Carlo Chatrian on Berlin’s ‘Different’ Lineup Due to the Pandemic

Filmed in glossy black and white, and adopting a non-judgmental vérité approach, director Carlos Alfonso Corral’s debut is a humanizing look at a small section of the homeless population in El Paso, Texas. “Dirty Feathers,” is a short, but thematically rich, film about those on the margins of society.

It’s 1943. A particularly cruel winter has swept through the occupied Soviet Union.

Christina Ricci has nabbed the lead role in Monstrous, the supernatural thriller from director Chris Sivertson and screenwriter Carol Chrest. Film Mode Entertainment is handling international sales at the virtual Berlin market in partnership with Screen Media, which has acquired the world rights outside of North America, U.K., Japan and the Middle East.

Denis Cotes' absurdist French language comedy Social Hygiene opens with a wide shot of Antonin, a philosopher-cum-petty thief, standing in a field more than two meters from his long-suffering sister Solvieg in a scene dominated by a lush Quebec countryside.

Guy Lodge Film CriticNow in its 35th year, the Teddy Awards are among the Berlinale’s most affectionately regarded institutions.

One year in the life of a teenager can feel like an eternity. The intensity of the fleeting romances, the wild swings between happiness and despair, the thrilling yet uneasy anticipation of a future that seems simultaneously imminent and distant — it’s a wonder that we come out of adolescence intact.

Amazon Prime Video has swooped on the critically acclaimed Chilean LGBTQ+ drama My Tender Matador for Latin America. The film —which first bowed in the Venice Days sidebar of the 2020 Venice Film Festival —won the audience award in the Open Horizons section of the 2020 Thessaloniki Film Festival.

The first thing to understand about the social dynamics in Mexico around police is that they differ greatly from how the public in the United States relates to law enforcement officers. Stateside, both the uncritical reverence some feel toward them—namely the Blue Lives Matter crowd—and the terror they incite among BIPOC communities emanate from their violent efficaciousness and status as inflexible figures reveling in a lack of accountability.

As industry guests enjoy the Berlinale from home this year, eagle-eyed viewers will take pleasure in spotting a familiar location in the latest film from South Korean auteur and festival-regular Hong Sang-soo. If we can’t stroll around Potsdamer Platz this year, at least the characters in “Introduction“ can share a moment there.

Manori Ravindran International EditorSince you can’t be in Berlin this year, Variety is bringing Berlin to you. We’re publishing daily digital editions, running March 1-4, of coverage from the European Film Market.

When Katharine McPhee and husband David Foster first got together, eyebrows were raised due to the substantial gap between their ages — she’s 36, while the legendary Canadian music producer is 71.

Late Wednesday, Critics Choice Association chief Joey Berlin sent a missive to members of the organization that was, well, critical of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association and its disastrous Golden Globe Awards telecast last weekend.

There is an unavoidable distance in life between ourselves and those who came before. Parents, grandparents; no matter how open and honest they are with their children or younger relatives, there is a sense that their pasts remain partial enigmas.

With much of the world having experienced the longest year in living memory since last February, only hardened film history buffs may recall the 2020 Berlinale, the last major festival and market to take place physically before the COVID-19 pandemic led to global cinemas began shutting their doors and considering some unfortunate existential questions.

Variety Staff Follow Us on TwitterSince you can’t be in Berlin this year, Variety is bringing Berlin to you. We’re publishing daily digital editions, running March 1-4, of coverage from the European Film Market.

It’s always interesting to see what an actor will deliver as they make the step towards directing, and for “Next Door” director and star Daniel Brühl has not shied away from a premise that closely parallels, yet distorts, his own life. It’s a film that explores a space of conversation highlighted to great effect in Bong Joon-ho’s recent towering success, “Parasite,” toying with societal dichotomies and opening up discussions around wealth, class, gentrification, and spatial divides.

A teacher comes under fire for a sex tape in Bad Luck Banging Or Loony Porn, the Berlin Film Festival competition entry from Romanian writer-director Radu Jude (Aferim!). We first meet Emi (Katia Pascariu) when she is engaged in graphic sex with her husband, who’s filming an amateur video.

Variety Staff Follow Us on TwitterSince you can’t be in Berlin this year, Variety is bringing Berlin to you. We’re publishing daily digital editions, running March 1-4, of coverage from the European Film Market.

2020 may have been something of an "annus horribilis" for vast swathes of the film industry, but that didn’t stop the buzzy new packages from landing. Even at the virtual Cannes market in June, when much of the world was still under some form of lockdown from the first COVID-19 wave and most film sets and studios were gathering dust, major A-list-heavy projects were popping in all directions (ok, mostly via Zoom pitches), with buyers not shying away.

Christopher Vourlias Silver Bear winner Radu Jude (“Aferim!”) returns to the Berlin Film Festival this year with the competition feature “Bad Luck Banging or Loony Porn,” the story of a schoolteacher whose life is turned upside-down after a sex video shot with her husband is leaked on the internet.