Berlin Film Festival Outlines Physical Event: 50% Cinema Capacities, No Parties, Masks & Covid Passes, Schedule Change

Naman Ramachandran France’s Vesoul International Film Festival of Asian Cinemas kicks off Feb. 1 with a gala screening of Iranian auteur Mohsen Makhmalbaf’s 2001 Cannes winner “Kandahar” and will conclude on Feb.

Christopher Vourlias Heretic, the Athens-based boutique production company and sales agent, has acquired world sales rights for “Working Class Heroes,” by director Miloš Pušić, which will have its premiere in the Berlin Film Festival’s Panorama strand. Variety has also been given exclusive access to the film’s trailer.Starring award-winning Serbian actress Jasna Đuričić, who played the lead role in Jasmila Žbanić’s Oscar-nominated “Quo Vadis, Aida?,” “Working Class Heroes” follows a cold-hearted businesswoman working for a construction investor of dubious morals.

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.

Leo Barraclough International Features EditorPicture Tree Intl. has acquired Iranian genre crossover feature “Without Her,” and will introduce the film to buyers during the upcoming European Film Market at its Marriot Hotel located office in Berlin.

EXCLUSIVE: Eric Bana (Munich) and Kiernan Shipka (Chilling Adventures Of Sabrina) have been set to star in Ridley Scott-produced thriller Berlin Nobody, which Protagonist and Augenschein will be launching sales on at the virtual EFM next month.

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 team behind the European Film Market (EFM), the industry wing of the Berlin Film Festival, had been busy preparing for a return to an in-person event in 2022 after they were forced to put last year’s edition online due to Covid.

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.

Leo Barraclough International Features EditorBerlin-based outfit M-Appeal has acquired world sales rights to “Lonesome,” from Australian director Craig Boreham, who won the Berlinale Teddy Award for his short film “Transient.” Sales on the film will commence at the upcoming European Film Market, which was moved online due to the ongoing pandemic.The feature follows Casey, a young man from the countryside running from a small-town scandal, finding himself down and out in Sydney. When he meets Tib, a young city lad, struggling with his own isolation, both men find something they have been missing, but neither of them knows quite how to navigate their feelings.According to a statement, “‘Lonesome’ explores the adventures and sexuality of young gay men in a world that has never been more connected.

Joe Otterson TV ReporterFlula Borg is returning to the world of “Pitch Perfect,” with the German actor and comedian signing on for a role in the Peacock series continuation of the film franchise.Variety exclusively reported that the series had been ordered by Peacock in September 2021. Borg will star alongside previously announced series lead Adam Devine.

In 2009, when I was in the Air Force and stationed in Germany, I traveled to Berlin on New Year’s Eve to celebrate. As my friends and I were getting turnt up in the bar, I came out as a lesbian. The moment was random and unprovoked. I shared the news with all my friends and had a dope night ringing in the 2010s, but panic set in when I woke up the next day. I’m 27 years old and a lesbian: what do I do now? 

Rebecca Rubin Film and Media ReporterSundance Film Festival has revealed a mystery movie on its 2022 lineup.“Navalny,” a fly-on-the-wall documentary about Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, has been a late addition to the festival’s agenda. The film will debut on Jan. 25 at 6 p.m.

Nick Vivarelli International CorrespondentThough the Berlin Film Festival’s European Film Market has been forced by the omicron variant to go online, the fact that the fest itself will instead be held in person means that, as anticipated by Variety, some industry players are planning to make the trek to Germany.This has prompted the EFM –- after some deliberation with local health authorities –- to set up separate industry screenings for films launching in the Berlinale’s 2022 official selection.“Even with the EFM going online, a number of industry delegates confirmed their intention to come to Berlin to visit the festival in person and the Berlinale offers industry accreditation even in its revised format,” EFM director Dennis Ruh (pictured) tells Variety. All festival accreditation holders will have access to tickets allocated for all public screenings.

Johnny Depp is making his comeback in an upcoming period piece.

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.

While somewhat arbitrary and beholden to what’s finished, what’s available, and what’s ready, film festivals tend to have good years and bad years, depending. And well, after several good years, where the Berlin Film Festival has re-established itself as a significant player in the world cinema film festival sweepstakes, the Berlinale has really upped the ante in 2022 with a terrific line-up.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau ChiefLeading indie sales agent Finecut has picked up international rights to “The Novelist’s Film.” The picture marks the third year in a row that South Korean director Hong Sang-soo has had a film selected for competition in Berlin.Hong, who works on low budgets, controls much of the production process and makes repeated use of a small pool of actors, is one of the most prolific feature directors in the world. Although his works divide critics, he appears to have been recently rehabilitated among selectors (and juries) at the major European festivals.Hong’s 2020 “The Woman Who Ran” earned Berlin’s silver bear for best director.

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