BERLINALE: What we don't want to miss

Out of all the competition films we are most excited to see Denis Cotés new film GHOST TOWN ANTHOLOGIES . The few excerpts we saw reveal cinematic understatement in a fantastic story about evil in a snowy small town in Quebec. The nicest poster belongs to Wang Xiaoshuai‘s SO LONG, MY SON, the first part of a planned trilogy following the life of a family in transition in Chinese society since the 80s. Angela Schanelec‘s ICH WAR ZUHAUSE, ABER ( I WAS HOME, BUT) clearly references Yasuhiro Ozu‘s classic I WAS BORN, BUT. Her film about a 13 year old boy who disappears for a week could be the antidote to the dominant arthouse aesthetic. Apart from that there‘s buzz about the issue films from well-known directors. Francois Ozon has a film about child abuse in the Catholic church. Isabel Coixet‘s film ELISA Y MARCELA it‘s about the first same-sex marriage in Spain, Angieszka Holland made a film about Welsh journalist Gareth Jones who first reported on the famine in the USSR. André Techine, the old master of teen films, has collaborated with young Lea Mysius, whose film AVA we were very fond of last year- L‘ADIEU A LA NUIT tells the story of a grandmother whose grandson becomes an Islamist. Perhaps the exciting cinema can be found in films like Claudio Giovannesi‘s PIRANHAS about a youth gang in Naples. Marie Kreutzer, whose hipsters-with-children comedy WAS HAT UNS BLOSS SO RUINIERT we found amusing, presents her new film DER BODEN UNTER DEN FÜSSEN in competition about a super-controlled young business consultant with a mentally ill sister. We definitely won‘t miss the newest films by Zhang Yimou and Fatih Akin either.

But honestly we still don‘t know where the best films will be found. Maybe in the Panorama or Forum or Forum Expanded sections, which includes a documentary about folk singer Ricky Shayne, whose single “Mammy Blue“ was the first purchase made by the oldest member of Indiekino editorial staff. We will report to you daily about our discoveries on indiekino.de and facebook.com/indiekinoberlin