Here is a quick overview from the Chat Cinema Podcast on the 75th edition of the Berlinale. There is a PLUS and a Minus.
Tag: Film Festival
The new Berlinale Poster, released the last week of December shows a new modern style. The number seventy-five features prominent at the right corner. Ditching film festival Bear artwork is supposed to signal change, breaking from the past, the arrival of a new era, a reinvention of a once significant February cinema event. But, is the new Berlinale just recycling the old with more colorful packaging? It takes more than shiny artwork to re-establish confidence in a film festival that has dug itself into a celluloid hole.
After a few conversations with some professional industry colleagues about the upcoming edition, we are starting to have more questions. What happened to doing something new? It is no secret the Berlinale fell behind, lacking the grandeur of Cannes, the artistic component of Venice, the hipness of Sundance or the commercial launching heft of SXSW, the space for change, a new way opportunity,is wide open in the German Capital. Yet, festival head Tricia Tuttle is on a Honey Moon press tour using pleasant Cucumber Salad language on how the festival looks to differentiate itself from the past. However, on closer examination, what changed appears unclear to regular Berlinale goers. One category eliminated, a new one added, the same past filmmakers with the similar thematic films appear on the schedule, again.
The wait and see game has started. Hopefully, the newly installed Berlinale team has not wasted precious good will.
What happens when a course change may fail before the actual implementation? The 75th edition of the Berlinale could soon become a case study answering this question. Less than two months before the German Capital hosts filmmakers, headlines rolling out have painted an unflattering portrait of the Potsdamer Platz headquarters. Head Tricia Tuttle makes her debut February as the first female head of the international film hub. Although, reading recent Berlinale news coverage, the American may want to take cover in a dark movie theater in order to forget all the troubles.
Budget cuts, lack of screens, controversial past winners have taken a toll on the Berlinale’s reputation in the global filmmaker community. Global filmmakers may skip Berlin, weary of being labeled antisemitic because of their stance on the Middle East conflict. Instead of celebrating cinema, captions reading “a balancing tightrope”, “unwanted fears”, “revising the budget every month” are overshadowing a cinematic event trying to regain competitive footing with Cannes and Venice Festivals.
As for the movies announced so far, the schedule comes as torpid, local, lacking big draws, a zero-sum excitement level. The Competition category announcement occurs on January 21st. Perhaps then, the Berlinale can regain some it’s lost luster.
The Berlinale starts February 13th.
Director Wes Andre Goodrich talks about his short film MEAL TICKET on this episode of Chat Cinema Podcast. The work centers on a story of a choice and an opportunity. The up and coming Brooklyn based filmmaker’s delves into the conscience of a person taking a step upward, but at what price?
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Lebanon’s Foreign Film Pick
Mira Shaib’s Arze has been chosen as Lebanon’s entry for the Academy Award for Best International Film. The story of a single mother keeping her family above water with a home pastry business. Ambition can be a bad counselor. After buying a scooter for business expansion, Arze finds herself on a quest through Beirut trying to recover the stolen minibike.
Screened at the 2024 Tribeca Film Festival, Arze delves into a dysfunctional world where tribalism rules. Mira tackles the subject with an underdone urgency.
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Tribeca Fest 24
The 22nd Tribeca Film Festival starts June 5th. With 103 films and 86 premieres this yer looks promising.
Get the news, reviews and interviews here and on the Chat Cinema Podcast.
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Feeling #Vindicated
The Berlinale must have a deal with Airbnb. Another creative head is relocating to Berlin, the fourth in five years. After the September shock resignation of Chatrian, German Culture Minister Claudia Roth announced she and a replacement committee would actively seek one artistic head instead of a duo team. Minister Roth felt the festival needed a new direction after years of going to the principle office soberness. Finally, the recognition a sweeping overhaul was needed. After a long wait, I feel vindicated.
Tricia Tuttle takes charge of the film festival this spring from outgoing head Carlo Chatrian. The American born fest organiser ran the BFI London Film Festival.
This begs the question, why did the Berlinale have two heads? At the 2019 announcement, the team had the chemistry of a vegan touring a McDonald’s Burger Patty factory. In Carlo and Mariette’s defence, the two inherited a film festival in steep decline, with a resistant to change thin skinned staff structure, then the Covid Pandemic hit, not ideal situations for even the most seasoned leaders. Carlo headed the creative side, his cinema views veered more toward art house, shunning the glamour, while Mariette, a Berlin insider, would handle the admin tasks. Rissenbeek jumped in March 2023. The behind the scenes drama of the Berlinale have overshadowed the festival itself.
After budget cut announcements, fewer films, the writing was on the wall. Chatrian’s resignation, or should we say, “knifed in the stomach”, triggered a petition signing from global filmmakers lead by Martin Scorsese requesting a reversal of his decision to leave.
