The Berlinale film festival started in the German capital
The competition program includes films by François Ozon ("Ricky"), Andrzej Wajda ("Sweet Rush"), Stephen Frears ("Cheri"), Bertrand Tavernier ("In the Electric Mist"), Mitchell Lichtenstein ("Happy Tears"), Sally Potter ("Rage") and others. The jury is headed by British actress Tilda Swinton, who last year won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress in the thriller "Michael Clayton". Helping her decide the fate of the golden bears are directors Isabel Coixet (Spain), Gaston Kabore (Burkina Faso), Christoph Schlingensief (Germany), Wayne Wang (USA), writers Henning Mankell (Sweden) and Alice Waters (USA). In total, from February 5 to 15, about 400 films from 60 countries will be shown. For the 59th time, Germany is hosting the festival on home soil, and each time it has something to surprise the audience.
A new feature of the festival this year is the Friedrichstadtpalast – a world-famous variety theater that will serve as an additional cinema for the Berlinale. Almost 2,000 viewers will be able to watch films from both the main competition and the non-competition program every day. In particular, the premiere of the documentary "Food, Inc." will take place there, telling viewers about the secrets of the food industry, food riots, and catastrophic environmental pollution. Fans of historical cinema will not be bored either – in honor of the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, a film about the Cold War will be shown.
Good news for Ukrainian film fans: for the first time in seven years, our country will take part in the bear hunt (so it's time to book a hotel and order tours to Germany right now). The main "hunter" will be young Ukrainian director Myroslav Slaboshpytskyi, who will present the short film "Diagnosis". The main roles were played by schoolgirl Karina Belova, students of the Karpenko-Karyi Theater Institute – Maksym Kushchev and Sasha Semishkur. The story about teenagers involved in drugs, vagrancy and other crimes is based on real events. According to the director, "it is a distillation of several stories I learned when, in my youth, I worked as a crime reporter." The film lasts only 15 minutes, but shows all the horrors and cruelty of reality. "It was essential, because we tried to make a restrained, even cold-blooded film, and it had to be scary," says Myroslav Slaboshpytskyi. Whether the film will impress the jury and get the coveted bear will become known in a few days.