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 February 10th-16th, with four days of repeat public screenings through February 20th.
Top Screenings at the Event
Peter von Kant, François 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 such competition titles as Claire Denis’ Both Sides of the Blade, starring Juliette Binoche and Titane star Vincent Lindon; Hong Sang-soo’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 Phyllis Nagy, starring Elizabeth Banks, Kate Mara and Sigourney Weaver, which will premiere at the now-all-virtual Sundance Film Festival.
Berlinale co-directors Mariette Rissenbeek and Carlo Chatrian presented the official lineup. Their 2022 lineup lacks the big studio or streaming films of the sort featured in Venice (Dune, The Power of the Dog) or Cannes (Stillwater, The French Dispatch) last year (Focus Features’ The Outfit, starring Mark Rylance, and Netflix adventure thriller Against The Ice, both out-of-competition special screenings, are the only exceptions) and is further evidence, that, in their third outing as Berlinale festival heads, Chatrian and Rissenbeek are looking to take the world’s No. 3 film festival in a more indie, art house direction.
The Experimental Genre
The 2022 Encounters section, a separate competitive sidebar for more artistically challenging or experimental films, includes Flux Gourmet, the new film from British director Peter Strickland (Katalin Varga); the Greek drama The City and the City from directors Christos Passalis and Syllas Tzoumerkas; and Queens of the Qing Dynasty from Canadian director Ashley McKenzie starring Sarah Walker and Ziyin Zheng.
Out of competition, Berlin has lined up an impressive group of high-profile titles. Alongside The Outfit, the directorial debut of The Imitation Game screenwriter Graham Moore, the 2022 Berlinale will feature the world premieres of Sophie Hyde’s Good Luck to You, Leo Grande starring Emma Thompson and Dario Argento’s new horror film Dark Glasses, featuring his daughter, Italian star Asia Argento.
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 February 10th-16th and the final four days of the fest, through February 20th, set aside for repeat and public screenings. Berlin’s industry section, the European Film Market, which runs Feb. 10-17, will be online-only again this year.
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