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Berlin International Film Festival 2018

View other Berlin International Film Festival Films by strand: Berlinale Special, Culinary Cinema, Homage - Willem Dafoe, Panorama

Museum Museum
Museum and Unsane
3 Days In Quiberon (3 Tage in Quiberon) (Country: Germany, Austria, France; Year: 2018; Director: Emily Atef; Writer: Emily Atef; Stars: Marie Bäumer, Birgit Minichmayr, Charly Hübner, Robert Gwisdek, Denis Lavant)
Dramatisations of Romy Scheider's last two interviews with journalists.
Black 47 (Country: Ireland, Luxembourg; Year: 2018; Director: Lance Daly; Writer: Lance Daly; Stars: Hugo Weaving, James Frecheville, Stephen Rea, Freddie Fox, Barry Keoghan)
1847. An Irish soldier who fought in Afghanistan returns home where he experiences famine and British despotism. He becomes the avenger of his dead family.
Damsel (Country: US; Year: 2018; Director: David Zellner, Nathan Zellner; Writer: David Zellner, Nathan Zellner; Stars: Robert Pattinson, Mia Wasikowska, David Zellner, Nathan Zellner, Robert Forster, Joseph Billingiere, Morgan Lund, Ray Kelleher, Gabe Casdorph, David Wingo, Palmer Scott, Russell Mael, Gary Brookins, Landon Weeks, Larry Zeng)
Several suitors pursue a young woman in the Wild West.
Full Review See: ‪David Zellner and Nathan Zellner in conversation on Butterscotch and Bunzo, the look of a Western, and Terry Anderson's costumes for Damsel
, David Zellner and Nathan Zellner in conversation on Robert Pattinson, Mia Wasikowska, cowboy ballads, and the complexity to the characters for Damsel
, David Zellner and Nathan Zellner in conversation on Westerns, Butterscotch, and being epic in scope for Damsel
Daughter Of Mine (Figlia Mia) (Country: Italy, Germany, Switzerland; Year: 2018; Director: Laura Bispuri; Writer: Laura Bispuri, Francesca Manieri; Stars: Valeria Golino, Alba Rohrwacher, Sara Casu, Udo Kier, Michele Carboni)
Vittoria is growing up in a remote Sardinian village. One day she meets the wildly independent Angelica who is so very different to her own caring mother Tina. The young girl has no knowledge of the secret that connects these two women.
Full Review
Don't Worry, He Won't Get Far On Foot (Country: US; Year: 2018; Director: Gus Van Sant; Writer: John Callahan, Gus Van Sant; Stars: Joaquin Phoenix, Jonah Hill, Rooney Mara, Jack Black, Beth Ditto, Olivia Hamilton, Udo Kier, Kim Gordon, Carrie Brownstein, Emilio Rivera, Ken Tatafu, Angelique Rivera, Rebecca Rittenhouse, Anne Lane, Rebecca Field)
Portrait of cartoonist John Callahan and his battle with alcoholism.
Full Review
Transit Transit
Transit and Eldorado
Dovlatov (Country: Russia, Poland, Germany; Year: 2018; Director: Aleksey German; Writer: Aleksey German; Stars: Milan Marić, Danila Kozlovsky, Helena Sujecka, Artur Beschastny, Elena Lyadova)
A few days in the life of the Russian-Jewish writer Sergei Dovlatov, whose brilliantly ironic texts were forbidden from being printed in the Soviet Union under Brezhnev, provide a portrait of an era of stagnation and its destructive effects.
Eldorado (Country: Switzerland, Germany; Year: 2018; Director: Markus Imhoof; Writer: Markus Imhoof)
The economic vicious circle that traps refugees.
Full Review
Documentary. Out of competition
Entebbe (7 Days In Entebbe) (Country: United Kingdom, United States; Year: 2018; Director: José Padilha; Writer: Gregory Burke; Stars: Rosamund Pike, Daniel Brühl, Eddie Marsan, Lior Ashkenazi, Denis Ménochet, Ben Schnetzer, Angel Bonanni, Andrea Deck, Nonso Anozie, Mark Ivanir,)
Dramatisation of the rescue attempt after the 1976 hijacking of an Air France flight en route from Tel Aviv to Paris.
