Just hours after lining up the narrative films in its Panorama section, the Berlin International Film Festival has unveiled its Berlinale Special program, a set of high-profile screenings of films that won’t be competing but will nonetheless bring their makers to the city for a series of discussions and gala events. The festival opens on February 7 and runs through the 17th.
Berlinale Special Galas at the Friedrichstadt-Palast
The Best Offer, Italy. By Giuseppe Tornatore (Cinema Paradiso, Malèna, Baarìa). With Geoffrey Rush, Jim Sturgess, Sylvia Hoeks, Donald Sutherland. International Premiere.
The Look of Love, Great Britain. By Michael Winterbottom (In This World, The Road to Guantanamo, 24 Hour Party People). With Steve Coogan, Anna Friel, Imogen Poots, Tamsin Egerton. European Premiere.
Les Misérables, Great Britain. By Tom Hooper (The King’s Speech). With Hugh Jackman, Russell Crowe, Anne Hathaway, Amanda Seyfried, Eddie Redmayne, Aaron Tveit, Samantha Barks, Helena Bonham Carter, Sacha Baron Cohen. German Premiere.
Tokyo Kazoku (Tokyo Family), Japan. By Yoji Yamada (About Her Brother, KABEI – Our Mother, The Twilight Samurai). With Isao Hashizume, Kazuko Yoshiyuki, Satoshi Tsumabuki, Yu Aoi, Yui Natsukawa, Masahiko Nishimura, Tomoko Nakajima, Shozo Hayashiya. International Premiere. Check this out.
Berlinale Special at the Haus der Berliner Festspiele
Assistance Mortelle (Fatal Assistance), documentary, France / Haiti / USA / Belgium. By Raoul Peck (Moloch Tropical). World Premiere. On “the consequences of the charity hype after the earthquakes on Haiti.”
Gold – Du kannst mehr als Du denkst (Gold – You Can Do More Than You Think), documentary, Germany. By Michael Hammon. World Premiere.
Mein Weg nach Olympia (My Way to Olympia), documentary, Germany. By Niko von Glasow. World Premiere.
Top of the Lake, Australia / New Zealand. By Jane Campion (An Angel at My Table, The Piano, Bright Star) and Garth Davis (Alice). With Elisabeth Moss, David Wenham, Peter Mullan, Holly Hunter. European Premiere.
The Spirit of ’45, documentary, Great Britain. By Ken Loach (The Wind that Shakes the Barley, Looking for Eric, The Angels’ Share). World Premiere. “Loach takes a look at post-war Britain and tracks the birth of a new socialism.”
Unter Menschen (Redemption Impossible), documentary, Germany. By Christian Rost, Claus Strigel. World Premiere.
Also: “Within the scope of the Berlinale Goes Kiez series, the four most recent films in the long-term documentary Berlin – Ecke Bundesplatz by Detlef Gumm and Hans-Georg Ullrich will premiere as Berlinale Special screenings at the newly reopened Bundesplatz-Kino.”
More on the 2013 lineups: Sundance (rounds 1, 2, 3, 4, 5) and Slamdance, Rotterdam (rounds 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6) and Berlin (rounds 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8).
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