Berlinale: Celine Sciamma's Petite Maman, Daniel Bruhl's Directorial Debut Among Competition Line-up

Berlin: French drama “Petite Maman”, directed by award-winning filmmaker Celine Sciamma, and German dark comedy “Nebenan”, which marks the directorial debut of acclaimed actor Daniel Bruhl, are part of the Competition line-up of the Berlin International Film Festival, the organisers announced on Thursday. According to Berlinale’s official website, in total there are 15 films, two of which are first features, which will compete for the Golden Bear and the Silver Bears at the prestigious film gala.

Productions from 16 countries, including Germany, France, Romania, Hungary Mexico, South Korea and Japan, are represented in the Competition. “Petite Maman” is Sciamma’s follow-up to her hit masterpiece “Portrait of a Lady on Fire”, which won the director Queer Palm at 2019 Cannes Film Festival, becoming the first film directed by a woman to win the award. She also won the award for best screenplay at Cannes. Bruhl, who has worked in both European and American productions in several languages, broke out in Hollywood with the role of Fredrick Zoller, a German war hero in Quentin Tarantino’s “Inglourious Basterds” (2009).

The actor is set to reprise his role of villain Baron Zemo in the upcoming Disney Plus series “The Falcon and the Winter Soldier”. Bruhl first played the role in “Captain America: Civil War”, the 2016 Marvel Cinematic Universe film. In the Competition section, host country Germany dominates the list with “Fabian oder Der Gang vor die Hunde” by Dominik Graf, documentary “Herr Bachmann und seine Klasse” by Maria Speth, and “Ich bin dein Mensch” by Maria Schrader.

“Ghasideyeh gave sefid”, an Iranian-French production, directed by Behtash Sanaeeha and Maryam Moghaddam, is also part of the list, and so is “Una Pelicula de Policias” from Mexico, helmed by Alonso Ruizpalacios. Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s “Guzen to sozo” is representing Japan, alongside South Korean title “Inteurodeoksyeon”, directed by Hong Sangsoo, and Hungarian movie “Rengeteg – mindenhol latlak” by Bence Fliegauf. While Cannes Grand Prix winner Xavier Beauvois will present “Albatros”, a French production, Romanian filmmaker Radu Jude will showcase “Babardeala cu buclucsau porno balamuc”.

“If the Competition offers a picture of the cinema as it is and as it will be, we can say that the disruption brought on by the events of 2020 has led filmmakers to make the most of this situation and create deeply personal films. This Competition is less rich in numbers but very dense in content and style,” said Artistic Director Carlo Chatrian on the selection. The 71st edition of Berlinale will take place in two parts, starting with the industry-focused, online-only event from March 1-5 in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.

A second event at Berlinale, titled Summer Special, is scheduled to run June 9-20 and set to include physical screenings of the selection. The awards ceremony is being planned for June. Across the last four days, the festival has also revealed its Generation, Retrospective, Encounters, Panorama, Perspektive Deutsches Kino, Forum, Forum Expanded and Shorts programmes.

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