Middle East, Gender Politics in Focus in Berlin Sidebars

Scott Roxborough
·9 min read
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The Berlin Film Festival is staying true to its political roots.

The 74th Berlinale on Wednesday unveiled its Panorama, Generation and Forum sidebars, and the selection is packed with features and documentaries with a strong political bent, as is to be expected from a fest that prides itself on the social relevance of its official lineup.

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Gender roles and gender politics are in focus in several of the Panorama titles, including the section’s opening film Crossing from director Levan Akin (And Then We Danced), in which an unlikely duo travels to Istanbul in search of a young trans woman; the Norwegian feature Sex from Dag Johan Haugerud, about two chimney sweeps living in monogamous, heterosexual marriages whose experiences change their views on sexuality; Bruce LaBruce’s The Visitor, a provocative remake of Pier Paolo Pasolini’s 1968 classic Teorema; and Anthony Schatteman’s debut feature Young Hearts, a Generation Kplus title, which explores the burgeoning sexuality of two 14-year-old boys in a small Belgium village.

Religious conflict and Middle East activism are at the center of Panorama documentaries No Other Land by directors Basel Adra, Hamdan Ballal, Yuval Abraham, and Rachel Szor, which looks at the destruction of the West Bank Masafer Yatta community by Israeli authorities; and Diaries From Lebanon from Myriam El Hajj, which follows three generations in their struggle against the political corruption in the crisis-ridden country. Andrei Cohn’s Holy Week, a Forum title, explores the deep roots of European racism and anti-semitism in a story set in Romania in 1900 in a village inn run by a Jewish man where, in the period between Passover and Easter, buried resentments rise to the surface. And Nathan Silver’s Between the Temples, starring Jason Schwartzman and Carol Kane, takes a lighter look at religion with its story of a Jewish cantor in the midst of a crisis of faith.

The Panorama line-up features documentaries and features from around the world that explore political conflict and its aftermath, from David-Pierre Fila’s documentary Which Way Africa?, a personal, meditative journey through the Central African Republic; to Sharifi Farahnaz’s My Stolen Planet, which used found footage and original material to depict an alternative reality for citizens in her home country Iran; to Svitlana Lishchynska’s A Bit of a Stranger, a documentary that uses home videos to explore the lives of four generations of Ukrainian women and their response to the Russian invasion and ongoing war.

Star watchers, however, will have less to gawk at, with few big names in the Berlinale sidebar selections this year. Notable exceptions include Saoirse Ronan, star of Nora Fingscheidt’s Panorama title The Outrun, and French acting legend Isabelle Huppert, who appears in André Téchiné’s latest, My New Friends, which will have its world premiere in Berlin.

The 74th Berlinale runs Feb. 15-25. Check out the full sidebar lineups below.

2024 Panorama Lineup

Afterwar
by Birgitte Stærmose
Panorama Dokumente | World premiere | Documentary Form

Alle die Du bist (Every You Every Me)
by Michael Fetter Nathansky
Germany / Spain 2024
Panorama | World premiere

All Shall Be Well
by Ray Yeung
Hong Kong, China 2024
Panorama | World premiere

Andrea lässt sich scheiden (Andrea Gets a Divorce)
by Josef Hader
Austria 2024
Panorama | World premiere

À quand l’Afrique? (Which Way Africa?)
by David-Pierre Fila
Republic of the Congo / Angola / Cameroon 2024
Panorama Dokumente | World premiere | Documentary Form

Baldiga – Entsichertes Herz (Baldiga – Unlocked Heart)
by Markus Stein
Germany 2024
Panorama Dokumente | World premiere | Documentary Form

Betânia
by Marcelo Botta
Panorama | World premiere | Debut film

Between the Temples
by Nathan Silver
Panorama | International premiere

A Bit of a Stranger
by Svitlana Lishchynska
Ukraine 2024
Panorama Dokumente | World premiere | Documentary Form

Crossing
by Levan Akin
Sweden / Denmark / France / Turkey / Georgia 2024
Panorama | World premiere

