Berlin International Film Festival 2021

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Bliss Bliss
Bliss and Censor
All Eyes Off Me (Country: Israel; Year: 2021; Director: Hadas Ben Aroya; Stars: Elisheva Weil, Yoav Hayt, Elisheva Weil, Yoav Hayt)
Danny is pregnant by Max who is busy trying out Avishag’s sexual fantasies with her. She wants him to hit her when they have sex. Avishag takes her bruises to Dror, whose dog she sits. A generational portrait that asks: how liberated are we really?
World premiere
A Balance (Yuko No Tenbin) (Country: Japan; Year: 2020; Director: Yujiro Harumoto; Stars: Yumi Kawai, Ken Mitsuishi, Kumi Takiuchi, Masahiro Umeda, Yumi Kawai, Ken Mitsuishi, Kumi Takiuchi, Masahiro Umeda)
In her new documentary, Yuko wants to tell the true story behind the scandal of a relationship between a female student and her teacher. When she learns about her own father's secret she has to rethink her principles.
Bliss (Glück) (Country: Germany; Year: 2021; Director: Henrika Kull; Writer: Henrika Kull; Stars: Katharina Behrens, Malik Blumenthal, Jean-Luc Bubert, Eva Collé, Ian Hansen, Mike Hoffmann, Ottokar Lehrner, Maria Mägdefrau, Katharina Behrens, Malik Blumenthal, Jean-Luc Bubert, Eva Collé, Ian Hansen, Mike Hoffmann, Ottokar Lehrner)
Two sex workers meet in a Berlin brothel. In a place where the female body is a commodity, they experience moments of happiness.
World premiere
Brother's Keeper (Okul Tıraşı) (Country: Turkey, Romania; Year: 2021; Director: Ferit Karahan; Writer: Gülistan Acet, Ferit Karahan; Stars: Samet Yıldız, Ekin Koç, Mahir İpek, Melih Selçuk, Cansu Fırıncı, Nurullah Alaca)
When a boy falls ill at an authoritarian boarding school, his friend struggles to get the staff to take notice.
World premiere
Celts (Kelti) (Country: Serbia; Year: 2021; Director: Milica Tomovic; Writer: Tanja Sljivar, Milica Tomovic; Stars: Dubravka Kovjanic, Stefan Trifunovic, Nikola Rakocevic, Slaven Doslo, Jovana Gavrilovic, Milica Grujicic, Olga Odanovic, Nada Sargin, Jelena Djokic, Jovan Belobrkovic, Dubravka Kovjanic, Stefan Trifunovic, Nikola Rakocevic, Slaven Doslo, Jovana Gavrilovic)
Belgrade in 1993. The pent-up tension of uncertain times is released at a children’s birthday party. While the kids celebrate in the living room dressed up as Ninja Turtles, the adults discuss, flirt, smoke and drink in the kitchen.
World premiere
Human Factors Human Factors
Human Factors and The Last Forest
Censor (Country: UK; Year: 2021; Director: Prano Bailey-Bond; Writer: Prano Bailey-Bond, Anthony Fletcher; Stars: Niamh Algar, Clare Holman, Michael Smiley, Adrian Schiller, Felicity Montagu, Beau Gadsdon, Nicholas Burns, Sophia La Porta, Vincent Franklin, Guillaume Delaunay, Max Bennett, Andrew Havill, Tina Louise Owens, Sean Buchanan, Erin Shanagher)
When film censor Enid discovers an eerie horror that speaks directly to her sister's mysterious disappearance, she resolves to unravel the puzzle behind the film and its enigmatic director – a quest blurring the lines between fiction and reality in terrifying ways.
Copilot (Die Welt Wird Eine Andere Sein) (Country: Germany, France; Year: 2021; Director: Anne Zohra Berrached; Writer: Anne Zohra Berrached, Stefanie Misrahi; Stars: Canan Kir, Roger Azar, Darina Al Joundi, Aziz Dyab, Ceci Chuh, Özay Fecht, Meral Perin, Jana Julia Roth, Hans Jürgen Alf, Nicolas Chaoui, Zeynep Ada Kienast, Marlene Fahnster, Canan Kir, Roger Azar, Darina Al Joundi)
Asli and Saeed fall in love in the mid-1990s. Although Asli’s mother is against their relationship, they secretly get married. Then he disappears. A sensitive love story that recounts how Saeed changes Asli’s life – before the entire world is shaken.
World premiere
Death of a Virgin, And The Sin Of Not Living (Country: Lebanon; Year: 2021; Director: George Peter Barbari; Writer: George Peter Barbari; Stars: Etienne Assal, Adnan Khabbaz, Jean Paul Franjieh, Saad Elie Dankoura, Feyrouz AbouHassan, Thuraya Baghdadi, Maria Doueihi, Windy Ishak, Tala Abourjess, Etienne Assaf, Rayan Assaf, Joe Azouri, Aya Bizri, Elie Dargham, Ghadi Dawra)
A group of friends pool their money to pay for their first sexual encounter. Their journey to see a sex worker is accompanied by boastful teenage conversations, but also sensitive inner monologues.
World premiere
Dirty Feathers (Country: US, Mexico; Year: 2021; Director: Carlos Alfonso Corral)
Documentary about the homeless in the border towns of El Paso and Ciudad Juárez we meet people living without a home.