From A “No Go” To Being Proven Right
As a former attendee, I was to be placed me on a “no go” list for my, now proven right, 2019 Berlinale critiques. I thought major change was warranted at the February film affair. This was a festival basking in its own high-minded pretensions, yet had fallen behind both bigger and smaller cinema gatherings. The size of the festival emphasised quantity, screening up or over 300 or more films in different sections, at the expense of quality.
Berlin has never been a service friendly city. The city has been called “A service desert”. The festival lives up to this reputation. In comparison to other festivals, cinema curating was never a strong point in the German Capital. Forget about asking the Berlinale coordinators about the films showing, they were too busy telling everyone how busy they were. The way to learn if a good film was unspooling: 1. Fest gossip 2. Insider trading 3. A compass.
Tricia could be a much needed shot in the arm for the Berlinale. The powers in Germany decided on her because they want a festival on par with Cannes and Venice. Tuttle has a more commercial sense regarding cinema and certainly with a loaded rolodex of names to the creative world. Her approach will be different than the past on how to organize a cinema gathering, perhaps leaner, more glitz. However, she will have to overcome organisational challenges in trying to revive the fortunes of an increasing less relevant film festival.
The saying “Hope is the last thing ever lost.”
The 74th edition of the BERLINALE starts February 15th, 2024.
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Feeling #Vindicated
I have no pleasure in Carlo Chatrian’s abrupt departure. The Swiss native is a cinema enthusiasts. During my interview with the former Locarno Film Festival head, I found him to be engaging, positive and passionate about the cinematic art form. After taking the helm in Berlin in 2020 following the departure of Kosslick, Carlo seemed a right fit to elevate the event into the same leagues as the Cannes and Venice fests. Skeptical thoughts came to my mind cause of Chatrian’s intellectual demeanour. The German capital’s institutions are not known for easy change especially headed by outsiders. After having my accreditation rejected cause of the Chat Cinema Podcast critiquing the Berlinale, this is an organisation resistant to even listening. Now, I feel vindicated.
As I was attending an event on Saturday September 2nd, suddenly a push notification came on my phone, “Resignation” at the Berlinale. Another one! Following Mariette Rissenbeek’s earlier exit, the dual in charge of one of the world’s biggest film festival checked out. Statements have been flying from the Ministry of Culture about only wanting one creative head.
With his contract over in 2024, the search is on for a new creative director. The Berlinale will continue, the question is who would want to head the February Festival?
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2023 Tribeca part 2
What is the expression? “Be careful what you wish for.” It might come true. CYPHER could be a cautionary work about modern fame and its downside. Tierra Whack from Philadelphia, found online fame rapping on the streets. Her journey to the top had a fairy-tale angle, a young lady from the wrong side of the tracks goes on to become famous. Director Chris Moukarbel observes the double edge of fame, from the adulation to the cra-cra. As the Cypher unfolds, rooting for the rapper suddenly goes to “Girl, you are in danger!”
Gentrification has hit every urban area in the world. Finding affordable housing in any city is the same as trying to guess seven winning lottery numbers. MOUNTAINS by Monica Sorelle tells the story of a Miami affordable neighborhood being gentrified. Atibon Nazaire stars as Haitian Xavier Sr., a man contemplating a foggy future for him and his family. Atibon strong presence balances subtle performance as a man looking at an oncoming storm.
Not that we needed a film about how strange the world was during Covid and the lockdowns. Brazil’s A STRANGE PATH captures the moment by showing the peculiar monotony of life of doing nothing and waiting with a feeling of fear and seeking out comfort. Lucas Limeira stars as a filmmaker returning home only to be confined to a dingy hotel room during the closures while a dysfunctional relationship with his father goes beyond repair.
Headlines Made Me Watch
Why was I drawn to IT’S BASIC? The political headlines of Dr. Cornel West announcement of his candidacy for president of the United States in 2024. As poverty and inequality grow in America, a desperate populace is looking for new answers. Marc Levin points his camera at subjects weighed down by an unsympathetic system. The “working poor” in the country have been ignored. Cities finding themselves unable to ignore the harsh realities of neo-liberal government policies have come up with new solutions to address the problem of an ever larger underclass: a basic income.
An honorable mention goes to DEEP SEA. China’s ambitious underwater animated adventure from Xiaopeng Tian. I had problems with the fast pacing and lack of sympathetic characters, but the visuals were top-notch.
Canada’s HEY VIKTOR got so silly I started to laugh out loud. Cody Lightning’s comedy about self-serving comeback while making a low or no budget film had moments.
Tribeca Film Festival runs until June 18th.
Chat Cinema Podcast talks to director Maziyar Khatam about his well received Sundance Film Festival premiered short BABA.