shaken up by the arrival of her father's old flame.
Mr Long (Country: Japan, Germany, Hong Kong, China, Taiwan; Year: 2016; Director: Sabu; Writer: Sabu; Stars: Chen Chang, Sho Aoyagi, Yiti Yao, Junyin Bai)
A hitman finds himself forging an connection with a family after he goes into hiding.
World premiere
On The Beach At Night Alone (Bamui haebyun-eoseo honja) (Country: South Korea; Year: 2017; Director: Hong Sang-soo; Writer: Hong Sang-soo; Stars: Kim Minhee, Seo Younghwa, Jung Jaeyoung, Moon Sungkeun, Kwon Haehyo, Song Seonmi, Ahn Jaehong, Park Yeaju)
After an affair, an actress decides to travel to a far-flung destination to consider her life.
World premiere
Félicité Félicité
Félicité and The Midwife
On Body And Soul (Teströl és lélekröl) (Country: Hungary; Year: 2017; Director: Ildikó Enyedi; Writer: Ildikó Enyedi; Stars: Morcsányi Géza, Alexandra Borbély, Zoltán Schneider, Ervin Nagy, Tamás Jordán, Zsuzsa Járó, Réka Tenki, Júlia Nyakó, Itala Békés, Pál Mácsai, Annamária Fodor, Márton Patkós, Gusztáv Molnár, István Dankó, Vivien Rujder)
A slaughterhouse becomes an unlikely setting for romance.
World premiere
The Other Side Of Hope (Toivon tuolla puolen) (Country: Finland; Year: 2017; Director: Aki Kaurismäki; Writer: Aki Kaurismäki; Stars: Sherwan Haji, Sakari Kuosmanen, Simon Al-Bazoon, Janne Hyytiäinen, Nuppu Koivu, Ilkka Koivula, Kaija Pakarinen, Kati Outinen, Tommi Korpela, Ville Virtanen, Hannu-Pekka Björkman, Taneli Mäkelä, Sulevi Peltola, Maria Järvenhelmi, Antti Virmavirta)
A middle-aged restaurateur befriends a young refugee.
International premiere
The Party (Country: UK; Year: 2017; Director: Sally Potter; Writer: Sally Potter; Stars: Cillian Murphy, Emily Mortimer, Kristin Scott Thomas, Timothy Spall, Patricia Clarkson, Cherry Jones, Bruno Ganz)
A celebration goes awry.
World premiere
Return To Montauk (Country: Germany; Year: 2017; Director: Volker Schlöndorff; Writer: Volker Schlöndorff, Colm Tóibín; Stars: Stellan Skarsgård, Nina Hoss, Susanne Wolff, Niels Arestrup, Isi Laborde-Edozien, Bronagh Gallagher, Mathias Sanders, Malcolm Adams, Rebecca Knox, Robert Seeliger, Paul Bonin, Daniel Brunet, Ray Wiederhold, Olga Lezhneva, Erik Hansen)
An author comes to New York to promote his book and meets again, the woman who inspired the novel he is presenting.
World premiere
Spoor (Pokot) (Country: Poland, Germany, Czech Republic, Sweden, Slovakia; Year: 2017; Director: Agnieszka Holland, Kasia Adamik; Writer: Agnieszka Holland, Stepán Hulík, Olga Tokarczuk; Stars: Agnieszka Mandat-Grabka, Wiktor Zborowski, Jakub Gierszal, Patrycja Volny, Miroslav Krobot, Borys Szyc, Tomasz Kot, Andrzej Grabowski, Katarzyna Herman, Marcin Bosak, Andrzej Konopka, Sebastian Pawlak, Katarzyna Skarzanka, Monika Anna Wojtyllo, David Ali Hamade)
An elderly woman is convinced she knows what lies behind a spate of mysterious crimes... but nobody will believe her.
World premiere
Viceroy's House Viceroy's House
Viceroy's House and Logan
T2 Trainspotting (Country: UK; Year: 2017; Director: Danny Boyle; Writer: John Hodge, based on the novel by Irvine Welsh; Stars: Ewan McGregor, Robert Carlyle, Jonny Lee Miller, Ewen Bremner, Anjela Nedyalkova, Kelly Macdonald, Shirley Henderson, James Cosmo)
Renton returns to Edinburgh after running off with the money to find the city changed and his mates in various degrees of rage and despair.
World premiere. Out of competition
Viceroy's House (Country: UK, India; Year: 2017; Director: Gurinder Chadha; Writer: Paul Mayeda Berges, Moira Buffini, Gurinder Chadha; Stars: Hugh Bonneville, Gillian Anderson, Michael Gambon, Simon Callow, Manish Dayal, Huma Qureshi, Om Puri, Lily Travers, Tanveer Ghani, Dezil Smith, Neeraj Kabi)
In 1947, Lord Mountbatten assumes the post of last Viceroy, charged with handing India back to its people, living upstairs at the house which was the home of British rulers, whilst 500 Hindu, Muslim and Sikh servants lived downstairs.
World premiere. Out of competition
Wild Mouse (Wilde Maus) (Country: Austria, Germany; Year: 2017; Director: Josef Hader; Stars: Nora von Waldstätten, Josef Hader, Georg Friedrich, Denis Moschitto, Jörg Hartmann, Crina Semciuc, Pia Hierzegger)
After a critic is made redundant, he embarks on a terror campaign.
World premiere
News

59th New York Film Festival early bird highlights Futura, Jane By Charlotte, James Baldwin: From Another Place and The Velvet Underground

More news and features

Playing Now

Eye For Film continues to support festivals both locally and across the world. At the moment, we're covering:

Sands Film Festival
Weekend film event in St Andrews

Queer East

Visions du Réel
Swiss documentary showcase

Overlook Film Festival

New Directors/New Films
New York's celebration of new voices

In the Archive


Archive of festival coverage.

Daily diary and reviews from 2005-2018.

Coverage of the lynchpin German festival.