17/01/2022 - Generation’s line-up will explore how youngsters “perceive the world, how they appropriate it or how they oppose it”, whilst Berlinale Series will see a return to crime scenes and courtrooms

The Rising by Ed Lilly, Thora Hilmarsdottir, Paul Walker and Carl Tibbetts (© Sky UK Limited)

The Berlinale has announced a raft of new titles for its Generation and Series strands. In detail, this year’s Generation Kplus and 14plus will include 24 features and 28 shorts. Described as a selection exploring how young people “perceive the world, how they appropriate it or how they oppose it”, this section’s titles promise to tell “of the power to move mountains that is inherent in them”. The list comprises 12 debut features and a ratio of over 50% female directors, offering “a wide range of cinematic forms and perspectives”.

Among the newly announced European (co-)productions present in the Kplus line-up are Sara Kern’s Moja Vesna [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Sara Kern
film profile] (Slovenia/Australia), a drama revolving around a character whose mother’s death has torn a hole in her family’s life; Inês T Alves’ documentary about indigenous Achuar children, Waters of Pastaza [+see also:
trailer
film profile] (Portugal); Shamira Raphaëla’s “cheerful [non-fictional] portrait of a Caribbean-Dutch teenager in Rotterdam”, Shabu [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Shamira Raphaëla
film profile] (Netherlands); and Taras Tomenko’s documentary about growing up in present-day Eastern Ukraine, Boney Piles [+see also:
film review
interview: Taras Tomenko
film profile] (Ukraine). Meanwhile, the 14plus selection includes one fiction feature – Julia Trofimova’s The Land of Sasha (Russia), wherein “two idiosyncratic characters [Sasha and Zenya]” will “explore their feelings, talents and fears together” – and two non-fiction features: Clare Weiskopf and Nicolas van Hemelryck’s Alis [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] (Colombia/Chile/Romania), and Günther Kurth and Tine Kugler’s Kalle Kosmonaut [+see also:
trailer
film profile] (Germany). The former documentary focuses on ten young women residing in a home for girls from the streets of Bogotá, where they talk about their roommate, called Alis, who embodies “the sum of their experiences, their longings and their struggles”. The second doc aims to paint “a different picture of Berlin” and centres on the titular boy from the prefabricated housing projects along the Allee der Kosmonauten.

Next, the Berlinale Series strand will host seven world premieres and will boast a strong Nordic presence. Commenting on this year’s line-up, the head of Berlinale Series, Julia Fidel, highlighted “a return to well-established formats: crime scenes, courtrooms, hospitals and international espionage”.

The much-anticipated Nordic series are Lone Scherfig’s The Shift [+see also:
trailer
interview: Lone Scherfig
series profile] (Denmark), billed as “a concentrated observation of a maternity ward with multi-layered characters and large, horizontal arcs”, starring Sofie Gråbøl in the lead role; Baldvin Z’s Black Sands [+see also:
trailer
series profile] (Iceland), a crime series following a young policewoman returning to the small-minded society of her childhood, who is forced to uncover a potential murder case and some painful memories; and Ella Lemhagen’s “unflinching glimpse into the erotic experiences, sexual woes and needs of a group of girlfriends in their mid-forties”, Lust (Sweden – see the news).

The other two titles are Michal Blaško’s Suspicion [+see also:
trailer
interview: Štěpán Hulík
series profile] (Czech Republic/France), which sees Klára Melíšková playing Hana, a nurse who falls victim to political power play; and The Rising [+see also:
trailer
series profile] (UK), labelled as an “addictive supernatural thriller” and an adaptation of the Belgian show Beau Séjour. It features a young cast led by breakout talent Clara Rugaard as Neve Kelly, who awakens in a strange state after a party.