Cu Li Không Bao Giờ Khóc (Cu Li Never Cries)
by Lân Phạm Ngọc
Vietnam / Philippines / France / Singapore / Norway 2024
Panorama | World premiere | Debut film

Diaries from Lebanon
by Myriam El Hajj
Lebanon / France / Qatar / Saudi Arabia 2024
Panorama Dokumente | World premiere | Documentary Form

Faruk
by Aslı Özge
Germany / Turkey / France 2024
Panorama | World premiere

Les gens d’à côté (My New Friends)
by André Téchiné
France 2024
Panorama | World premiere

I Saw the TV Glow
by Jane Schoenbrun
USA 2024
Panorama | International premiere

Janet Planet
by Annie Baker
Panorama | International premiere | Debut film

Ještě nejsem, kým chci být (I’m Not Everything I Want to Be)
by Klára Tasovská
Czechia / Slovakia / Austria 2024
Panorama Dokumente | World premiere | Documentary Form

Jia ting jian shi (Brief History of a Family)
by Lin Jianjie
People’s Republic of China / France / Denmark / Qatar 2024
Panorama | European premiere | Debut film

Memorias de un cuerpo que arde (Memories of a Burning Body)
by Antonella Sudasassi Furniss
Costa Rica / Spain 2024
Panorama | World premiere

No Other Land
by Basel Adra, Hamdan Ballal, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor
Palestine / Norway 2024
Panorama Dokumente | World premiere | Documentary Form | Debut film

The Outrun
by Nora Fingscheidt
United Kingdom / Germany 2024
Panorama | European premiere

Les Paradis de Diane (Paradises of Diane)
by Carmen Jaquier, Jan Gassmann
Switzerland 2024
Panorama | International premiere

Pendant ce temps sur Terre (Meanwhile on Earth)
by Jérémy Clapin
France 2024
Panorama | World premiere

Sayyareye dozdide shodeye man (My Stolen Planet)
by Farahnaz Sharifi
Germany / Iran 2024
Panorama Dokumente | World premiere | Documentary Form

Sex
by Dag Johan Haugerud
Norway 2024
Panorama | World premiere

Teaches of Peaches
by Philipp Fussenegger, Judy Landkammer
Germany 2024
Panorama Dokumente | World premiere | Documentary Form

Tongo Saa (Rising Up at Night)
by Nelson Makengo
Democratic Republic of the Congo / Belgium / Germany / Burkina Faso / Qatar 2024
Panorama Dokumente | World premiere | Documentary Form | Debut film

Verbrannte Erde (Scorched Earth)
by Thomas Arslan
Germany 2024
Panorama | World premiere

The Visitor
by Bruce LaBruce
United Kingdom 2024
Panorama | World premiere

Yo vi tres luces negras (I Saw Three Black Lights)
by Santiago Lozano Álvarez
Colombia / Mexico / France / Germany 2024
Panorama | World premiere | Debut film

Zeit Verbrechen 1: Dezember
by Mariko Minoguchi
Germany 2024
Panorama | World premiere | Series

Zeit Verbrechen 2: Der Panther
by Jan Bonny
Germany 2024
Panorama | World premiere | Series

Zeit Verbrechen 3: Deine Brüder
by Helene Hegemann
Germany 2024
Panorama | World premiere | Series

Zeit Verbrechen 4: Love by Proxy
by Faraz Shariat
Germany 2024
Panorama | World premiere | Series

Generation Feature Lineup

Comme le feu (Who by Fire)
by Philippe Lesage
Canada / France 2024
Generation 14plus | World premiere

Disco Afrika: une histoire malgache (Disco Afrika: A Malagasy Story)
by Luck Razanajaona
France / Madagascar / Germany / Mauritius / South Africa / Qatar 2023
Generation 14plus | European premiere | Debut film

Ellbogen (Elbow)
by Aslı Özarslan | with Melia Kara, Doğa Gürer, Jale Arikan, Haydar Şahin, Orhan Kiliç
Germany / Turkey / France 2024
Generation 14plus | World premiere

