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The 76th edition of the Berlin International Film Festival (Berlinale) will kick off on February 12, screening over 200 films of all genres, lengths and formats in cinemas across Berlin through February 22. We have identified the 21 science or technology-related projects in this year’s lineup, with descriptions quoted from the festival program below.
Highlights include a host of animated projects, many of which (Lena von Döhren’s short BATS & BUGS, Merlin Flügel’s short HOTEL OBLIQUE, Priscilla Kellen’s feature PAPAYA) will screen as part of Generation, the festival’s section designed to take the lives of young people seriously while fostering frank conversation between artists and audiences of all ages.
Fans of animation can also look forward to A NEW DAWN, which will make its world premiere in competition for the Gold and Silver Bears. It marks the directorial debut for Yoshitoshi Shinomiya, a Japanese animator and art director who has worked with anime masters such as Makoto Shinkai.
COMPETITION
A NEW DAWN. Dir. Yoshitoshi Shinomiya. World premiere. “Keitaro lives in a fireworks factory that is about to be shut down. He is determined to unravel the mystery of the Shuhari, a mythical firework created by his father before he disappeared without a trace – and launch it before the factory closes.”
DUST. Dir. Anke Blondé . World premiere. “At the end of the 1990s, during the height of the Belgian tech boom, visionary entrepreneurs Luc and Geert watch their empire collapse as news of their fraud breaks. With just one day of freedom left, they part ways in search of redemption.”
BERLINALE SHORTS
CHUURAA. Dir. Evgenia Arbugaeva. World premiere. “In the remote Siberian Arctic, an Indigenous Sakha scientist descends into the depths of the melting permafrost. Searching for an ancient creature, he makes his way through the dangerous, claustrophobic caves to the mythical realm of the Underworld.”
GRAFT VERSUS HOST. Dir. Giorgi Gago Gagoshidze. World premiere. “In this speculative video essay, the filmmaker connects his medical history with the shifts in post-Cold War geopolitics and their impact on contemporary politics.”
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Stlll from GRAFT VERSUS HOST. Courtesy of Berlinale.
PERSPECTIVES
FOREST HIGH. Dir. Manon Coubia. World premiere. “In the northern Alps, Anne, Hélène and Suzanne take turns looking after a mountain hut. Through the seasons, hikers come and go. Stories bloom and fade, leaving each of them facing the silence of their chosen solitude and the poetry of nature.”
LIGHT PILLAR. Dir. Xu Zao. World premiere. “The future. Winter. Space travel is no longer a dream. A lonely janitor tends the grounds of a dilapidated bankrupt film studio with only a former cat actor for company until he embarks on a romantic journey with a female player in a beautiful virtual world.”
TRULY NAKED. Dir. Muriel d’Ansembourg. World premiere. “An introverted teen, who has only ever experienced sex through the lens while working for his father’s pornography business, must step out from behind the camera when a feisty classmate challenges him to embrace a real connection.”
GENERATION
BATS & BUGS. Dir. Lena von Döhren. World premiere. “When a streetlamp lights up on a country road in the jungle, a group of insects goes crazy – which proves to be handy for the hungry bats in a nearby cave.”
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Stlll from BATS & BUGS. Courtesy of Berlinale.
HOTEL OBLIQUE. Dir. Merlin Flügel. World premiere. “A budgie finds itself in a luxurious wellness hotel that promises stressed birds peace and relaxation. But between the lulling sound of the fountains and soothing massages, it longs only to return to the safety of its cage.”
IMAGINARY NUMBERS. Dir. Jelica Jerinić. World premiere. “Mirna and her father take the bus from their village to the city of Niš for her to participate in the national mathematics competition. It is a big day: winning an award could gain her a place at a prestigious school and pave the way to a better future.”
PAPAYA. Dir. Priscilla Kellen. International premiere. “Papaya, a tiny seed in the Amazon rainforest who is passionate about flying, must keep moving to avoid taking root. But when she discovers the power of her roots, it triggers a revolution that transforms her world and fulfils her dreams in an unexpected way.”
SCORCHING. Dir. Wang Beidi. World premiere. “Li Yan’s life is as regimented as the production lines in the local poultry factory. Her grandmother is determined to get her a job there, but Li Yan refuses. Obsessed with the mystery of life and creation, she secretly attempts to hatch a stolen egg.”
FORUM
AI REALISM – QANTAR 2022. Dir. Almagul Menlibayeva. “Menlibayeva explores fake news, propaganda and the power and powerlessness of AI through a disturbing animated film on political violence in post-Soviet Kazakhstan that culminates in January 2022. From fragments towards a countermemory.”
I BUILT A ROCKET IMAGINING YOUR ARRIVAL. Dir. Janaína Marques. World premiere. “Fifty-something Rosa, lying in an MRI scanner, is prompted to summon a happy memory. She plunges into a meandering, subconscious road trip with her bubbly mother, where wild imagination becomes a tender, unruly form of therapy.”
MEGATRASHWANNABEBIGSTARXD. Dirs. Ava Leandra Kleber, Elisa Deutloff. World premiere. “What connects the clones of Paris Hilton and rapper Haftbefehl and why are people sick of performing on social media? We find out from Leandra’s questionnaire, which is answered by a chatbot fed by Elisa. How to appear online? Be a hottie! Frindz??!”
THE VALLEY WHERE LOAB LIVES. Dir. Georg Tiller. “A female character born from code, LOAB leads us through six iconic horror eras from Nosferatu to Get Out: a prompted being, cursed by design. Whoever knows her becomes part of the algorithm; whoever resists will be punished. An AI meta genre essay.”
FORUM EXPANDED
A CIRCLE AS THE CENTER OF THE WHOLE. Dir. Utkarsh. World premiere. “The city of Delhi is a site of constant excavation, formed by fragments of what is left behind. Archaeology becomes method and metaphor, revealing an absence in the ground around which the city forms.”
FANFICTIE: VOLCANOLOGY. Dir. Riar RIzaldi. International premiere. “Deep down in the bowels of a mountain, a Dutch geologist’s volcanic theories clash with local cosmologies in the Indonesian archipelago. Colonial science encounters the poetic, radical possibilities of reading nature otherwise.”
THE WEARY HOURS OF TWO LAB ASSISTANTS. Dir. Burak Çevik. World premiere. “Late at night, two lab assistants analyze an unknown substance. A coffee break turns into a fortune-telling session, shifting their gaze from science to intuition. They imagine a space where rational inquiry and foresight coexist.”
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Stlll from THE WEARY HOURS OF TWO LAB ASSISTANTS. Courtesy of Berlinale.
KATABASIS. Dir. Martin Moolhuijsen. World premiere. “In a cave situated between the ridges of a human fingerprint, a primordial encounter with matter, light and sound unfolds.”
WARNINGS TO A DISTANT FUTURE. Dir. Juliane Jaschnow. World premiere. “How should those who come after us be warned of danger?” A film about the search for the German-German nuclear waste repository – between warning signs, feedback loops, flowing flocks of birds and the area between sign and object.”
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