Berlin Film Festival kicks off with the participation of female directors

Berlin’s 69th film festival, which will last until February 17, has launched opening in the German capital on February 7^th. This year’s Berlinale was marked by the record number of female film directors nominated for the “Golden Bear”.

Of the 17 films that claim to be the main prize of the Berlin Festival, seven were filmed by women. This is an unprecedented record for all major film festivals. Last year at the Cannes Film Festival three women were represented, only one in Venice. And no Oscar female nominee has been nominated this year.

“Women occupy leading positions… This is the highest rate of all time. And in that connection I only want to clarify that there is no sense to include any movie in the program, guided by political correctness, “said Berlin Film Festival director Dieter Kosslick.

What will be shown at the Berlinale-2019?

The opening of the festival will feature a film by the Danish director Lone Scherfig “The Kindness of Strangers”, which tells about the difficult times of several people’s lives. The main heroes of the film, four residents of New York, live in the worst of their lives. Each of them has their own problem: an abusive spouse, painful low self-esteem, lack of work and personal happiness Heroes meet in a luxurious Russian restaurant where everything starts with zero. Scherfig received her first prize in Berlin in 2001 for “Italian Beginners” melodrama. The drama “Education of Emotions” with Kerri Milligan and Emma Thompson in 2010 won 3 Oscars, 7 and 25 other awards.

François Ozone’s “With God’s Support” film, Agnieszka Holland’s biographical drama, featuring a British journalist who for the first time told the world about the famine of the 30s in Ukraine (“Gareth Jones”), Friih Akin’s Thriller on Serial Killer (Golden Gloves) ), Chan Imou (“One Second”) will be featured. The Austrian film director, Marie Kruizer, will present to the audience the “Land under my feet” drama, the main heroine of which is a young and very lucky woman, Lola, who diligently hides her older sister with her mental illness.

The guests of the festival will also see the film “Eliza and Marsella” by Spanish director Isabele Koshet, Teona Strugar Mitywsky’s “The Lord Exists, His Name Is Petunya”, Angela Chanelle’s “I Was In The House, but…”, as well as a live classic Frenchman, 90-year-old Agnes Vard’s film, called “Varda by Agnes”.

The jury of the Berlin Film Festival is headed by well-known French filmmaker Juliet Binoche.

By the way, a change is expected in the next Berlinale season. Dieter Kosslick, who has been the director of the festival for 18 years, will be replaced by the executive director, Mariet Riesenbeek. She will be the first woman to take part in the festival, whose rich experience and tremendous ties will contribute to the future development of cinema.