COMPETITION
ROTER HIMMEL
AFIRE (GERMAN)

This second part of Christian Petzold’s trilogy begun in 2020 with Undine, is about not being able to sleep and wanting to love; about writing and being read; about being in the world and yet possibly allowing life to slip by. A film that is suspended between symbolism and realism, both funny and deeply tragic.

Director: Christian Petzold
Country: Germany
Producers: Florian Koerner von Gustorf, Michael Weber, Anton Kaiser
World Sales: The Match Factory

PANORAMA
AND TOWARDS HAPPY ALLEYS (FARSI, ENGLISH)

And Towards Happy Alleys is a passionate declaration of love for the cinema and poetry of Iran which also provides a frank view of daily life, and bears witness to a fearless generation raising its voice and implacably demanding its civil liberties.

Director: Sreemoyee Singh
Country: India
Producer: Sreemoyee Singh
Executive Producers: Hussain Currimbhoy, Noopur Sinha, Orly Ravid
Sales Contact: Happy Alleys Films

BERLINALE SPECIAL GALA
BOOM! BOOM! THE WORLD VS. BORIS BECKER
(GERMAN, ENGLISH)

Borris Becker was interviewed for this film in 2019 and again in 2022, just a few days before his sentencing. Fellow travellers also have their say – from the ironic Ion Tiriac to the witty John McEnroe. A journey of selfdiscovery about, by and with someone who loves the game

Director: Alex Gibney
Country: UK, USA
Producers: John Battsek, Alex Gibney, Erin Edeiken, George Chignell
World Sales: Apple TV+

COMPETITION
INGEBORG BACHMANN – REISE IN DIE WÜSTE (GERMAN, ITALIAN, FRENCH)

Margarethe von Trotta interweaves the times before and after the catastrophe. Her direction is frank, sober and elegant. Ronald Zehrfeld as the corpulent, pipe-smoking Frisch and Vicky Krieps (in the role of another cult figure after Empress Sisi) are the perfect match. This film is not about Bachmann’s fatal end, but about her hopes for love and respect, in literature, and in life.

Director: Margarethe von Trotta
Country: Switzerland / Austria / Germany / Luxembourg
Producers: Katrin Renz, Bady Minck, Bettina Brokemper, Alexander Dumreicher-Ivanceanu
World Sales: The Match Factory

PANORAMA
INSIDE (ENGLISH)

Vasilis Katsoupis’ feature film debut is an existential exploration of human needs and the value of art and luxury. Willem Dafoe is convincing in the role of the art thief left to his own devices and doing battle with a dream penthouse that turns into a nightmare.

Director: Vasilis Katsoupis
Producers: Giorgos Karnavas, Marcos Kantis, Dries Phlypo
Co-Producers: Jens Wolf, Neshe Demir, Bastie Griese, Peter Kreutz, David Claikens, Alex Verbaere
World Sales: Heretic, Schiwago Film, A Private View

BERLINALE SPECIAL
KILL BOKSOON (KOREAN)

In Kill Boksoon, director Byun Sung-hyun invites us into an astonishing, chilling world in which a killing agency offers an elite path to success and wealth, and talent scouting is all about spotting promising psychopaths and orphans who have nothing to lose.

Director: Byun Sung-hyun
Country: South Korea
Producer: Yi Jin-hee
World Sales: Netlcix

BERLINALE SPECIAL
MANHOLE (JAPANESE)

Director Kazuyoshi Kumakiri’s enthusiasm for the many twists and turns of his clever thriller is palpable and infectious. His use of the confined space of the manhole is deft, as is the way in which he picks up the pace of the narration.

Director: Kazuyoshi Kumakiri
Country: Japan
Producers: Tsuyoshi Matsushita, Hideki Hoshino
World Sales: Gaga Corporation

COMPETITION
MANODROME (ENGLISH)

In his previous film, The Wound, South African filmmaker John Trengove explored how a male rite of passage unleashed repressed feelings with the same potential for danger as opening a pressure cooker. A similar force is at work inside the protagonist of Manodrome, in whom Trengove observes a disturbing phenomenon from an original angle.

Director: John Trengove
Country: United Kingdom
Producers: Gina Gammell, Ben Giladi, Riley Keough, Ryan Zacarias
World Sales: CAA Media Finance

COMPETITION
SUR L’ADAMANT
ON THE ADAMANT (FRENCH)

This gentle, enlightening film ny Nocholar Philibert invites us to join the welcoming microcosm of the Adamant. In their company we may, as one patient suggests, decide in the morning to make sure that we will have a good day.

