The 73rd Berlinale has just started and, before it runs it course until February 26, it will feature around 278 movies from 76 countries. As usual, most of the screnings will take place around Berlin’s Potsdamer Platz, but also in other historical locations that survived Germany’s reunification. Among them, Cinema International close to Alexander Platz, with its Soviet-era flair, and Haus der Berliner Festspiele, located in a rationalist building in the heart of the former West Berlin. For days now, in bars, in the tube, and at work, Berliners are exchanging tips on how to successfully book a ticket for a movie or complaining about this year’s price
After two years of the coronavirus pandemic, the festival is finally back to its antique splendor, as demonstrated by last night’s opening ceremony. The shiny glamour on the red carpet, also encouraged by the unusually mild temperatures, screeched a bit with the more than the ever politically committed tone of this year’s Berlinale. As also reinforced by the guests on the stage of Berlinale Palast, like Ukrainian president Volodomyr Zelenskyy who participated with a video appeal to moviemakers as well as the head of the jury. Women’s empowerment and solidarity with Ukraine and Iran are the main leitmotivs of this year’s festival. Not only the program is embossed with movies from and about Iran and Ukraine. But also, the quite unexpected choice of this year’s head of Jury is a clear sign. Kirsten Stewart, at 32 years, is the youngest president ever.
About Iran
Yesterday the Panorama section was inaugurated by the animated movie La Sirène by Sepideh Farsi, narrating the resistance of Omid, 14, during the Abadan siege of 1980. Today The German Cinema Perspective (Perspektive Deutsches Kino) kicked off with Seven Winters in Tehran by Steffi Niederzoll. This incredibly well-cut first documentary follows the traces of women’s rights activist Reyhaneh Jabbari. Hanged after seven years of imprisonment, because she stabbed her alleged rapist.
Iranian director Mehran Tamadon is presenting two movies at this year’s Berlinale. In the section Encounters Mon Pire Ennemi (My Worst Enemy), where award-winning actress Zar Amir Ebrahimi interrogates director Tamadon as if she were an Islamic republic agent. While in Where God is Not, three former political prisoners of the Iranian regime are asked to re-enact some of their worst life experiences.
About Ukraine
Regarding Ukraine, the most awaited movie is definitely Superpower, directed by Sean Penn and Aaron Kaufmann, and shown as part of the Berlinale Special Gala program. The shooting started at the beginning of 2021. Superpowers was supposed to be a portrait of enigmatic Zelenskyy. But Sean Penn ended up becoming the popular ambassador of Ukraine’s struggle, after Putin’s invasion in February 2022. Of a different tone, as it is themed around the ongoing resistance of Ukrainians since the first Russian invasion of 2014, is the documentary Eastern Front (Shidniy front) by Ukrainian directors Vitaly Mansky and Yevhen Titarenko. Director Mansky also tells a personal story as he suffered Russian censorship in the first place, when he had to move the documentary festival he was directing from Russia to Latvia.
Representation vs Exploitation
The shooting of most of these movies had started before the political and humanitarian situation in Ukraine and Iran respectively escalated, as both regions have been suffering for years. However, would they have had the chance to debut in Berlinale, if Iran and Ukraine wouldn’t make daily the headline of global news? As Iranian politician and theologist Taghi Rahmani provocatively points out, towards the end of Where God is Not, at times showing oppression and suffering can become a very interesting business for filmmakers. And for festivals? Over the past decades, Berlinale has established itself as one of the major European film festivals, thanks to its political movies and agenda. Arguing to give a voice to those who are not listened to. After more than seventy editions, maybe the time has come to make a step further and reflect on the thin line between representation and exploitation. This would be particularly desirable in the context of Berlin’s urban changes, where the cost of living is rising, low-income citizens are pushed to the margins, and an average 16-euro ticket for a Berlinale movie has become a political statement. Because it does matter what movies are shown at a festival, but also how and to whom. Who can really take part in Berlinale this year?
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