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View other Berlin International Film Festival Films by strand: Berlinale Classics, Competition, Generation, Homage - Charlotte Rampling, Perspektive Deutsches Kino
The Souvenir and Skin
37 Seconds
(Country: Japan; Year: 2019; Director: HIKARI; Writer: HIKARI; Stars: Makiko Watanabe, Shunsuke Daitô, Yuka Itaya, Misuzu Kanno, Mei Kayama, Makiko Watanabe, Shunsuke Daitô, Yuka Itaya, Misuzu Kanno, Mei Kayama)
World premiere
The story of Yuma, a young Japanese woman who suffers from cerebral palsy. Torn between her obligations towards her family and her dream to become a manga artist, Yuma struggles to lead a self-determined life.
Acid (Kislota)
(Country: Russia; Year: 2018; Director: Aleksandr Gorchilin; Stars: Filipp Avdeev, Aleksandr Kuznetsov, Aleksandra Rebenok, Evgeniya Sheveleva, Pyotr Skvortsov)
International premiere
Sex, drugs, and young adults’ search for meaning in modern-day Russia.
All My Loving (Geschwister)
(Country: Germany; Year: 2019; Director: Edward Berger; Writer: Edward Berger, Nele Mueller-Stöfen; Stars: Lars Eidinger, Godehard Giese, Valerie Koch, Christine Schorn, Manfred Zapatka, Hans Löw, Nele Mueller-Stöfen, Nino Porzio, Merle Wasmuth, Maike Toussaint, Mathilde Berger, Lars Eidinger, Godehard Giese, Valerie Koch, Christine Schorn)
Three siblings leading comfortable middle-class lives discover the gaps in their existences and begin searching for happiness and inner peace.
Beauty And Decay (Schönheit & Vergänglichkeit)
(Country: Germany; Year: 2019; Director: Annekatrin Hendel; Writer: Annekatrin Hendel; Stars: Dominique Hollenstein, Sven Marquardt, Robert Paris, Dominique Hollenstein, Sven Marquardt, Robert Paris)
Documentary
What happened to the young punks that East Berlin fashion photographer Sven Marquardt portrayed in his black-and-white photos over thirty years ago?
The Breath (Der Atem)
(Country: Germany; Year: 2019; Director: Uli M Schüppel; Writer: Patricia Morosan)
Twenty-six people talk about love and hardship, hope and bitterness, fear and happiness accompanied by celluloid images of Berlin at night.
Serendipity and A Dog Barking At The Moon
Brief Story From The Green Planet
(Country: Argentina, Germany, Brazil, Spain; Year: 2019; Director: Santiago Loza; Writer: Santiago Loza)
When Tania finds out that her grandma has spent her final years in the caring company of a cute purple alien, she embarks on a journey through small-town Argentina with two close friends to deliver the creature back to its origins.
Buoyancy
(Country: Australia; Year: 2019; Director: Rodd Rathjen; Writer: Rodd Rathjen; Stars: Sarm Heng, Thanawut Kasro, Mony Ros, Saichia Wongwirot, Yothin Udomsanti, Chan Visal, Chheung Vakhim, Terb Sophon, Phouen Nisa, Sareoun Sopheara, Nhim Chhun, Kunthea Sngoun, Phouern Mey Mey, Ros Leang Hong, Sim Lyma)
Story of a 14-year-old who is enslaved on a fishing trawler.
Chained (Eynayim Sheli)
(Country: Israel; Year: 2019; Director: Yaron Shani; Stars: Eran Naim, Stav Almagor, Stav Patai)
World premiere
The second part of Shani's “Love Trilogy” tells the story of policeman Rashi, whose private life is thrown out of balance by a sudden loss of authority on the job.
Dafne
(Country: Italy; Year: 2019; Director: Federico Bondi; Stars: Stefania Casini, Antonio Piovanelli, Carolina Raspanti, Stefania Casini, Antonio Piovanelli, Carolina Raspanti)
World premiere
Dafne is a self-aware and bright young woman with Down syndrome. When her mother dies, she has to attend to her father too, on top of attempting to process her own grief.