Full Review See: Lior Ashkenazi in conversation on 2018 - 7 Days In Entebbe, My Zoe, The Wanderers: The Quest Of The Demon Hunter
Out of competition
Eva (Country: France, Belgium; Year: 2017; Director: Benoît Jacquot; Writer: Benoît Jacquot, Gilles Taurand, based on the novel by James Hadley Chase; Stars: Isabelle Huppert, Gaspard Ulliel, Julia Roy, Marc Barbe, Richard Berry)
A young writer hopes his encounter with a mysterious high-class prostitute will inspire him. But he becomes ensnared in an emotional entrapment.
Ága (Country: Bulgaria, Germany, France; Year: 2018; Director: Milko Lazarov; Writer: Simeon Ventsislavov, Milko Lazarov; Stars: Mikhail Aprosimov, Feodosia Ivanova, Galina Tikhonova, Sergey Egorov, Afanasiy Kylaev)
As an elderly couple who live in the traditions of their ancestors face the possibility of one of them dying, will the survivor be able to reconnect with their daughter?
Full Review
Out of competition
Ága Ága
Ága and Mug
The Heiresses (Las Herederas) (Country: Paraguay, Uruguay, Germany, Brazil, Norway; Year: 2018; Director: Marcelo Martinessi; Writer: Marcelo Martinessi; Stars: Ana Brun, Margarita Irún, Ana Ivanova, Nilda Gonzalez, María Martins)
When Chiquita is sent to prison for debt, her introverted girlfriend Chela is left to her own devices. Chela offers rich women a taxi service in her old car. As she explores the outside world she also starts to focus on her own desires.
Full Review See: Marcello Martinessi on cultural conservatism and filmmaking honesty in The Heiresses
In The Aisles (In Den Gangen) (Country: Germany; Year: 2018; Director: Thomas Stuber; Writer: Clemens Meyer, Thomas Stuber; Stars: Franz Rogowski, Sandra Hüller, Peter Kurth, Andreas Leupold, Michael Specht)
Christian is new to the warehouse. He falls in love with Marion, but she’s married. Magical realism in the east German provinces.
Isle Of Dogs (Country: US, Germany; Year: 2018; Director: Wes Anderson; Writer: Wes Anderson; Stars: Scarlett Johansson, Greta Gerwig, Frances McDormand, Bill Murray, Tilda Swinton, Bryan Cranston, Edward Norton, Jeff Goldblum, Liev Schreiber)
In a future world where dogs have been exiled to the giant rubbish dumps of Trash Island, a Japanese boy sets out alone in search of his beloved pet.
Full Review
Mug (Twarz) (Country: Poland; Year: 2018; Director: Malgorzata Szumowska; Writer: Michal Englert, Malgorzata Szumowska; Stars: Mateusz Kosciukiewicz, Agnieszka Podsiadlik, Malgorzata Gorol, Roman Gancarczyk, Dariusz Chojnacki, Robert Talarczyk, Anna Tomaszewska, Martyna Krzysztofik, Iwona Bielska, Tadeusz Bragiel, Pawel Browczuk, Katarzyna Chlebny, Juliusz Chrzastowski, Wojciech Citak, Krzysztof Ciureja)
Jacek enjoys his existence as a cool misfit in his Polish backwater. After a terrible accident on the site where the world’s largest statue of Jesus is being constructed, he is celebrated as a national hero and martyr.
Full Review
Museum (Museo) (Country: Mexico; Year: 2018; Director: Alonso Ruizpalacios; Writer: Manuel Alcalá, Alonso Ruizpalacios; Stars: Gael García Bernal, Leonardo Ortizgris, Alfredo Castro, Simon Russell Beale, Bernardo Velasco)
Two students break into the national museum in Mexico City and escape with precious artefacts. A road movie.
Full Review
Pig Pig
Pig and Isle Of Dogs
My Brother's Name Is Robert And He Is An Idiot (Mein Bruder heißt Robert und ist ein Idiot ) (Country: Germany, France, Switzerland; Year: 2018; Director: Philip Gröning, Sabine Timoteo; Writer: Philip Gröning; Stars: Josef Mattes, Julia Zange, Urs Jucker, Stefan Konarske, Zita Aretz)
Robert is helping Elena prepare for her final school exams. These twins live in a world of their own, talking about sex, love and philosophical concepts of time. They want to cut the cord but their last summer together might just go on forever.
