Heretic Boards Michael Borodin’s Berlin Festival-Bound ‘Convenience Store’ (EXCLUSIVE)

Michael Nordine authorAnyone who’s ever scoffed at a company referring to its employees as family will immediately hear alarm bells ringing when Zhanna (Lyudmila Vasilyeva), the matriarch who runs Produkty 24, tells her workers they aren’t just employees, they’re her children. It won’t take long for “Convenience Store” to justify that skepticism and then some: A highlight of the 2022 Berlin Film Festival’s Panorama program, Michael Borodin’s look at an Uzbek immigrant working in the Moscow outskirts is all the more disturbing for the fact that it’s based on a real case of human trafficking.The marriage of Mukkahabat (a gently devastating Zukhara Sanzysbay) to a fellow worker is our entree into this world, but it’s hardly a storybook wedding.

Alissa Simon Film CriticUzbekistan-born Michael Borodin makes a searing feature debut with the Russia-Turkey-Slovenia co-production “Convenience Store,” a story of modern slavery in Moscow, taking places under the noses of thousands of indifferent witnesses. Demonstrating his interest in pressing social issues, Borodin’s Berlinale Panorama selection was inspired by his personal experience as an illegal immigrant to Russia and the 2012 case of the “Golyanovo slaves,” which is now making its way to the European Court of Human Rights.Developed through the Next Step program of Cannes’ Critics’ Week and other co-production markets, the film, like the case of the Golyanovo slaves, centers on citizens of the former Soviet Republics, who are illegal migrants to Moscow and forced to work long hours, unpaid, in 24/7 convenience shops, without being able to leave the premises.

Ben Croll To follow-up his 2016 debut “Marija,” Swiss filmmaker Michael Koch set his sight skyward, fixing his vision on a remote Alpine farming community both untouched and victim to time. The filmmaker immersed himself in that world, working with village locals, collecting stories and living off the land, and would then channel those experiences into his sophomore feature.Now premiering in competition in Berlin, “A Piece of Sky” follows a taciturn farmhand, Marco (Simon Wisler), and a single mother, Anna (Michèle Brand), who find strength in each other as they build a life in the punishing Alpine range.

Despite her young age, Indian-born British actress Alia Bhatt has sustained herself as a leading lady in Hindi cinema for the past decade, racking up credits including Gully Boy, Raazi and Highway.

Holly Jones By way of improvisation, relying heavily on events to naturally develop, Argentine filmmaker Gastón Solnicki presents a meandering ode to the city of Vienna, its customs, cultures, facades, and the near-sacrilege of enacting a smoking ban in cafes city-wide.In, “A Little Love Package,” two main protagonists become the vehicles through which the minutiae of everyday life in Vienna unfolds. Experimental aural and visual cues present themselves as Angeliki (Angeliki Papoulia) and Carmen (Carmen Chaplin) seek the perfect apartment in a city suspended in time.Produced by Little Magnet Films, out of Austria, and Solnicki’s Argentine production company, Filmy Wiktora, “A Little Love Package” is the fifth cinematic feature for Solnicki, whose entire catalog was recently acquired by MOMA.

“Do you believe in God?,” Julia asks her stepfather on his sickbed. He looks down at her little face. Not much captures his interest these days. “I think so,” he mumbles. Julia continues, undeterred. “I believe in something else,” she says firmly. “The sun, mountains, animals, trees. And snow.” Marco says nothing — he never said much, even at his most hale and hearty — but his big body seems to soften in acceptance. She’s talking his language.

Few directors are better equipped to make an interesting and entertaining film in the middle of a pandemic than Quentin Dupieux. Seemingly unperturbed by this “new normal,” the French filmmaker continues on his recent string of cost-effective but impactful films, each revolving around a simple but conceptually bold ‘what if’ scenario, with “Incredible But True,” premiering in the Special Gala section of this year’s Berlin International Film Festival.

The latest movie from French filmmaker Claire Denis, Fire (or Both Sides Of The Blade), premieres tonight at the Berlin International Film Festival.

Leo Barraclough International Features EditorThe trailer for Gu∂mundur Arnar Gu∂mundsson’s teen drama “Beautiful Beings” has debuted ahead of the film’s world premiere at the Berlin Film Festival on Friday. The film, which plays in Panorama, is being sold by Jan Naszewski’s New Europe Film Sales.