The Day After I'm Gone
(Country: Israel, France; Year: 2019; Director: Nimrod Eldar; Writer: Nimrod Eldar; Stars: Menashe Noy, Zohar Meidan, Alon Neuman, Sarit Vino-Elad, Sharon Hacohen, Claudia Dulitchi, Evelin Kachulin, Miri Aloni, Eli Muallem, Ben Kippris, Yahav Viner, Ziv Peleg, Eran ben Zvi, Eran Naim, Maayan Eliasi)
World premiere
The stories of injured animals, injured daughters and an injured country. Leaving Tel Aviv might be the last hope for the single father.
Idol and Monos
Divine Love (Divino Amor)
(Country: Brazil, Uruguay; Year: 2019; Director: Gabriel Mascaro; Writer: Esdras Bezerra, Rachel Daisy Ellis, Gabriel Mascaro, Lucas Paraizo; Stars: Dira Praes, Julio Machado, Emilio de Melo, Teca Pereira, Mariana Nunes, Thalita Carauta.)
A deeply religious woman uses her position in a notary's office to advance her mission to save struggling couples from divorce. While waiting for a sign in recognition of her efforts, she's confronted with a crisis in her own marriage that ultimately brings her closer to God.
A Dog Barking At The Moon
(Country: China, Spain; Year: 2019; Director: Lisa Zi Xiang; Writer: Lisa Zi Xiang; Stars: Naren Hua, Nan Ji, Naren Hua, Nan Ji)
A Chinese family saga, told in different periods of time, commencing with the wife’s discovery of her husband’s homosexuality.
A Dog Called Money
(Country: Ireland, UK; Year: 2019; Director: Seamus Murphy; Writer: Seamus Murphy; Stars: PJ Harvey)
Documentary. World premiere
A glimpse into the creative process of groundbreaking British musician PJ Harvey, filmed in a London recording studio and during their travels to Afghanistan, Kosovo and Washington DC.
Family Members (Los miembros de la familia)
(Country: Argentina; Year: 2019; Director: Mateo Bendesky; Writer: Mateo Bendesky; Stars: Sergio Boris, Edgardo Castro, Ofelia Fernández, Laila Maltz, Javier Abril Rotger, Alejandro Russek, Tomás Wicz)
World premiere
In an abandoned house on the coast, the secrets of a pair of siblings gradually come to light.
Flatland
(Country: South Africa, Germany, Luxembourg; Year: 2019; Director: Jenna Bass; Stars: Faith Baloyi, Nicole Fortuin, Izel Bezuidenhout)
World premiere
Two young women are on the run through South Africa’s hinterland, hotly pursued by a policewoman who is trying to solve a murder case.
Shooting The Mafia and Midnight Traveler
Flesh Out
(Country: Italy, France; Year: 2019; Director: Michela Occhipinti; Writer: Simona Coppini, Michela Occhipinti; Stars: Verida Beitta Ahmed Deiche, Sidi Mohamed Chinghaly, Aminetou Souleimane, Amal Saad Bouh Oumar, Verida Beitta Ahmed Deiche, Sidi Mohamed Chinghaly, Aminetou Souleimane, Amal Saad Bouh Oumar)
Verida is due to marry in three months. According to a Mauritanian tradition, she has to put on a lot of weight to appeal to her husband. The weight gain process gets harder as it progresses, and Verida begins to ask herself if this is what she really wants.
Greta
(Country: Brazil; Year: 2019; Director: Armando Praça; Stars: Marco Nanini, Denise Weinberg, Demick Lopes, Gretta Star)
World premiere
An older, gay nurse takes one of his patients into his own home. His neighbour, an ailing transwoman, is part of this parallel society portrayed in this moving drama.
Hellhole
(Country: Belgium, Netherlands; Year: 2019; Director: Bas Devos; Writer: Bas Devos; Stars: Lubna Azabal, Hamza Belarbi, Alba Rohrwacher, Willy Thomas, Lubna Azabal, Hamza Belarbi, Alba Rohrwacher, Willy Thomas)
World premiere
The portrait of a wounded city and its lost souls.
