By Oliver Bradley
BERLIN—Filmmakers from around the world are converging upon Berlin for the 69th Berlin International Film Festival – Berlinale. For the next 10 days, Berlin will be the center of the filmmaking world. An impressive lineup of Jewish filmmakers and relevant themes are contending for some of the coveted Bears as well as 21 independent awards.
Although no longer a contender for this year’s Golden Bear, the Competition section screenings of Jose Padilha’s “7 Days in Entebbe”is sure to be one of several highlights at this year’s festival. Starring Israeli film legend Lior Ashkenazi, the film tracks the 1976 hijacking of a Tel Aviv to Paris bound Air France flight through the eyes of the flight’s non-Jewish hostages.
In his film “Dovlatov”, prize winning Russian director Alexey German Jr makes use of grand tableaux and extended tracking shots to portray the world of Russian-Jewish writer Sergei Dovlatov (1941–1990), whose brilliantly ironic texts were forbidden from being printed in the Soviet Union under Brezhnev. Out of a tragicomic rondeau of rebellion and assimilation, pain and fatigue, ensues a portrait of an era of stagnation and its destructive effects. “Dovlatov” will be in the running for the coveted Golden and Silver Bears.
Also in the running is German director Christian Petzold’s “Transit”. Based on Anna Seghers’ eponymous novel of persecution, escape and refuge, “Transit” is a series of dialogs between characters escaping Nazi occupied France and present-day refugees – all waiting endlessly, at Marseilles’ harbor district, to be issued transit visas.
Other filmmakers competing in the Competition Section include Nathan and David Zellner‘s “Damsel” as well as Cédric Kahn‘s “La Priére”, featuring Louise Grinberg.
Two Israeli films are also vying for the prestigious Bears – albeit not within the realm of the Competition Section. Tsivia Barkai Jacov‘sfeature Para Aduma (Red Cow), will be screened in the Generation section, while Ines Modavsky’s 28-minute long “The Men Behind the Wall” will be a featured film of the Berlinale Shorts section.
Both films follow their protagonists’ attempts at overcoming physical and mental borders – both religious and geo-political.
A slew of films from the sections Berlinale Special, Panorama, Forum and Series are also vying for prizes by independent juries and audience awards.
Martin Šulík’s German-Slovakian co-production “The Interpreter” – Berlinale Special Section – follows an interpreter’s quest to track down a former SS officer who might have been responsible for his parent’s executions.
In the Berlinale Special screening of “Usedom – Der Freie Blick Aufs Meer“ (Usedom – A Clear View of the Sea), German documentarist Heinz Brinkman talks about the island of his birth. He focuses on the magnificent villas that dot Europe’s longest beach promenade, the expulsion of Usedom’s Jewish citizens by the Nazis and the island’s splitting into a German and a Polish half after the Second World War.
The Panorama Section, which is host to the Berlin International Film Festival’s coveted Audience Award, will feature Lionel Baier’s “Ondes de Choch – Prènom Mathieu”, Lauren Greenfield’s “Generation Wealth” and Leilah Weintraub’s “Shakedown”.
Claire Simon’s “Premiere Solitudes” (Young Solitude), Ruth Beckermann’s outstanding documentary uncovering the deceitfulness of Kurt Waldheim’s Nazi past, in “Waldheim’s Walzer”, and Avishay Benazra‘s appearance in Narjiss Nejjar’s “Apatride” (Stateless) will be shown at the festival’s Forum Section.
The first two episodes of Israel’s hit series “Sleeping Bears” will also be screened at the festival.
The Berlin International Film Festival runs from 15 – 25 February. The winners of all awards will be announced at the Berlinale’s gala prize ceremony on Saturday February 24.