kultura / culture
This year’s edition of this prestigious film festival seeks to highlight film as an art form, independent and unconditional, but also to pay tribute to actress Isabelle Huppert, one of the all- time greatest actresses T he new covid wave resulted in festivals like Sundance and Rotterdam being can- celled, while the Berlinale has been short- ened by four days. Initially scheduled to run from 10 th to 20 th February, a slightly less glamorous edition of the festival will be held in- stead, with fewer ancillary events, and will culminate on 16 th February. The Berlinale is the first major European film festival of the year, which often hosts the European premieres of films that are currently competing for Oscars or hope to attract attention ahead of the festivals in Cannes and Venice. The red carpet will this year be reserved ex- clusively for stars and journalists, with post-screening parties and receptions having been cancelled. Presid- ing over this year’s jury will be Indian-American film- maker M. Night Shyamalan (The Sixth Sense, Signs, Unbreakable), while the venue for the main events and premieres will be Friedrichstadt-Palast, which became the festival’s home in the year 2000, following a long tradition at the Zoo Palast cinema. This 72 nd edition of the Berlin Film Festival opens with the film Peter Von Kant, the latest work of French director François Ozon, representing a free adapta- tion of the 1972 play and film The Bitter Tears of Pe- tra von Kant. German actress Hanna Schygulla, who starred in the 1972 version, also appears in this lat- est adaptation, alongside Isabelle Adjani and Denis Ménochet. This is Ozon’s sixth film to be included in the Berlinale competition programme, and it comes precisely 20 years after he won the Silver Bear for his film 8 Women. Apart from Ozon’s premiere, we are also await- ed at this year’s festival by the world premieres of the films The Forger, directed by Maggie Peren, Against the Ice, directed by Peter Flinth, and About Joan, a new production by Laurent Larivière that also stars Isabelle Huppert. Tim Sutton’s Taurus will also mark Megan Fox’s return to independent film and festival audiences. Premiere screenings under the scope of the festival’s Panorama programme will include new works Talking About the Weather, by German director Anni- ka Pinske, Brainwashed: Sex-Camera-Power, by Amer- ican filmmaker Nina Menkes, and Rookies, by French directing duo Thierry Demaizière and Alban Teurlai. This year’s Berlinale will pay homage to French actress Isabelle Huppert, who will be honoured with the awarding of the Honorary Golden Bear lifetime achievement award. This famous Parisienne, who un-
Golden bear for a lifetime of achievement The Berlinale celebrates Isabelle Huppert
30 | Berlin » Berlin
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