Holy Beasts (La Fiera Y La Fiesta)
(Country: Argentina, Mexico, Dominican Republic; Year: 2019; Director: Israel Cárdenas, Laura Amelia Guzmán; Writer: Israel Cárdenas, Laura Amelia Guzmán; Stars: Geraldine Chaplin, Udo Kier, Jaime Pina, Luis Ospina, Jaime Piña, Jeradin Asencio, Fifi Poulakidas, Jackie Ludueña, Pau Bertolini, Geraldine Chaplin, Udo Kier, Jaime Pina, Luis Ospina, Jaime Piña, Jeradin Asencio)
Aging punk diva Vera arrives in the Caribbean to direct an unfinished project by her beloved friend Jean-Louis Jorge. As preparations for the musical film commence, conflicts and death begin to creep up on the haunted production.
Idol (Woo Sang)
(Country: South Korea; Year: 2019; Director: Lee Su-jin; Writer: Lee Su-jin; Stars: Han Seok-kyu, Sul Kyung-gu, Chun Woo-hee)
Politician Koo Myung-hui discovers his wife in the garage, cleaning their son’s bloodstained car. He has just run someone over.
The Shadow Play and Tremors
Jessica Forever
(Year: 2018; Director: Caroline Poggi, Jonathan Vinel; Writer: Caroline Poggi, Jonathan Vinel; Stars: Aomi Muyock, Sebastian Urzendowsky, Augustin Raguenet, Lukas Ionesco, Paul Hamy, Eddy Suiveng, Maya Coline, Angelina Woreth, Théo Costa-Marini, Franck Falise, Florian Kiniffo, Jordan Klioua, Ymanol Perset, Jean-Marie Pittilloni, Iliana Zabeth)
A group of orphan rebels are fortified in a villa with heavy arms to brace for a drone war with a faceless enemy in a dystopian future.
European premiere
Lemebel
(Country: Chile, Colombia; Year: 2019; Director: Lissette Orozco, Joanna Reposi; Writer: Manuel Maira, Joanna Reposi)
A multi-layered portrait of one of South America’s most important and most provocative artists, a tireless fighter in dictatorial Chile and an uncomfortable gay activist who spoke out – right up to the end of his life.
Documentary
Light Of My Life
(Country: US; Year: 2019; Director: Casey Affleck; Writer: Casey Affleck; Stars: Elisabeth Moss, Casey Affleck, Anna Pniowsky, Tom Bower, Timothy Webber, Hrothgar Mathews, Lloyd Cunningham, Kory Grim, Patrick Keating, Jesse James Pierce, Monk Serrell Freed, Tommy Clarke, Sydnee Parker Anderson, Elisabeth Moss, Casey Affleck)
In a post-apocalyptic world a father is determined to protect his child at all costs.
Mid90s
(Country: US; Year: 2018; Director: Jonah Hill; Writer: Jonah Hill; Stars: Sunny Suljic, Katherine Waterston, Lucas Hedges, Na-kel Smith, Olan Prenatt, Gio Galicia, Ryder McLaughlin, Alexa Demie, Fig Camila Abner, Liana Perlich, Ama Elsesser, Judah Estrella Borunda, Mecca Allen, Aramis Hudson, Sonny Greenback), Trailer
The story of a teenager and his life between domestic violence and the newfound recognition from a group of local skaterboarders.
European premiere
Midnight Traveler (Midnight Traveller)
(Country: US; Year: 2019; Director: Hassan Fazili)
When the Taliban puts a bounty on Afghan director Hassan Fazili’s head, he is forced to flee with his wife and two young daughters. Capturing their uncertain journey, Fazili shows firsthand the dangers facing refugees seeking asylum and the love shared between a family on the run.
Documentary
Brief Story From The Green Planet and Jessica Forever
The Miracle Of The Sargasso Sea (To Thávma Tis Thálassas Ton Sargassón)
(Country: Greece, Germany, Netherlands, Sweden; Year: 2019; Director: Syllas Tzoumerkas; Writer: Youla Boudali, Syllas Tzoumerkas; Stars: Angeliki Papoulia, Youla Boudali, Hristos Passalis, Argyris Xafis, Thanasis Dovris, Laertis Malkotsis, Maria Filini, Michalis Kimonas, Christian Culbida, Thanos Tokakis, Laertis Vasiliou, Katerina Helmy, Alkistis Poulopoulou, Romanos Kalokyris, Areti Seidaridou)
World premiere
Crime drama.