Here is the complete list of the titles announced (including the previously-announced ones - read news):

Generation

Generation Kplus

Feature Films

The Quiet Girl [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Colm Bairéad
film profile] - Colm Bairéad (Ireland)
The Hill of Secrets – Lee Ji-eun (South Korea)
Comedy Queen [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Sanna Lenken
film profile] - Sanna Lenken (Sweden)
Waters of Pastaza [+see also:
trailer
film profile] – Inês T Alves (Portugal)
Oink [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Mascha Halberstad
film profile] - Mascha Halberstad (Netherlands)
Moja Vesna [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Sara Kern
film profile] – Sara Kern (Slovenia/Australia)
My Small Land – Emma Kawawada (Japan)
The Realm of God – Claudia Sainte-Luce (Mexico)
The Apple Day – Mahmoud Ghaffari (Iran)
Shabu [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Shamira Raphaëla
film profile] – Shamira Raphaëla (Netherlands)
Boney Piles [+see also:
film review
interview: Taras Tomenko
film profile] – Taras Tomenko (Ukraine)

Short Films

The Most Boring Granny in the Whole World - Damaris Zielke (Germany)
Alma and Paz - Cris Gris (Mexico/USA)
Hush Hush Little Bear - Māra Liniņa (Latvia)
Datsun - Mark Albiston (New Zealand)
Rooster - Myo Aung (Myanmar)
Louis I., King of the Sheep - Markus Wulf (Germany/USA)
Luce and the Rock - Britt Raes (Belgium/France/Netherlands)
The Queen of the Foxes - Marina Rosset (Switzerland)
To Vancouver - Artemis Anastasiadou (Greece)
The Dependent Variables - Lorenzo Tardella (Italy)
Wheels on the Bus - Surya Shahi (Nepal)
Suzie in the Garden - Lucie Sunková (Czech Republic/Slovakia)

Generation 14plus

Feature Films

Alis [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] – Clare Weiskopf and Nicolas van Hemelryck (Colombia/Chile/Romania)
Rookies [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Thierry Demaizière and Alba…
film profile] - Thierry Demaizière, Alban Teurlai (France)
Beba - Rebeca Huntt (USA/Mexico)
Bubble – Tetsurō Araki (Japan)
Kalle Kosmonaut [+see also:
trailer
film profile] – Günther Kurth and Tine Kugler (Germany)
Kind Hearts [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Olivia Rochette and Gerard-…
film profile] - Olivia Rochette, Gerard-Jan Claes (Belgium)
Millie Lies Low - Michelle Savill (New Zealand)
Scheme – Farkhat Sharipov (Kazakhstan)
Stay Awake – Jamie Sisley (USA)
The Land of Sasha – Julia Trofimova (Russia)
Sublime - Mariano Biasin (Argentina)
Girl Picture [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Alli Haapasalo
film profile] - Alli Haapasalo (Finland)

Short Films

At Sixteen - Carlos Lobo (Portugal)
Born in Damascus - Laura Wadha (UK)
Fever - Matias Carlier (Switzerland)
Funkele - Nicole Jachmann (Netherlands)
Lay Me by the Shore - David Findlay (Canada)
Memoir of a Veering Storm - Sofia Georgovassili (Greece)
Meneath: The Hidden Island of Ethics - Terril Calder (Canada)
Tinashé - Tig Terera (Australia)
West by God - Scott Lazer (USA)

Berlinale Series

Yosi, the Regretful Spy – Daniel Burman and Sebastián Borensztein (Argentina)
Lust – Ella Lemhagen (Sweden)
Suspicion [+see also:
trailer
interview: Štěpán Hulík
series profile] – Michal Blaško (Czech Republic/France)
The Rising [+see also:
trailer
series profile] – Ed Lilly, Thora Hilmarsdottir, Paul Walker and Carl Tibbetts (UK)
The Shift [+see also:
trailer
interview: Lone Scherfig
series profile] – Søren Balle, Ole Christian Madsen and Lone Scherfig (Denmark)
Black Sands [+see also:
trailer
series profile] – Baldvin Z (Iceland)
Last Summers of the Raspberries – Philippe Falardeau (Canada)