Berlin Film Festival Unveils Lineup of Short Films

Leo Barraclough International Features EditorBy any terms, Berlin’s 2021 European Film Market will deliver its smallest pre-sales market in years.

John Hopewell Chief International CorrespondentRyan Gosling, Shailene Woodley, Milla Jovovich and Catherine Deneuve headline new movie projects at a 2021 Berlin market that looks set, however, to deliver a slimmed down version of prior editions.It could hardly be otherwise.

Berlin this year, at least the first leg of the film festival in March, will be online only, with everyone — critics, reporters and the international film industry — watching the lineup of the 2021 Berlinale from home on their laptops. Everyone, that is, except for this year's competition jury.

Nick Vivarelli International CorrespondentDue to the pandemic, Berlin Film Festival artistic director Carlo Chatrian and his programming team this year were forced to “think of the selection in different terms,” he says, when the fest adopted its two-step formula — an industry and press-focused event March 1-5 and a Summer Special open to the public June 9-20 — and what they “had to offer” to the film industry changed.

An Asian horror dream team has formed aroundThe Medium, a supernatural horror flick that will be co-produced by South Korea's Showbox and Thai studio GDH 599. Korea's Na Hong-jin, the visionary auteur behind The Wailing, Yellow Sea and The Chaser, will produce the film based on an original story he developed.

Naman Ramachandran Director Christian Schwochow and writer Thomas Wendrich’s “Je Suis Karl,” due to premiere at the Berlin Film Festival’s Berlinale Special strand in June, is a chillingly timely film.On Aug. 29, 2020, dozens of assailants from the far right attacked the Reichstag building, the home of German parliament in Berlin, the burning of which in 1933 heralded the rise of Hitler’s Nazi rule.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau ChiefTop Thai director Banjong Pisanthanakun and Korean director-turned-producer Na Hong-jin (“The Chaser”) have teamed to create new Thai horror film “The Medium.”Now in post-production, “The Medium” is a horrifying story of a shaman’s inheritance in the Isan region of Thailand.

Catherine Deneuve, Benoît Magimel and Cécile de France, “Peaceful,” directed by Cannes best actress winner Emmanuelle Bercot, will head Studiocanal’s 2021 Berlin slate.“Peaceful” is produced by Les Films du Kiosque, whose credits include “La Belle Epoque” and Bercot’s own “Standing Tall.”Introduced to buyers from Feb.

European Film Market, incorporating industry and press screenings of Berlin Film Festival’s program.

Maybe it’s because the film is actually titled “Natural Light,” but it’s hard to watch the new trailer for the upcoming WWII drama and not be cognizant of the lighting. And it’s that lighting that adds to the overall dread and somberness that is prevalent in the upcoming film.

Naman Ramachandran Cinetic Media and HanWay Films have launched sales on writer/director Tony Stone’s Berlin Panorama selection “Ted K,” starring Sharlto Copley (“District 9”).The film tracks a period in the life of Ted Kaczynski, better known as the Unabomber, and draws from his personal diaries and accounts from those who knew him during his life in hiding.

HanWay Films and Cinetic have boarded Berlin Film Festival entry Ted K for international and North American sales, respectively. The companies have also released a first look image.

Latido Films in the run-up to its world premiere at this years’ Berlinale Generation 14Plus.The Madrid-based sales company has also shared with Variety in exclusivity a first two-minute trailer. The pickup is believed to have been made in a competitive bidding situation with other sales agents circling a title which questions the weaknesses of what Baillif describes as a retrograde juvenile system.He should know.

The Berlin International Film Festival has unveiled the juries for its 2021 festival sidebars, the films screening outside the main competition at the 71st Berlinale. German actress Jella Haase (Berlin Alexanderplatz), Dutch director Mees Peijnenburg (Paradise Drifters), and German writer-director Melanie Waelde (Naked Animals) will judge the movies running in this year's Generation Kplus and Generation 14plus sections focused on children and youth films.

Motörhead live album and concert film has been announced.‘Louder Than Noise… Live in Berlin’ was recorded on December 5, 2012 at the Berlin Velodrom during the band’s ‘Kings of The Road Tour’.“‘Louder Than Noise… Live in Berlin’ is a crowning, definitive statement as to the power the trio had long held,” a summary of the new release explains about the Motörhead line-up at the time (Ian ‘Lemmy’ Kilmister, Phil Campbell and Mikkey Dee).“Theirs was a line-up which had spent decades cracking sound

John Hopewell Chief International CorrespondentParis-based Totem Films announced Friday that it is handling sales on Iranian Behtash Sanaeeha and Maryam Moghaddam’s Berlin Film Festival competition entry, “Ballad of a White Cow.” Totem Films will bring the drama onto the market at early March’s European Film Market (EFM).The pick-up is sure to draw attention.

The Berlin Film Festival on Thursday unveiled the titles that will compete in the 2021 Berlinale as well as the high-profile features screening out of competition in Berlin's Berlinale Specials section.

Berlinale Executive Director Mariette Rissenbeek and Artistic Director Carlo Chatrian were determined to be in a cinema today when broadcasting the lineup for this year’s Competition program.

New films by Celine Sciamma, Hong Sangsoo, Xavier Beauvois, Radu Jude, and the directorial debut of German actor Daniel Brühl were unveiled as part of the 15 competition titles at the 2021 Berlin Film Festival today. READ MORE: The 100 Most Anticipated Films Of 2021 The festival’s 71st edition will take place in two stages.

BERLIN -- The Berlin International Film Festival on Thursday announced 15 films that are part of this year's competition and will compete for the top Golden and Silver Bear awards.