Monos
(Country: Colombia, Argentina, Netherlands, Germany, Sweden, Uruguay; Year: 2019; Director: Alejandro Landes; Writer: Alexis Dos Santos, Alejandro Landes, Alejandro Landes; Stars: Julianne Nicholson, Moises Arias, Jorge Román, Laura Castrillón, Wilson Salazar, Sofia Buenaventura, Deibi Rueda, Karen Quintero, Julian Giraldo, Paul Cubides, Sneider Castro, Julianne Nicholson, Moises Arias, Jorge Román, Laura Castrillón)
On a faraway mountaintop, eight kids with guns watch over a hostage and a conscripted milk cow.
European premiere
Normal
(Country: Italy; Year: 2019; Director: Adele Tulli; Writer: Adele Tulli)
Documentary
Documentary examines rigidly defined gender roles and many people’s uncritical submission to the dictates of (hetero-)normativity.
On The Starting Line (La Arrancada)
(Country: France; Year: 2019; Director: Aldemar Matias; Writer: Aldemar Matias)
The life of competitive athlete Jenniffer is on the brink of change, just like the whole country. She is poised on the starting blocks – and not just in the 100-meter dash.
O Beautiful Night
(Country: Germany; Year: 2019; Director: Xaver Böhm; Writer: Ariana Berndl, Xaver Böhm; Stars: Noah Saavedra, Marko Mandic, Vanessa Loibl, Johanna Polley, Eva-Maria Kurz, Peter Clös, Gerhard Bös, Noah Saavedra, Marko Mandic, Vanessa Loibl, Johanna Polley, Eva-Maria Kurz, Peter Clös, Gerhard Bös)
World premiere
In this Faustian tale, anxious Yuri finds himself face-to-face with Death. Yuri is forced to confront his fears over the course of a fateful night.
Flesh Out and Buoyancy
Searching Eva
(Country: Germany; Year: 2019; Director: Pia Hellenthal; Writer: Pia Hellenthal, Giorgia Malatrasi; Stars: Eva Collé)
Documentary
Eva shares everything about her nomadic life online. Staging her private life on Tumblr and Instagram, she reinvents herself again and again: sex worker, model, feminist, queer writer?
Selfie
(Country: France, Italy; Year: 2019; Director: Agostino Ferrente; Writer: Agostino Ferrente; Stars: Pietro Orlando)
Documentary. World premiere
Documentary dealing with police violence and the long shadow the Mafia still casts over today’s Italy. Two adolescent Neapolitans portray themselves and their surroundings with their smartphones.
Serendipity
(Country: US; Year: 2019; Director: Prune Nourry; Writer: Prune Nourry, Alastair Siddons; Stars: Prune Nourry)
Prune Nourry is a French multi-disciplinary artist and a survivor of breast cancer. This documentary merges the artist and the cancer patient, offering an appraisal of her oeuvre and its newfound connection to her illness.
Documentary
The Shadow Play (Cloud In The Wind, Feng Zhong You Duo Yu Zuo De Yun)
(Country: China; Year: 2018; Director: Lou Ye; Writer: Ma Yingli, Mei Feng, Qiu Yujie; Stars: Jing Boran, Song Jia, Qin Hao, Ma Sichun, Zhang Songwen)
After a property boss falls to his death, a rookie cop investigates.
Shooting The Mafia
(Year: 2019; Director: Kim Longinotto)
Profile of Sicilian photographer Letizia Battaglia.
Documentary. European premiere
Mid90s and Lemebel
Skin
(Country: US; Year: 2018; Director: Guy Nattiv; Writer: Guy Nattiv; Stars: Danielle Macdonald, Vera Farmiga, Jamie Bell, Mary Stuart Masterson, Mike Colter, Bill Camp, Jenna Leigh Green, Louisa Krause, Kylie Rogers, Daniel Henshall, Zoe Margaret Colletti, Russell Posner, Rob Figueroa, Colbi Gannett, Joanna Herrington)
The true story of white supremacist skinhead Bryon Widner and his attempts to leave his extreme right-wing past behind.
European premiere
The Souvenir
(Country: UK; Year: 2019; Director: Joanna Hogg; Writer: Joanna Hogg; Stars: Honor Swinton Byrne, Tom Burke, Tilda Swinton, Richard Ayoade, Ariane Labed, Jack McMullen)
A quiet film student begins finding her voice as an artist while navigating a turbulent courtship with a charismatic but untrustworthy man.
