The 73rd edition will take place, in person, from February 16-26, 2023.
The 73rd edition of the Berlinale has announced the titles selected for the Panorama and Generations sections.
Films from Ukraine, Yemen and about Iran are among the first to have been confirmed for the Panorama line-up which also features strong feminist cinema from the US. The 2023 programme manifests a worldwide trend towards transnational filmmaking in both fiction films and documentaries. Of the 14 films selected, 11 are world premieres, with a total of 19 countries involved. There are new films by Sepideh Farsi, Jennifer Reeder, Tina Satter, Sacha Polak, Malene Choi and Ira Sachs.
Speaking about the selected titles, Section head Michael Stütz said: “This year features impressive independent filmmaking from across the globe. The many works by filmmakers worldwide who are using their films to defy war, systematic persecution and oppression are particularly striking. The trend towards transnational filmmaking is reflected in the numerous strong submissions. This all creates a rich breeding ground for a wide-ranging, highly topical 2023 Panorama.”
The film collective Babylon’13, which includes director Roman Liubyi, completed their documentary Iron Butterflies during the Russian invasion of Ukraine. In her stirring animated film La Sirène, Iranian director Sepideh Farsi depicts the fateful first Iraq-Iran war, the effects of which can still be felt in Iranian society today. In Al Murhaqoon, director Amr Gamal focuses on the looming decline of a middle-class family, in Yemen ravaged by civil war, where an unwanted pregnancy provokes many questions. All three films use their different stylistic approaches to illuminate acts of war in various periods – as well as the international repercussions and inevitable consequences these conflicts have for their civil societies.
US indie cinema is distinguishing itself this year with two particular contributions: Tina Satter’s debut film Reality focuses on the arrest of the American whistle-blower Reality Winner whilst Jennifer Reeder confirms with Perpetrator her status as the genre queen of independent US cinema.
Art thief Nemo fights for sheer survival in Inside by Vasilis Katsoupis. But the merciless security system of a luxury apartment is no match for the great Willem Dafoe. Who is outperforming whom here?
Au cimetière de la pellicule (The Cemetery of Cinema) by Thierno Souleymane Diallo, is a France, Senegal, Guinea, Saudi Arabia co-production. The documentary follows Diallo as he sets out with his camera in search of the birth of filmmaking in Guinea. Charming and determined, he traces his country’s film heritage and history and reveals the importance of film archives.
In the Generation K14 Plus section, Darvazeye royaha (Dreams’ Gate) by Negin Ahmadi will also world premiere in Berlin. It is a documentary Iran, France, Norway co-production which follows the journey of Ahmadi herself, who, driven by the desire to understand her inner truth as a marginalized woman in Iran, embarks on a self-exploring precarious adventure to meet the Kurdish women fighters in the war zone of North Syria.
