BERLIN – The Berlin International Film Festival is kicking off on Thursday with the world premiere of Tom Tykwer’s “The Light,” a timely tale of a dysfunctional German family and a Syrian refugee.
The festival known as the Berlinale this year comes against the backdrop of Germany's parliament elections. For Tykwer, it's the third time he has opened the festival although his most recent success has come in the form of hit TV show “Babylon Berlin.”
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“The Light” infuses drama, political and social commentary, song and dance — and a migration storyline that Tykwer says he didn’t know would be so relevant when he started working on the movie three years ago.
“Now that it aligns with the elections and the elections are riding on the subject so violently, of course, I feel (strongly) that this movie has a really strong position about it,” he told The Associated Press.
Nineteen films will compete in the main competition lineup, with the Golden Bear winner to be announced at the closing gala on Feb. 22.
The role of politics
Germany’s national election on Feb. 23, the final day of the Berlinale, is being held seven months early, after Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s governing coalition collapsed in a dispute about how to revitalize the country’s economy.
Efforts to curb migration have emerged as a central issue in the campaign — along with the question of how to handle the challenge from the far-right Alternative for Germany, which appears to be on course for its strongest national election result yet.
Politics remained front and center at a news conference with this year’s Berlinale international jury, headed up by American director Todd Haynes.
And despite an air of pessimism around today’s global politics, there was positivity around the role of cinema.
Haynes said the Berlinale “has always had a strength of conviction and an openness to challenging and political discourse and bringing that into the filmmaking.”
“What’s happening in the world right now has put an extra urgency to all of that,” he added.
Franco-Moroccan director and jury member Nabil Ayouch added that people need strong creative voices. “We have to be radical. We have to be strong in our choices, in our movies,” he said.
Five films to watch
“Blue Moon” is set during the opening night of the musical “Oklahoma!” and marks director Richard Linklater's return to the Berlinale for the first time since “Boyhood” premiered at the festival in 2014.
Starring long-time collaborator Ethan Hawke and Margaret Qualley of “The Substance,” the movie is competing for the Golden Bear.
Rose Byrne stars in ‘“If I had Legs I’d Kick You” alongside A$AP Rocky and this year’s Oscar host Conan O’Brien.
The anxiety inducing dramedy from Mary Bronstein, follows Byrne’s character Linda as an exhausted working mum surrounded by a revolving group of unhelpful bystanders, colleagues and family. After a hit Sundance world premiere, the movie gets to join the Berlinale's competition lineup.
Jessica Chastain reunites with Mexican director Michel Franco in the drama “Dreams,” about a young Mexican ballet dancer played by real-life dancer Isaac Hernández. Chastain plays a wealthy socialite who finds her young lover has moved illegally to San Francisco to pursue both her and his dancing dreams.
Emma Mackey and Vicky Krieps star in playwright Rebecca LenkiewIcz’s directorial debut “Hot Milk,” also a hot contender. Based on Deborah Levy’s book of the same name, it’s the story of a girl who meets a free-spirited traveler when she takes her mother to consult a healer about her mystery illness in a Spanish seaside town.
And Marion Cotillard plays an actress shooting a film adaptation of Hans Christina Anderson's fairytale “The Snow Queen” in Lucile Hadžihalilović’s 70s-set French fantasy drama, “The Ice Tower.”
Fangirl favorites
Though politics may play a part, some Berliners may be simply hoping to catch a glimpse of their favorite stars.
Timothee Chalamet will undoubtedly cause a stoir the Palast red carpet for the German premiere of his award-winning biopic “A Complete Unknown” on Friday — a final push before the Oscars where Chalamet is up for best actor for his portrayal of Bob Dylan.
Jacob Elordi is also likely to attract a strong fan turnout when he premieres the new TV series “The Narrow Road to the Deep North” at the festival.
Justin Kurzel’s much anticipated drama about a World War II hero haunted by his experiences in a Japanese prisoner of war camp has it’s red carpet debut on Saturday.
Robert Pattinson will also hit the Berlinale carpet on the same day for a special screening of Bong Joon-Ho’s long-awaited follow-up to “Parasite.”
In “Mickey 17,” a sci-fi comedy, Pattinson plays a space traveler who is sure to bring out fans braving Berlin's sub-zero temperatures this February.