den 56. berlinale

click here for the danish version

Europe has three large film festivals – Cannes, Venice and Berlin. Every year crowds of filmgoers, journalists and film industry people from all around the world are drawn to Germany to the international film festival in Berlin, which is also visited by many major film stars. Eiga has not been to such a big and international focused festival before so I set the course for Berlin on February 8th with a lot of anticipation. Unfortunately my planning at home was very poor and the final decision about going was not settled until a couple of days before departure, so the preliminaries were a bit hectic. Moreover I could only stay at the Berlinale for four days which was not adequate, but the chance to witness this festival compensated for the hesitations.

The Berlinale is large, very large. The whole area around Potsdamer Platz, where the press office and headquarter of the festivals lies was transformed into a festival area. The press center commandeered a whole floor at the fashionable hotel Grand Hyatt. The headquarter Berlinale Palast is an impressive building just across Grand Hyatt with cinemas, various conference rooms and offices. No less than 12 cinemas (some with more than 15 screening rooms) showed movies for the festival. Around Potzdamer Platz various big screens showed film clips, interviews and press conferences all day.

It was very confusing and as a humble staff writer one could easily get sweaty because of all this splendour. The programme was also overwhelming, especially because the Berlinale contains a number of smaller festivals, for instance a festival for children (Kinderfilmfest) and a festival for gay and lesbian movies (Teddy Twenty Tribute). Because this was the first time I was here, everything seemed rather bewildering and it did not exactly change as the days went by. If you are not accustomed to these huge arrangements and maybe the Berlinale in particular, it can get very demanding to keep track of screenings, conferences and special arrangements. I felt it was obvious that the festival was well organized and utmost professional put together, but it did not lessen the confusion.

Because the festival is so large and has an international audience the programme was, of course, also comprehensive. In Eiga’s point of view it represented several very exciting films of which I sadly missed a great deal. The repertory of Asian films spanned from old titles from the 40’s and to Takashi Miike’s Big Bang Love, Juvenile A which has not even had its Japanese premiere yet (March 2006). Among the highlights of Asian screenings was The Promise (2005) by film director Chen Kaige - a grandiose fantasy drama which is the most expensive Chinese film so far. In total it seemed as if there was something for both genre fans and the wider audience.

I never really managed to familiarize myself with all the offers around the Berlinale; there was simply not enough time. But I certainly acquired a taste for more festivals and with the correct planning and a longer stay next year, the Berlin Film Festival for sure will be a great adventure.

Asian films reviewed at Eiga from Berlinale 56. Internationale Filmfestspiele Berlin 09.-19.02.06:

Big Bang Love, Juvenile A (46 Oku Nen No Koi, Japan, Takashi Miike, 2006)

Strange Circus (Kimyô Na Sâkasu, Japan, Shion Sono, 2005)

Upcoming:

The Promise (Wuji, Kina, USA, Chen Kaige, 2005)

(page 1: danish version)