European premiere
Staff Only
(Country: Spain, France; Year: 2019; Director: Neus Ballús; Writer: Neus Ballús, Pau Subirós; Stars: Elena Andrada, Sergi López, Madeleine C. Ndong, Diomaye Augustin Ngom, Ian Samsó, Elena Andrada, Sergi López, Madeleine C. Ndong, Diomaye Augustin Ngom, Ian Samsó)
Marta is 17, spanish and wants to discover things off the beaten tourist track in Senegal. But a thoughtless act has serious consequences.
Stitches
(Country: Serbia, Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina; Year: 2019; Director: Miroslav Terzić; Stars: Snezana Bogdanovic, Marko Bacovic, Jovana Stojiljkovic, Vesna Trivalic, Dragana Varagic)
Ana believes that she and other Serbian women have had their newborn babies stolen from them to be given up for illegal adoption for money. She sets out on a quest.
System K (Système K)
(Country: France; Year: 2019; Director: Renaud Barret)
Documentary
A documentary about Kinshasa’s vibrant street art scene and a group of people who are passionately taking their political messages to the streets – with the aid of bullet cases, smoke, blood, wax, plastic waste, music and their bodies.
Western Arabs and The Miracle Of The Sargasso Sea
Talking About Trees
(Country: France, Sudan, Chad; Year: 2019; Director: Suhaib Gasmelbari; Writer: Suhaib Gasmelbari; Stars: Suleiman Ibrahim, Ibrahim Shaddad, Suleiman Ibrahim, Ibrahim Shaddad)
Documentary
In an attempt to revive an old cinema in Sudan, four friends encounter insurmountable resistance.
They Called Him Amigo (Sie nannten ihn Amigo)
(Country: East Germany; Year: 1958; Director: Heiner Carow; Writer: Heiner Carow, Claus Küchenmeister, Wera Küchenmeister; Stars: Ernst-Georg Schwill, Angelika Hurwicz, Wilhelm Koch-Hooge, Erich Franz, Fred Düren, Horst Dau, Ursula Dücker, Siegfried Fomm, Gerhard Freudel, Peter Kalisch, Hans Klering, Claus Küchenmeister, Wolf Lucas, Emil Riemer, Georgetta Sager)
Heiner Carow Prize screening
Germany, 1939. Thirteen-year-old Amigo finds Pepp, an escaped political prisoner, in the cellar and decides to help him. But one of Amigo’s confidants tells his Nazi father about Pepp.
Tremors (Temblores)
(Country: Guatemala, France, Luxembourg; Year: 2019; Director: Jayro Bustamante; Writer: Jayro Bustamante; Stars: Juan Pablo Olyslager, Mauricio Armas, Diane Bathen, María Telón, Pedro Javier Silva Lira)
The coming out of an evangelical father shatters his family, his community and uncovers a profoundly repressive society.
World premiere
Waiting For The Carnival (Estou Me Guardando Para Quando O Carnaval Chegar)
(Country: Brazil; Year: 2019; Director: Marcelo Gomes)
Documentary. World premiere
A documentary film about the Brazilian town of Toritama, the self-proclaimed capital of jeans. The workers of the city’s self-managed small businesses only get one real break from their self-exploiting lives in the textile business - the annual carnival.
Western Arabs
(Country: Denmark, Netherlands; Year: 2019; Director: Omar Shargawi)
Documentary
Omar feels culturally torn between his Danish mother and his Palestinian father. In documentary and fictional scenes he explores his father’s latent aggression and its impact on his own identity as a father himself.
Light Of My Life and What She Said: The Art Of Pauline Kael
What She Said: The Art Of Pauline Kael
(Country: US; Year: 2018; Director: Rob Garver; Stars: Pauline Kael, Sarah Jessica Parker)
International premiere
A portrait of legendary film critic Pauline Kael which revisits late 20th Century cinema through her lens, using ample film clips, never-before-seen archive material, wide-ranging interviews and her writings
59th New York Film Festival early bird highlights Futura, Jane By Charlotte, James Baldwin: From Another Place and The Velvet Underground
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