Director: Nicolas Philibert
Country: France/Japan
Producers: Céline Loiseau, Gilles Sacuto, Miléna Poylo
World Sales: Les Films du Losange

COMPETITION
INGEBORG BACHMANN – REISE IN DIE WÜSTE (GERMAN, ITALIAN, FRENCH)

Making her cinematic debut here with Past Lives is New York based playwright Celine Song. But nothing about this intensely resonant meditation on the trajectory of life would mark her as a newcomer. Drawing from personal experience, Song is guided by a precise vision of the story’s conflicted emotional core.

Director: Celine Song
Country: USA
Producers: David Hinojosa, Pamela Koffler, Christine Vachon
World Sales: A24

PANORAMA
INSIDE (ENGLISH)

Jennifer Reeder’s new feature-length film is a dark, queer-feminist genre mix of body horror, gore and mystery. As in her earlier works, she looks at the world predominantly through the eyes of her young protagonists who, armed with biting humour and an unbroken sense of justice, manage to wrest moments of light-heartedness and solidarity from the twisted world of adults.

Director: Jennifer Reeder
Country: USA / France
Producers: Derek Bishé, Gregory Chambet
World Sales: WTFilms

PANORAMA
REALTY (ENGLISH)

Director Tina Satter presents a snapshot of recent US history that derives all of its tension from the gravity of the situation. The strong imagery and subtle direction of the actors in this drama places it on the cusp of documentary. This enables an unobstructed view of the events of that day – before they became a case that was to polarise the press, the general public and politics.

Director: Tina Satter
Country: USA
Producers: Noah Stahl, Brad Becker-Parton, Riva Marker, Greg Nobile
World Sales: mk2 Films

BERLINALE SPECIAL GALA
SHE CAME TO ME (ENGLISH)

Here is a Romeo and Juliet, set against the backdrop of a divided America, in the key of a folk ballad which, refracted through an operatic setting, casts its own narrative into elaborate perspective. For anyone who, like Captain Katrina, has been advised to abstain from romantic films, She Came to Me offers a great opportunity to renew their addiction.

Director: Rebecca Miller
Country: USA
Producers: Damon Cardasis, Pamela Koffler, Christine Vachon, Rebecca Miller, Len Blavatnik, Anne Hathaway, Cindy Tolan, Ged Dickersin
World Sales: Protagonist Pictures

BERLINALE SPECIAL GALA
SUPERPOWER (ENGLISH, UKRAINIAN)

On Feb 24, 2022 while Sean Aaron Penn and Kaufman were filming in Kyiv, Putin’s invasion took the world by storm. As explosions rocked the city, they became inadvertent front-row witnesses to this historic “David and Goliath” struggle. Penn conducted the first of multiple interviews with Zelensky on the night of the invasion and, deeply affected by what he witnessed in Kyiv and during the film team’s journey to the border, became an unofficial ambassador for Ukraine
and its unlikely leader

Director: Sean Penn, Aaron Kaufman
Country: USA
Producers: Billy Smith, Sergei Bespalov, Danny Gabai, Lauren Terp
World Sales: Fifth Season

COMPETITION
SUZUME (JAPANESE)

Written and directed by anime auteur Makoto Shinkai, this epic adventure takes us across the length and breadth of Japan, venturing outside metropolitan hubs to seek doors of disaster in the abandoned infrastructures of depopulated rural areas

Director: Makoto Shinkai
Country: Japan
Producer: Genki Kawamura
World Sales: Toho

COMPETITION
ENCOUNTERS
THE ADULTS (ENGLISH)

Displaying all the sensitivity and wicked humour of his previous works, Dustin Guy Defa’s new film is a shrewd study of the pitiless condition known as adulthood. After growing up in a family unit that constitutes your whole world, with its particular set of habits and a shared language, crossing the border into the realm of adults can feel disempowering, even terrifying. A sense of loss may be difficult to ever really overcome

Director: Dustin Guy Defa
Country: USA
Producers: Michael Cera, Hannah Dweck, Ted Schaefer, Allison Rose Carter, Jon Read, Julia Thompson
World Sales: Universal Pictures Content Group

COMPETITION
LE GRAND CHARIOT
THE PLOUGH (FRENCH)

Jennifer Reeder’s new feature-length film is a dark, queer-feminist genre mix of body horror, gore and mystery. As in her earlier works, she looks at the world predominantly through the eyes of her young protagonists who, armed with biting humour and an unbroken sense of justice, manage to wrest moments of light-heartedness and solidarity from the twisted world of adults.

Director: Jennifer Reeder
Country: USA / France
Producers: Derek Bishé, Gregory Chambet
World Sales: WTFilms