Platoon (Year: 1986; Director: Oliver Stone; Writer: Oliver Stone; Stars: Tom Berenger, Willem Dafoe, Charlie Sheen, Forest Whitaker, Francesco Quinn)
A realistic depiction of the American military ‘in country’ during the Vietnam War.
Pig (Khook) (Country: Iran; Year: 2018; Director: Mani Haghighi; Writer: Mani Haghighi; Stars: Hasan Majuni, Leila Hatami, Leili Rashidi, Parinaz Izadyar, Mina Jafarzadeh)
Hasan, a blacklisted filmmaker, starts to sulk when he isn't bumped off by a serial killer.
Full Review
The Prayer (La prière) (Country: France; Year: 2018; Director: Cédric Kahn; Stars: Anthony Bajon, Damien Chapelle, Alex Brendemühl, Louise Grinberg, Hanna Schygulla)
In a remote community subject to a strict regimen in the French mountains, Thomas struggles to overcome his drug addiction.
The Real Estate (Toppen av ingenting) (Country: Sweden, UK; Year: 2018; Director: Måns Månsson, Axel Petersén; Writer: Måns Månsson, Axel Petersén; Stars: Léonore Ekstrand, Christer Levin, Christian Saldert, Olof Rhodin, Carl Johan Merner)
After a life of luxury financed by her father, 68-year-old Nojet inherits one of his apartment buildings in Stockholm city centre. Her future seems secure, but the house turns out to be a surreal curse for this lady accustomed to a life of leisure.
Damsel Damsel
Damsel and Daughter Of Mine
Season Of The Devil (Ang Panahon ng Halimaw) (Country: Philippines; Year: 2018; Director: Lav Diaz; Writer: Lav Diaz; Stars: Piolo Pascual, Shaina Magdayao, Pinky Amador, Bituin Escalante, Hazel Orencio)
A village is being terrorised by a brutal militia. A doctor from the town wants to help, but disappears without a trace. Her husband sets off in search of her.
Touch Me Not (Country: Romania, Germany, Czech Republic, France; Year: 2018; Director: Adina Pintilie; Writer: Adina Pintilie; Stars: Laura Benson, Tómas Lemarquis, Christian Bayerlein, Grit Uhlemann, Hanna Hofmann)
Laura doesn’t want to be touched. Christian, who lives with physical impairments, talks candidly about his sexuality. This film explores our ideas of intimacy.
Transit (Country: Germany, France; Year: 2018; Director: Christian Petzold; Writer: Christian Petzold, baesd on the novel by Anna Seghers; Stars: Franz Rogowski, Paula Beer, Godehard Giese, Lilien Batman, Maryam Zaree, Barbara Auer, Matthias Brandt, Sebastian Hülk, Emilie de Preissac, Antoine Oppenheim, Louison Tresallet, Justus von Dohnányi, Alex Brendemühl, Trystan Pütter, Ronald Kukulies)
Georg flees to Marseilles to escape the German army. Assuming a false identity, he tries to obtain passage on a ship bound for Mexico. But then he meets Marie and his plans change.
Full Review See: Franz Rogowski ‪in conversation on‬ controlling his breath, a space for the imagination, the images and colours in Transit, and his work at the Kammerspiele
, Christian Petzold ‪in conversation on‬ Franz Rogowski, a memory, an identity and the language in Transit
, Christian Petzold ‪in conversation on‬ Alex Brendemühl and George Romero in Transit, author Anna Seghers, Isabelle Huppert and Claude Chabrol
, Franz Rogowski ‪in conversation on‬ Christian Petzold's Transit and The State We Are In
Unsane (Country: US; Year: 2018; Director: Steven Soderbergh; Writer: Jonathan Bernstein, James Greer; Stars: Claire Foy, Joshua Leonard, Jay Pharoah, Juno Temple, Aimee Mullins)
A young woman is involuntarily committed to a mental institution where she is confronted by her greatest fear - but is it real or is it a product of her delusion?
Full Review
Out of competition
U – July 22 (Utøya 22. juli) (Country: Norway; Year: 2018; Director: Erik Poppe; Writer: Anna Bache-Wiig, Siv Rajendram Eliassen; Stars: Andrea Berntzen, Aleksander Holmen, Brede Fristad, Elli Rhiannon Müller Osbourne, Solveig Koløen Birkeland)
A cinematic reconstruction of the attack that took place on Utøya on 22 July 2011 when a heavily armed right-wing extremist killed 69 young people at a summer camp.
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