Fox and Hare Save the Forest (Fuchs und Hase retten den Wald)
by Mascha Halberstad
Netherlands / Belgium / Luxembourg 2024
Generation Kplus | World premiere | Animation

Huling Palabas (Fin)
by Ryan Machado
Philippines 2023
Generation 14plus | International premiere | Debut film

It’s Okay!
by Kim Hye-young
South Korea 2023
Generation Kplus | International premiere | Debut film

Last Swim
by Sasha Nathwani
United Kingdom 2024
Generation 14plus | World premiere | Debut film

Maydegol
by Sarvnaz Alambeigi
Iran / Germany / France 2024
Generation 14plus | World premiere | Documentary Form

Quell’estate con Irène (My Summer with Irène)
by Carlo Sironi
Italy / France 2024
Generation 14plus | World premiere

Raíz (Through Rocks and Clouds)
by Franco García Becerra
Peru / Chile 2024
Generation Kplus | World premiere

Reinas
by Klaudia Reynicke
Switzerland / Peru / Spain 2024
Generation Kplus | European premiere

Sieger Sein (Winners)
by Soleen Yusef
Germany 2024
Generation Kplus | World premiere

Los tonos mayores (The Major Tones)
by Ingrid Pokropek
Argentina / Spain 2023
Generation Kplus | International premiere | Debut film

Xiao Ban Jie (The Great Phuket)
by Liu Yaonan
France / Hong Kong, China / Germany / Belgium 2024
Generation 14plus | World premiere | Debut film

Young Hearts
by Anthony Schatteman
Belgium / Netherlands 2024
Generation Kplus | World premiere | Debut film

2024 Forum Lineup

Art Education
by Maria Lassnig
Austria / USA 1976
Forum Special

Baroque Statues
by Maria Lassnig
Austria / USA 1970
Forum Special

Il cassetto segreto (The Secret Drawer)
by Costanza Quatriglio
Italy / Switzerland 2024
Forum | World premiere | Documentary Form

Chairs
by Maria Lassnig
Austria / USA 1971
Forum Special

Chroniques fidèles survenues au siècle dernier à l’hôpital psychiatrique Blida-Joinville, au temps où le Docteur Frantz Fanon était chef de la cinquième division entre 1953 et 1956 (True Chronicles of the Blida Joinville Psychiatric Hospital in the Last Century, when Dr Frantz Fanon Was Head of the Fifth Ward between 1953 and 1956)
by Abdenour Zahzah
Algeria / France 2024
Forum | World premiere

Couples
by Maria Lassnig
Austria / USA 1972
Forum Special

Deda-Shvili an rame ar aris arasodes bolomde bneli (Mother and Daughter, or the Night is Never Complete)
by Lana Gogoberidze
Georgia / France 2023
Forum Special | International premiere | Documentary Form

Diese Tage in Terezín (Those Days in Terezín)
by Sibylle Schönemann
Germany / Czechia 1997
Forum Special | Documentary Form

Doesarananeun moksori / Yomigaeru Koe (Voices of the Silenced)
by Park Soo-nam, Park Maeui
Japan / South Korea 2023
Forum Special | International premiere | Documentary Form

Encounter
by Maria Lassnig
Austria / USA 1970
Forum Special

Gokogu no Neko (The Cats of Gokogu Shrine)
by Kazuhiro Soda
Japan 2024
Forum | World premiere | Documentary Form

Henry Fonda for President
by Alexander Horwath
Austria / Germany 2024
Forum | World premiere | Documentary Form

La hojarasca (The Undergrowth)
by Macu Machín
Spain 2024
Forum | World premiere | Documentary Form | Debut film

Holy Week
by Andrei Cohn
Romania / Switzerland 2024
Forum | World premiere

L’ homme-vertige (L’ homme-vertige : Tales of a City)
by Malaury Eloi Paisley
France 2024
Forum | World premiere | Documentary Form | Debut film

The Human Hibernation
by Anna Cornudella
Spain 2024
Forum | World premiere | Debut film

