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| Berlin film festival embraces Hollywood with Coens, Clooney and Tatum | Berlin film festival embraces Hollywood with Coens, Clooney and Tatum |
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| Related: Hail, Caesar! review: Coen bros hit peak star-cameo in superb sister film to Barton Fink | Related: Hail, Caesar! review: Coen bros hit peak star-cameo in superb sister film to Barton Fink |
| The Berlin film festival opens on 11 February on something of a high, having secured a number of high-profile participants and screenings for its 10-day run. Hollywood stars such as George Clooney and Channing Tatum will grace the red carpet on its opening night, Meryl Streep will lead the festival jury as it deliberates over the winner of the top prize, the Golden Bear, while the legacy of such high-profile figures as Alan Rickman and David Bowie will be celebrated in special tribute events. | The Berlin film festival opens on 11 February on something of a high, having secured a number of high-profile participants and screenings for its 10-day run. Hollywood stars such as George Clooney and Channing Tatum will grace the red carpet on its opening night, Meryl Streep will lead the festival jury as it deliberates over the winner of the top prize, the Golden Bear, while the legacy of such high-profile figures as Alan Rickman and David Bowie will be celebrated in special tribute events. |
| Related: Ten to watch at the Berlin film festival 2016 | |
| Berlin has always had a predilection for socially engaged film-making, and with titles such as existential drama Death in Sarajevo by the Bosnian director Danis Tanović and refugee documentary Fire at Sea, from Italian film-maker Gianfranco Rosi, among the competing films, this looks likely to continue. However, the festival has given its prestigious opening slot to Hail, Caesar!, the star-stuffed comedy about Hollywood’s early-50s golden age, directed by festival favourites Joel and Ethan Coen. This is in sharp contrast to the 2015 edition, which opened with Nobody Wants the Night from Spanish director Isabel Coixet, which drew mixed reviews and remains unreleased in the US and UK. Following the presentation of the big-budget mountain movie Everest as the opening film at the Venice film festival in September 2015, it may indicate that Europe’s major film festivals are ready once again to embrace Hollywood. Hail, Caesar!’s roster of big-name actors – including Clooney, Tatum and Tilda Swinton – is likely to add considerable lustre to proceedings – as does the presence of Streep as jury head, an unexpectedly high-profile appointment. | Berlin has always had a predilection for socially engaged film-making, and with titles such as existential drama Death in Sarajevo by the Bosnian director Danis Tanović and refugee documentary Fire at Sea, from Italian film-maker Gianfranco Rosi, among the competing films, this looks likely to continue. However, the festival has given its prestigious opening slot to Hail, Caesar!, the star-stuffed comedy about Hollywood’s early-50s golden age, directed by festival favourites Joel and Ethan Coen. This is in sharp contrast to the 2015 edition, which opened with Nobody Wants the Night from Spanish director Isabel Coixet, which drew mixed reviews and remains unreleased in the US and UK. Following the presentation of the big-budget mountain movie Everest as the opening film at the Venice film festival in September 2015, it may indicate that Europe’s major film festivals are ready once again to embrace Hollywood. Hail, Caesar!’s roster of big-name actors – including Clooney, Tatum and Tilda Swinton – is likely to add considerable lustre to proceedings – as does the presence of Streep as jury head, an unexpectedly high-profile appointment. |
| Saying “celebrities are also artists”, festival director Dieter Kosslick suggested that “the Berlinale has had good relationships with the studios for many years and the studios know that the festival is a good launchpad for their films”. However, he points out the “diversity” in the festival’s programming, and adds: “What links many films is the ‘right for luck and happiness’ they postulate.” | Saying “celebrities are also artists”, festival director Dieter Kosslick suggested that “the Berlinale has had good relationships with the studios for many years and the studios know that the festival is a good launchpad for their films”. However, he points out the “diversity” in the festival’s programming, and adds: “What links many films is the ‘right for luck and happiness’ they postulate.” |
| Nick James, editor of Sight and Sound magazine and a member this year of the Berlin jury, said: “If you look back, Berlin has consistently got high-quality product into the festival. Every year sees strong Hollywood titles.” Securing Streep would appear to be part of the same process of fostering relationships: the actor was awarded an honorary Golden Bear in 2012, which paved the way for Kosslick’s successful invitation for 2016. The festival director said: “You always can get a ‘No,’ but we got a ‘Yes.’” | Nick James, editor of Sight and Sound magazine and a member this year of the Berlin jury, said: “If you look back, Berlin has consistently got high-quality product into the festival. Every year sees strong Hollywood titles.” Securing Streep would appear to be part of the same process of fostering relationships: the actor was awarded an honorary Golden Bear in 2012, which paved the way for Kosslick’s successful invitation for 2016. The festival director said: “You always can get a ‘No,’ but we got a ‘Yes.’” |