World premiere. Documentary
Genderation (Country: Germany; Year: 2021; Director: Monika Treut; Writer: Monika Treut; Stars: Annie Sprinkle, Stafford, Beth Stephens, Sandy Stone, Susan Stryker, Max Wolf Valerio, Annie Sprinkle, Stafford, Beth Stephens, Sandy Stone, Susan Stryker, Max Wolf Valerio)
Twenty years after Gendernauts, Monika Treut seeks out the pioneers of the transgender movement back then to find out how their lives and their activism have evolved, how they have grown into their identities and how their energy continues to have an impact today.
World premiere. Documentary
Miguel's War Miguel's War
Miguel's War and Brother's Keeper
Human Factors (Country: Germany, Italy, Belgium, Denmark; Year: 2021; Director: Ronny Trocker; Writer: Ronny Trocker; Stars: Mark Waschke, Marthe Schneider, Spencer Bogaert, Hassan Akkouch, Karen Margrethe Gotfredsen, Sabine Timoteo, Isaak Dentler, Jule Hermann, Anne-Catrin Märzke, Katia Fellin, Wanja Valentin Kube, Marie Rosa Tietjen, Hannes Perkmann, Daniel Séjourné, Jasper Tack)
A mysterious house break in exposes the agony of an exemplary middle class family.
The Last Forest (A Última Floresta) (Country: Brazil; Year: 2021; Director: Luiz Bolognesi; Writer: Luiz Bolognesi, Davi Kopenawa; Stars: Davi Kopenawa, Davi Kopenawa)
In powerful images, alternating between documentary observation and staged sequences, and dense soundscapes, Luiz Bolognesi documents the Indigenous community of the Yanomami and depicts their threatened natural environment in the Amazon rainforest.
World premiere. Documentary
Miguel's War (Country: Lebanon, Germany, Spain; Year: 2021; Director: Eliane Raheb; Writer: Eliane Raheb; Stars: Miguel Jleilaty)
A portrait of a gay man who confronts the ghosts of his past. After fleeing war and repression 37 years ago, Miguel returns to Lebanon where he traces hidden longings, unrequited love and tormenting feelings of guilt.
World premiere. Documentary
Night Raiders (Country: Canada, New Zealand; Year: 2021; Director: Danis Goulet; Writer: Danis Goulet; Stars: Amanda Plummer, Shaun Sipos, Eric Osborne, Elle-Máijá Tailfeathers, David MacInnis, Alex Tarrant, Gail Maurice, Birva Pandya, Pamela Matthews, Suzanne Cyr, Violet Nelson, Elena Khan, Brooklyn Letexier-Hart, Kevin Allan Hess, Scott Barker)
In a dystopian future, children are considered property of the military regime which trains them to fight in a state boarding school. A Cree woman tries to get her daughter back.
World premiere
North By Current (Country: US; Year: 2021; Director: Angelo Madsen Minax)
The unexplained death of his niece leads the director back to his family. His investigation of injustice and the arbitrariness of officialdom turns into cathartic family therapy.
World premiere. Documentary
Souad (Country: Egypt, Tunisia, Germany; Year: 2021; Director: Ayten Amin; Writer: Ayten Amin, Mahmoud Ezzat; Stars: Bassant Ahmed, Basmala Elghaiesh, Hussein Ghanem, Hagar Mahmoud, Sarah Shedid, Carol Ackad, Mona Elnamoury, Islam Shalaby, Bassant Ahmed, Basmala Elghaiesh, Hussein Ghanem, Hagar Mahmoud, Sarah Shedid, Carol Ackad, Mona Elnamoury)
Egyptian Souad, 19, has several identities: one on social media, others as a diligent student and an obedient daughter. When Souad’s ideas of a self-determined life are shattered, her younger sister sets out to look for answers.
World premiere
Ted K (Country: US; Year: 2021; Director: Tony Stone; Writer: Tony Stone, Gaddy Davis; Stars: Sharlto Copley, Drew Powell, Bob Jennings, Travis W Bruyer, Tahmus Rounds, Christian Calloway, Samantha Jones, Amber Rose Mason, Sal Rendino, Brooke Hoover, Wayne Pyle, Megan Folsom, Keith Barber, Dannielle Rose, Daniel Knight)
Unconventional biopic of Unabomber Ted Kaczynski.
World premiere
Theo And The Metamorphosis (Théo Et Les Métamorphoses) (Country: France, Switzerland; Year: 2021; Director: Damien Odoul; Writer: Damien Odoul; Stars: Ayumi Roux, Louise Morin, Pierre Meunier, Theo Kermel, Elia Sulem, Ayumi Roux, Louise Morin, Pierre Meunier, Theo Kermel, Elia Sulem)
A 27-year-old with Down’s syndrome, lives in seclusion in the forest with his father. Every day he trains his body to become a samurai. One day his father goes away and Théo is alone with his world of thoughts. He decides to start a new life.
World premiere
The World After Us (Le monde après nous) (Country: France; Year: 2021; Director: Louda Ben Salah; Stars: Louise Chevillotte, Jacques Nolot, Saadia Bentaïeb, Aurélien Gabrielli, Louise Chevillotte, Jacques Nolot, Saadia Bentaïeb, Aurélien Gabrielli)
When penniless young writer Labidi meets Elisa he knows she’s the one for him. But Paris is expensive.
World premiere
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