For his last at the head of the Berlinale, Dieter Kosslick wanted to send a strong message to members of extreme right-wing party, Alternative for Germany (AfD). The director of the festival has invited the elected representatives of the populist party for the screening of the documentary film by Roberta Grossman the secret archives of The Warsaw Ghetto , the 10th of February next, reports the Hollywood Reporter . “I invite all members of the AfD, and all their deputies in the Bundestag to come to the cinema free of charge. I’ll pay for it myself,” said Kosslick, who will yield his place to the duo of Carlo Chatrian and Mariette Rissenbeek, respectively the artistic director of the Locarno international film Festival and director of the production company German Films, at the end of the edition 2019 of the German event.
the secret archives of The Warsaw Ghetto , which compiles the famous archives of Ringelblum, was screened around the world on January 27, the international day of the memory of the Holocaust and prevention of crimes against humanity. It is a last minute addition to the program of the festival. “Anyone who has not seen this movie should go watch it,” said Kosslick, noting in passing the rise of populism in Germany.
Björn Höcke, leader of the AfD in Thuringia (east of the country), had declared two years ago that the memorial of the victims of the Holocaust in Berlin was a memorial of shame,” and that the history books should be rewritten to focus on the victims of German rather than jewish.
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The 69th edition of the Berlinale will be held from 7 to 17 February in the German capital, where blows a wind of feminism. In the past year, the festival was set to honor the filmmakers by awarding the golden Bear and the jury grand prize at two of the four female film directors in competition: the Romanian Adina Pintilie ( Touch Me Not ), and Polish Malgorzata Szumowska ( Twarz ). This year, seven of the seventeen films in the race for the golden Bear are made by women. The prestigious award will be awarded by an international jury chaired by the actress Juliette Binoche.
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In the opening of the event will be screened the film The Kindness of Strangers , filmmaker Danish Lone Scherfig with Tahar Rahim and Zoe Kazan. Will be including in competition the feature films of Agnieszka Holland Mr. Jones (James Norton, Vanessa Kirby and Peter Sarsgaard), Zhang Yimou ( One Second ) or Isabelle Coixet ( E lisa y Marcela ), history of the first lesbian couple to marry in Spain – and the first film produced by Netflix to be presented in competition in Berlin.
Also highly anticipated Thanks to God , a drama by François Ozon on the scandal of pedophilia in the catholic Church should make him talk in Berlin. In addition to the director of Franz , France will be represented by André Téchiné with Farewell to the night and Agnes Varda ( Varda by Agnès ), both screened out of competition.
* The 17 films in competition
Der Boden unter den Füßen , Marie Kreutzer (Austria)
Di jiu tian chang , Wang Xiaoshuai (China)
Elisa y Marcela , Isabel Coixet (Spain)
Der Goldene Handschuh , Fatih Akin (Germany, France)
Gospod postoi, imeto i’ e Petrunija , Teona Strugar Mitevska (Macedonia, Belgium, Slovenia, Croatia, France)
Thanks to God , François Ozon (France)
Ich war zuhause, aber , Angela Schanelec (Germany, Serbia)
The Kindness of Strangers , Lone Scherfig (Denmark, Canada, Sweden, Germany, France)
the Maiden Kardeşler , Emin Alper (Turkey, Germany, the netherlands, Greece)
Mr. Jones , Agnieszka Holland (Poland, Uk, Ukraine)
Öndög , Wang Quan’year (Mongolia)
La paranza dei bambini , Claudio Giovannesi (Italy)
the Directory of the lost cities , Denis Côté (Canada)
Synonyms , Nadav Lapid (France, Israel, Germany)
Systemsprenger , Nora Fingscheidt (Germany)
Ut og stjæle hester , Hans Petter Moland (Norway, Sweden, Denmark)
Yi miao zhong , Zhang Yimou (China)
* The 7 films out of competition
Farewell to the night , André Téchiné (France, Germany)
Amazing Grace , a documentary by Alan Elliott (United States)
Marighella , Wagner Moura (Brazil)
The Operative , Yuval Adler (Germany, Israel, Usa, France)
Varda by Agnès , a documentary by Agnès Varda (France)
Vice , Adam McKay (United States)
the archives of The Warsaw Ghetto, Roberta Grossman (United States)