| James also suggests that Berlin has bounced back from a period when high-profile films, jostling for position on an ever-more frantic awards-season circuit, tended to sidestep the festival due to its calendar position – too late to influence Oscar voting, too early to generate momentum for the following year. Says James: “I think Berlin was at a disadvantage for a while, when everyone was holding their films back for Cannes, but that has ameliorated over the last few years.” Part of the change in thinking, no doubt, was due to the Oscar success of The Grand Budapest Hotel, which opened the Berlinale in 2014, and went on to be nominated for nine Oscars a year later. | James also suggests that Berlin has bounced back from a period when high-profile films, jostling for position on an ever-more frantic awards-season circuit, tended to sidestep the festival due to its calendar position – too late to influence Oscar voting, too early to generate momentum for the following year. Says James: “I think Berlin was at a disadvantage for a while, when everyone was holding their films back for Cannes, but that has ameliorated over the last few years.” Part of the change in thinking, no doubt, was due to the Oscar success of The Grand Budapest Hotel, which opened the Berlinale in 2014, and went on to be nominated for nine Oscars a year later. |
| As one of Europe’s pre-eminent film festivals alongside Cannes and Venice, Berlin has, over the decades, forged its own identity, becoming renowned for selecting socially engaged material. In 2015, for example, the main Golden Bear was won by Taxi Tehran, from Iranian film-maker Jafar Panahi who has struggled with punitive working conditions since his arrest in 2010, including spells of imprisonment, accusations of anti-state propaganda and travel bans. For Kosslick, who has been director of the festival since 2001, film-makers are “seismographs” of their individual societies, with their films “reflecting the world we live in”. James says: “Berlin has always shown a huge range of European cinema in particular, and the Berlinale programmes are very interstested in political cinema, that has been very clear over the years. Issue-driven films have always played a prominent part in the programme.” | As one of Europe’s pre-eminent film festivals alongside Cannes and Venice, Berlin has, over the decades, forged its own identity, becoming renowned for selecting socially engaged material. In 2015, for example, the main Golden Bear was won by Taxi Tehran, from Iranian film-maker Jafar Panahi who has struggled with punitive working conditions since his arrest in 2010, including spells of imprisonment, accusations of anti-state propaganda and travel bans. For Kosslick, who has been director of the festival since 2001, film-makers are “seismographs” of their individual societies, with their films “reflecting the world we live in”. James says: “Berlin has always shown a huge range of European cinema in particular, and the Berlinale programmes are very interstested in political cinema, that has been very clear over the years. Issue-driven films have always played a prominent part in the programme.” |
| Kosslick emphasises the amount of films dealing with migration in the festival lineup – including Gianfranco Rosi’s documentary Fire at Sea, which examines the experiences of the inhabitants of the Italian island of Lampedusa, currently one of the frontlines of the migration crisis. However, Berlin is not above indulging in a little sentimentality, as the series of tribute screenings to recently departed entertainment industry notables suggests. Alan Rickman will be commemorated with a screening of Sense and Sensibility, the Ang Lee-directed Jane Austen adaptation which won the Golden Bear at the 1996 Berlinale, while Bowie – who lived and worked in Berlin for an extended period in the late 1970s, and is described by Kosslick as “an avant-garde artist who expressed his creativity in many disciplines” – will be recognised with a showing of the Nicolas Roeg-directed sci-fi parable The Man Who Fell to Earth, which competed in Berlin (but failed to win an award) in 1976. The festival will also honour Italian director Ettore Scola, who died in January, with a screening of his 1983 dialogue-free film The Ball, which won Scola the Silver Bear for best director. | Kosslick emphasises the amount of films dealing with migration in the festival lineup – including Gianfranco Rosi’s documentary Fire at Sea, which examines the experiences of the inhabitants of the Italian island of Lampedusa, currently one of the frontlines of the migration crisis. However, Berlin is not above indulging in a little sentimentality, as the series of tribute screenings to recently departed entertainment industry notables suggests. Alan Rickman will be commemorated with a screening of Sense and Sensibility, the Ang Lee-directed Jane Austen adaptation which won the Golden Bear at the 1996 Berlinale, while Bowie – who lived and worked in Berlin for an extended period in the late 1970s, and is described by Kosslick as “an avant-garde artist who expressed his creativity in many disciplines” – will be recognised with a showing of the Nicolas Roeg-directed sci-fi parable The Man Who Fell to Earth, which competed in Berlin (but failed to win an award) in 1976. The festival will also honour Italian director Ettore Scola, who died in January, with a screening of his 1983 dialogue-free film The Ball, which won Scola the Silver Bear for best director. |
| • The Berlin film festival opens on 11 February and runs until 21 February. | • The Berlin film festival opens on 11 February and runs until 21 February. |