Berlin Film Festival Adds New Films By Claire Denis, Andrew Dominick, Lucretia Martel & More

Netflix has shown its commitment to the German-speaking creative scene by unveiling 19 projects from Germany, Austria and Switzerland.

Filmmaker David Lynch (Twin Peaks, Blue Velvet) has joined the cast of Steven Spielberg’s drama The Fabelmans, Deadline has confirmed.

In the birthplace of Western philosophy, Bill Murray dropped some wisdom on a receptive audience.

IFC Films has nabbed U.S. rights to “Fire,” the new drama from celebrated French director Claire Denis. The pact marks the first major domestic deal of the Berlinale 2022 competition.World premiering next week at the Berlin Film Festival, “Fire” is headlined by two of France’s biggest stars, Juliette Binoche (“The English Patient”) and Vincent Lindon (“Titane”).

Shalini Dore Features News EditorMultihyphenate M. Night Shyamalan is eager to get started on his role as the Berlin Film Festival’s competition jury president.“Part of going to film festivals and seeing these movies is I’m with the very best storytellers that are telling the most different and original stories in their own way,” Shyamalan said.

With all of the buzz surrounding the Sundance Film Festival last month and with the Berlin International Film Festival poised to begin later this month, it’s easy to miss some of the smaller films released on the regular schedule. While January failed to offer many must-see titles, February looks to offer more with films such as likely Oscar nominee “The Worst Person in the World” sharing release dates with the anticipated return of Johnny Knoxville and the gang in “Jackass Forever.” Later in the month will see another attempt to adapt a video game into a series building film, Channing Tatum’s directing debut, and the return of indie favorite Josephine Decker.

Leo Barraclough International Features EditorWorld War II refugee drama “The Path” (Der Pfad) has debuted its international trailer (above) ahead of its market premiere at the European Film Market in Berlin. Warner will release the film theatrically in Germany, while Global Screen is handling international rights.“The Path,” directed by Tobias Wiemann, is based on Rüdiger Bertram’s novel and is inspired by true events.

Naman Ramachandran In a new series, Variety catches up with the directors of the films shortlisted for the International Feature Oscar to discuss their road to the awards, what they’ve learned so far, and what’s taken them off guard.Maria Schrader, an Emmy winner for directing the Netflix series “Unorthodox,” is also a Berlin Silver Bear winning actor for “Aimée & Jaguar” (1999). Her latest feature “I’m Your Man” follows a scientist (Maren Eggert, “Giraffe”) who agrees to live for three weeks with a humanoid robot (Dan Stevens, “Downton Abbey”) designed to make her happy.

Berlin Film Festival organizers on Wednesday said they have further updated their Covid regulations ahead of the fest, which kicks off February 10.

Ed Meza @edmezavarGerman sales company Pluto Film is under new ownership following its sale by founders and former CEOs Heino Deckert and Torsten Frehse to Daniela and Benjamin Cölle.Deckert and Frehse, who established the Berlin-based shingle in 2015, are stepping down to focus on the activities of their respective companies, the Leipzig-based production shingle Maja.de and Berlin film distributor Neue Visionen.The new husband and wife team will head Pluto Film as co-CEOs, with Daniela Cölle also serving as head of acquisitions. Cölle has worked at the company since its launch, initially as festival manager.“We are very thankful to Torsten and Heino for trusting in us as new owners and CEOs,” she said.

The 72nd Berlin International Film Festival has confirmed its various juries, including who will be joining M. Night Shyamalan to award the International Competition prizes.

Nick Vivarelli International CorrespondentBerlin Film Festival artistic director Carlo Chatrian on Wednesday unveiled the full lineup for the fest’s 72nd edition which he is hellbent on holding as an in-person event despite the global spread of the omicron variant, even after other top fests such as Sundance and Rotterdam have thrown in the towel and gone online.Chatrian spoke to Variety about the selection and what he expects his “exercise in resistance,” as he has called it, to be like on the ground in Berlin.Yes. Despite everything that is happening, the willingness and desire to be part of the festival on the part of production companies, sellers, actors and directors is very strong. I was even moved a couple of weeks ago when they told me that Paolo Taviani, who is 91, really wants to come at any cost. I think filmmakers are pining to be reconnected [with audiences] and the Berlinale even more than other festivals gives that sense, because you are at the center of a city.

It feels like yesterday that I was on the phone to Berlinale directors Mariette Rissenbeek and Carlo Chatrian following their pre-recorded video announcement of the 2021 festival program, the three of us casting an eye forward to the following year with the hope that this pandemic would finally be behind us.

The 72nd Berlin International Film Festival is revealing its Competition line-up this morning from 11am CET, refresh this page for updates.

The Viking empire is growing.

Wyatte Grantham-Philips editorNetflix has released a teaser for “Vikings: Valhalla,” a spinoff series of the original “Vikings” saga set to premiere Feb. 25 on the streaming platform.“Vikings: Valhalla” takes place over a thousand years ago in the early 11th century, chronicling the adventures of famous Vikings in history — notably explorer Leif Eriksson (Sam Corlett), his sister Freydis Eriksdotter (Frida Gustavsson) and Nordic prince Harald Sigurdsson (Leo Suter). In the series, tensions between Vikings and English royals violently climax and an epic journey across oceans (and bloody battlefields) begins.“Vikings: Valhalla” takes place more than 100 years after the end of the “Vikings” series, which started close to the year 793 and explored several decades after.

Nick Vivarelli International CorrespondentFrench auteur Alain Guiraudie’s political drama “Nobody’s Hero” has been set as the opener of the 2022 Berlin Film Festival’s multifaceted Panorama strand, which has announced its full lineup.The latest feature from Guiraudie, who is best known for his 2016 “Staying Vertical,” takes place in Clermont-Ferrand, central France, where a terrorist attack triggers some paranoid dynamics involving a young homeless man, a middle-aged sex worker and her married lover who have taken refuge in a building. The film’s cast comprises actor-director Noémie Lvovsky, Jean-Charles Clichet and Doria Tillier.The ten-title Panorama Dokumente strand, which runs concurrently with the feature films, comprises previously announced transgender-themed doc “Nel Mio Nome” (“Into My Name”) by Italian director and producer Nicolò Bassetti.

The program announcements continue for the 72nd Berlin International Film Festival this week, with the full Panorama line-up now confirmed.