Nick Vivarelli International CorrespondentSwitzerland, thanks to its prolific co-production activity, has a hand in a record-breaking 11 titles in the Berlinale’s official selection, including two films competing for the Golden Bear, and two more in Berlin’s cutting-edge Encounters section, as well as a Swiss talent selected for the fest’s Shooting Stars event, Souheila Yacoub.Ursula Meier’s “The Line” (competition) — Following “Home” and “Sister,” Meier continues to pursue “this idea of family that is as much necessary, as it is toxic,” says the film’s producer Pauline Gygax. After a violent argument with her mother, Margaret, 35 (Stephanie Blanchoud), who has a long history of inflicting and suffering from violence, is subjected to a restraining order.

Christopher Vourlias Austrian director Ulrich Seidl, whose latest feature “Rimini” plays in the main competition at this year’s Berlin Film Festival, is winding down production on his next film, Variety can reveal.“Sparta” is a companion piece to Seidl’s competition entry and revolves around the brother of that film’s protagonist, the washed-up singer Richie Bravo. “[‘Rimini’] actually originated as a much larger story,” the director told Variety.

Christopher Vourlias Berlin Golden Bear winner Radu Jude (“Bad Luck Banging or Loony Porn”) is set to begin production in Romania on his next feature, Variety can reveal.“A Case History” analyzes the relations between individuals and multinational companies in the mad dash of new Romanian capitalism, starting from the real story of preparing and shooting a problematic work safety video. Principal photography is slated to begin in summer or early fall.“The film is composed of two parts which respond to each other, forming a diptych of sorts,” said Jude.

Emiliano De Pablos Media giant Mediaset has acquired Italian distribution rights to Spanish writer-director Benito Zambrano’s drama “Lemon and Poppy Seed Cake,” produced and sold by Barcelona-based studio Filmax.News of the deal comes just before Filmax screens “Lemon and Poppy Seed Cake” to buyers at this year’s online European Film Market.Described as high-quality cinema for adults and predominantly female audiences, “Lemon and Poppy Seed Cake” adapts the novel of the same title by screenwriter and casting specialist Cristina Campos. It has sold more than 250,000 copies worldwide.A member of  Spain’s generation of directors that broke out in the 1990s,  helping Spanish movies find far larger favor with audiences at home, Zambrano’s breakout debut, 1999’s “Alone,” won the Panorama Audience Award at Berlin.

Tom Hanks, Gerard Butler, Evan Rachel Wood and Rosamund Pike headline projects being brought onto Berlin’s virtual European Film Market.Just how large its top-tier offers may be is, and the volume of deals, are still open for debate.“Very compact,” Constantin’s Martin Moszkowicz said mid-last week of the EFM, which swelled somewhat thanks to a flurry of title announcements on Feb. 4, followed by a steady trickle of big unveils.“The EFM does not look like it will have the comparable volume of the AFM,” Mister Smith’s David Garrett said.

‘Righteous Thieves’ First Look

K.J. Yossman Agnieszka Holland has signed on to direct a biopic of 20th century novelist Franz Kafka.Titled “Kafka,” the film will cover the writer’s life in a series of standalone vignettes, from his birth in 19th century Prague through to his death in Berlin just a few years after the close of World War I.Šárka Cimbalová, Sam Taylor and Mike Downey are set to produce the feature. “‘Kafka’ will be a dazzling kaleidoscopic mosaic of a film that dramatizes the famous writer’s life and imagination in a series of standalone vignettes that span Kafka’s life from his birth in pre-war Prague, up to his tragic death in Berlin in 1924 and into scenes from the future he envisioned,” the trio said in a statement.

Leo Barraclough International Features EditorWide has come on board to represent international sales on Slovenian-Australian writer/director Sara Kern’s debut feature “Moja Vesna,” which premieres in the Generation Kplus section at the Berlin Film Festival.“Moja Vesna” stars newcomer Loti Kovačič as Moja, a 10-year-old girl who lives with her grief-stricken Slovenian dad and pregnant 20-year-old sister Vesna in an outer suburb of Melbourne. Unable to accept the reality of her mother’s sudden death, Moja focuses on preparing for the baby while Vesna is lost in troubles of her own.Adamant and full of light, Moja carries on, hoping in vain that Vesna will eventually fill the mother-shaped hole in her life.

He’s the rising star at the forefront of brand new ITV drama No Return. But the actor who plays Sheridan Smith’s on screen son Noah also has a very famous family behind the scenes. Actor Louis Ashbourne Serkis, who stars as the teen accused of sexually assaulting another boy while on holiday with his family in Turkey, is the son of Hollywood star Andy Serkis and Bridgerton actress Lorraine Ashbourne.

Euro Box Office Stats For 2021