Ihre ergebenste Fräulein (Well Ordered Nature)
by Eva C. Heldmann
Germany 2024
Forum | World premiere | Documentary Form

Intercepted
by Oksana Karpovych
Canada / France / Ukraine 2024
Forum | World premiere | Documentary Form

In the Belly of a Tiger
by Siddartha Jatla
Forum | World premiere

Iris
by Maria Lassnig
Austria / USA 1971
Forum Special

Kaddu Beykat (Letter from My Village)
by Safi Faye
Senegal 1975
Forum Special | Documentary Form

Kottukkaali (The Adamant Girl)
by Vinothraj PS | with Soori Muthuchamy, Anna Ben
India 2024
Forum | World premiere

Maria Lassnig Kantate (The Ballad of Maria Lassnig)
by Maria Lassnig, Hubert Sielecki
Austria 1992
Forum Special

Marijas klusums (Maria’s Silence)
by Dāvis Sīmanis | with Olga Šepicka, Artūrs Skrastiņš, Vilis Daudziņš, Ģirts Ķesteris, Inese Kučinska
Latvia / Lithuania 2024
Forum | World premiere

Mit einem Tiger schlafen (Sleeping with a Tiger)
by Anja Salomonowitz
Austria 2024
Forum | World premiere

As noites ainda cheiram á pôlvora (The Nights Still Smell of Gunpowder)
by Inadelso Cossa
Mozambique / Germany / France / Portugal / Netherlands / Norway 2024
Forum | World premiere | Documentary Form

Oasis
by Tamara Uribe, Felipe Morgado
Chile 2024
Forum | World premiere | Documentary Form | Debut film | A film by MAFI Collective

Oasis of Now
by Chee Sum Chia
Malaysia / Singapore / France 2023
Forum | European premiere | Debut film

Palmistry
by Maria Lassnig
Austria / USA 1973
Forum Special

Pa-myo (Exhuma)
by Jang Jae-hyun
South Korea 2024
Forum | World premiere

La piel en primavera (Skin in spring)
by Yennifer Uribe Alzate
Colombia / Chile 2024
Forum | World premiere | Debut film

Reas
by Lola Arias
Argentina / Germany / Switzerland 2024
Forum | World premiere | Documentary Form

Redaktsiya (The Editorial Office)
by Roman Bondarchuk
Ukraine / Germany / Slovakia / Czechia 2024
Forum | World premiere

Reproduktion (Reproduction)
by Katharina Pethke
Germany 2024
Forum | World premiere | Documentary Form

Republic
by Jin Jiang
Singapore / People’s Republic of China 2023
Forum | European premiere | Documentary Form

Resonance Spiral
by Marinho de Pina, Filipa César
Portugal / Guinea-Bissau / Germany 2024
Forum | World premiere | Documentary Form

Selfportrait
by Maria Lassnig
Austria / USA 1971
Forum Special

Shahid
by Narges Kalhor
Germany 2024
Forum | World premiere

Shapes
by Maria Lassnig
Austria / USA 1972
Forum Special

Spuren von Bewegung vor dem Eis (Traces of Movement before the Ice)
by René Frölke
Germany 2024
Forum | World premiere | Documentary Form

Techqua Ikachi, Land – mein Leben (Techqua Ikachi, Land – My Life)
by Anka Schmid, James Danaqyumptewa, Agnes Barmettler
Federal Republic of Germany (historical) / Switzerland 1989
Forum Special

Der unsichtbare Zoo (The Invisible Zoo)
by Romuald Karmakar
Germany 2024
Forum | World premiere | Documentary Form

Was hast du gestern geträumt, Parajanov? (What Did You Dream Last Night, Parajanov?)
by Faraz Fesharaki
Germany 2024
Forum | World premiere | Documentary Form | Debut film

The Wrong Movie
by Keren Cytter
USA / Belgium 2024
Forum | World premiere

Yoake no subete (All the Long Nights)
by Shô Miyake
Japan 2024
Forum | International premiere

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