(Director İlker Çatak accepting Berlinale's Golden Bear award for his film "Gelbe Briefe") By Michael Roddy The raucous political debate over the Israeli-Gaza conflict and the rise of authoritarianism that has roiled the Berlinale Film Festival since its opening took over the stage for the closing ceremony on Saturday night where the winning films were…Read more Berlinale ends as it began, in a political furore
movies
Gaza conflict has been hot topic at Berlinale — going on all 10 days
(Ethan Hawke, a star of "The Weight", speaks at a Berlinale press conference on Tuesday, Feb. 17) By Michael Roddy Pretty much since the minute the Berlinale film festival opened on Feb. 12, the war in Gaza has been a hot topic at news conferences where the actors, directors and crew show up to talk…Read more Gaza conflict has been hot topic at Berlinale — going on all 10 days
Hüller superb as 17th-century woman passing as man in “Rose”
By Michael Roddy Sandra Hüller (“Anatomy of a Fall”, "Toni Erdmann") gives a textbook performance of subtlety and craft as the titular character in the Berlinale competition film “Rose”, based on the true story of a woman who dressed and passed as a man not in the modern-day metrosexual world, but in the strictly gendered…Read more Hüller superb as 17th-century woman passing as man in “Rose”
Kurdish feud is warning to the world in Berlinale film Kurtuluş
(Caner Cindoruk as vision-possessed Mesut in Kurtuluş) By Michael Roddy Clan rivalries spiral fatally out of control in a farming and shepherding village in southeastern Turkey that could be any place where tensions between feuding groups end in violence in the Turkish-Kurdish film “Kurtuluş” (Salvation), which had its premiere at the Berlinale on Sunday. In…Read more Kurdish feud is warning to the world in Berlinale film Kurtuluş
Lesbian couple deal with Tunisian mores in Berlinale film
(Hiam Abbass as Wahida and Eya Bouteraa as her daughter Lilia in "A Voix Basse") By Michael Roddy The cast and director of a Tunisian film that deals with a lesbian love affair said at the Berlinale on Friday they hoped “A Voix Basse” (In a Whisper) would help shift Western stereotypes about the Middle…Read more Lesbian couple deal with Tunisian mores in Berlinale film
Do-gooder can’t stop progress, or death, in Jude’s “Kontinental ’25” at Berlinale
A homeless man, dressed in tattered clothes and shouting out swear words at random, packs trash into a carryall as he lurches along the leaf-strewn paths of a forlorn amusement park, whose chief attraction is clunky, animatronic dinosaurs. When he leaves the park and walks into the city of Cluj, in northwestern Romania, he passes…Read more Do-gooder can’t stop progress, or death, in Jude’s “Kontinental ’25” at Berlinale
“Hot Milk” at Berlinale: Fiona Shaw, Emma Mackey as dueling mother-daughter
Vicky Krieps as Ingrid and Emma Mackey as Sofia in "Hot Milk" If you were a 25-year-old woman who'd put her life on hold to care for her wheelchair-bound mother, what would you do if at the end of a costly cure for which your mother mortgaged the family house, she said the pain in…Read more “Hot Milk” at Berlinale: Fiona Shaw, Emma Mackey as dueling mother-daughter
Diop’s “Dahomey” about looted African art takes Berlinale gold
Senegalese-French director Mati Diop on the red carpet at Berlinale Senegalese-French director Mati Diop's film “Dahomey” about African treasures looted by French colonial forces and returned to the West African country of Benin after 130 years, won the top Golden Bear prize for best film at the 74th Berlinale festival on Saturday. “We can either…Read more Diop’s “Dahomey” about looted African art takes Berlinale gold
“La Cocina” looks at illegal immigrants through a kitchen lens
Rooney Mara as Julia and Raúl Briones as Pedro in "La Cocina" Once in a while a film comes along that is so audacious and outrageous it takes your breath away. One such was the 2014 Argentine film “Wild Tales”, a series of vignettes in one of which two male drivers fight to their deaths…Read more “La Cocina” looks at illegal immigrants through a kitchen lens
Scorsese says cinema “not dying” as he is honoured at Berlinale
Martin Scorsese said he thinks cinema is changing but not dying and, in an appearance at the Berlinale at the age of 81, said he is contemplating making a film about Jesus. “I don’t think it’s dying at all. No, I think it’s transforming,” Scorsese said when asked about the future of cinema at a…Read more Scorsese says cinema “not dying” as he is honoured at Berlinale
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