The Berlin International Film Festival has unveiled the full lineup for its 63rd edition next month.
The event is planned as an in-person fest to run in an abridged, seven-day version Feb. 10-16, with four days of repeat, public screenings through Feb. 20.
Peter von Kant, Francois Ozon’s gender-flipped adaptation of Rainer Werner Fassbinder’s 1972 masterpiece The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant, starring Denis Menochet, Isabelle Adjani and Hanna Schygulla, will open the 72nd Berlinale and screen in competition.
Joining it in the race for the 2022 Golden Bear are competition titles Claire Denis’ Both Sides of the Blade, starring Juliette Binoche and Titane stare Vincent Lindon, Hong Sangsoo’s latest, The Novelist’s Film, Charlotte Gainsbourg-starrer The Passengers of the Night from Mikhael Hers; Ulrich Seidel’s Rimini; AEIOU — A Quick Alphabet of Love from German actress turned director Nicolette Krebitz; The Line from Swiss director Ursula Meier; and abortion drama Call Jane, the directorial debut of Carol screenwriter Phillis Nagy, which will premiere at the online-only Sundance film festival.
Alongside Ozon, who has screened several films in Berlin, including 8 Women (2002) and By the Grace of God (2018), several Berlin regulars return to competition this year, including Germany’s, a Silver Bear best director winner for Grill Point in 2002, who will present the real-life political drama Rabiye Kurnaz vs. George W. Bush at Berlin 2022; 2012 Golden Bear winner Paolo Taviani (Caesar Must Die), who returns to the German capital with Leonora addio, his first film directed solo, without his brother Vittorio; and Canadian auteur Denis Côté, whose film Social Hygiene took the top prize for in Berlin’s 2021 Encounters section and whose latest, That Kind of Summer, will screen in competition this year.
Berlinale co-directors Mariette Rissenbeek and Carlo Chatrian presented the official lineup via livestream Wednesday morning, Berlin time.
Out of competition, Berlin has lined up an impressive group of high-profile titles, including Sophie Hyde’s Good Luck to You, Leo Grande starring Emma Thompson, The Outfit from director Graham Moore, featuring Mark Rylance, and Dario Argento’s new horror film Dark Glasses, starring his daughter, Italian star Asia Argento.
The Sundance Film Festival canceled its in-person screenings this year and went all-virtual after a surge in COVID-19 infections driven by the omicron variant of the coronavirus. Berlin’s industry section, the European Film Market, has gone online-only in the wake of an omicron spike across Europe, but the Berlinale is still determined to hold an in-person event, what Chatrian described as “the essence of film festivals, or at least the essence of the Berlinale.”
The festival got some bad news Wednesday when Germany’s Robert Koch Institute reported more than 112,000 confirmed new cases of COVID-19 infection, the highest level since the pandemic began. In an interview Tuesday night with television network RTL, German health minister Karl Lauterbach said he expects the current wave of COVID infections, driven by the new omicron variant of the coronavirus, to peak in Germany “in mid-February” or right in the middle of the 2022 Berlinale. The German government has introduced new measures to stem the spread of omicron, including requiring proof of vaccination for various indoor activities, including cinema visits, but so far has not shut down theaters entirely.
Among the films already confirmed to be heading to Berlin this year are Laurent Larivière’s French drama About Joan, starring Isabelle Huppert and Lars Eidinger, and period adventure film Against the Ice from Danish director Peter Flinth starring Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Joe Cole, Heida Reed and Charles Dance. Both will have their world premieres as Berlinale Special Galas during the 2022 festival.
Berlin has unveiled new COVID measures for its 2022 festival, banning parties and public events, requiring vaccination, testing, and masking in cinemas, and cutting cinema capacity by 50 percent to allow social distancing. The festival has also chopped three days off its 2022 schedule, with competition films screening Feb. 10-16 and the final four days of the fest, through Feb. 20 set aside for repeat and public screenings. Overall, the 2022 Berlinale will be smaller than last year, with 256 feature-length and short films screening across all sections, compared to 340 titles in 2021.
Berlin’s industry section, the European Film Market, which runs Feb. 10-17, will be online-only again this year.
Full list of 2022 Berlin International Film Festival competition titles:
A E I O U – A Quick Alphabet of Love, dir. Nicolette Krebitz
Alcarràs, dir. Carla Simón
Both Sides of the Blade, dir. Claire Denis
Rimini, dir. Ulrich Seidl
Call Jane, dir. Phyllis Nagy
A Piece of Sky, dir. Michael Koch
Everything Will Be Ok, dir. Rithy Panh
The Line, dir. Ursula Meier
Leonora addio, dir. Paolo Taviani
The Passengers of the Night, dir. Mikhaël Hers
Nana (Before, Now & Then), dir. Kamila Andini
Peter von Kant, dir. François Ozon
Rabiye Kurnaz vs. George W. Bush, dir. Andreas Dresen
Robe of Gems, dir. Natalia López Gallardo
The Novelist’s Film, dir. Hong Sangsoo
One Year, One Night, dir. Isaki Lacuesta
That Kind of Summer, dir. Denis Côté
Return to Dust, dir. Li Ruijun
Source: Hollywood
