16/01/2023 - Among the most hotly anticipated features are Andrea Di Stefano's Last Night of Amore, Mario Martone’s Massimo Troisi: Somebody Down There Likes Me, and David Wnendt’s Sun and Concrete

On Friday, the Berlinale (16-26 February) announced the addition of eight new titles to its Berlinale Special line-up. In the official press release, artistic director Carlo Chatrian defined the second batch of Berlinale Special films as “a great example of how colourful, vibrant, committed, entertaining and gripping cinema can be”.

Among the most hotly anticipated titles is Guy Nattiv’s Golda [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] (UK/USA), starring Helen Mirren as Israel’s prime minister from 1969-1974 and based on a script penned by Nicholas Martin. The movie revolves around the life of the stateswoman, with a special focus on the events of the Yom Kippur War.

Meanwhile, Italy and Germany are present with two more titles each. The former will take part in Berlinale Special via Mario Martone’s documentary on legendary San Giorgio a Cremano-born actor and comedian Massimo Troisi, titled Massimo Troisi: Somebody Down There Likes Me [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Mario Martone
film profile], and via Andrea Di Stefano’s Last Night of Amore [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Andrea Di Stefano
film profile], the cast of which is spearheaded by veteran Pierfrancesco Favino (Nostalgia [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Mario Martone
interview: Pierfrancesco Favino
film profile]), playing a police officer who patrols the streets of Milan. Appearing alongside Favino are Linda Caridi, Antonio Gerardi and Francesco Di Leva.

Next, the first selected German feature is Lars Kraume’s Measures of Men [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Lars Kraume
film profile]. The drama centres on Alexander Hoffmann (Leonard Scheicher), a young German anthropologist purportedly travelling through German South West Africa to collect artefacts for Berlin’s Ethnological Museum as the Ovaherero and Nama peoples rise up against German colonial troops. However, Hoffmann is, in fact, there to disprove the accepted evolutionist race theory and find the young woman Herero interpreter Kezia, who had been part of a delegation attending a colonial exhibition in Berlin. The second title is David Wnendt’s Sun and Concrete [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile], an adaptation of the best-selling novel penned by Felix Lobrecht. The story is set during the scorching summer of 2003 and follows a group of teens living in the Berlin borough of Neukölln.

The Berlinale Special line-up is rounded off by Danny and Michael Philippou’s Talk to Me (Australia), Soi Cheang’s Mad Fate (Hong Kong/China) and Byun Sung-hyun’s Kill Boksoon (South Korea).

Last week, the German gathering also announced the 20 shorts competing for both the Golden and Silver Bears, along with some new titles included in the Forum strand. Specifically, the Berlinale Shorts line-up has been labelled as “an eclectic journey through biographies, relationships and the emotions”.

Here is the full list of titles selected, including those announced now:

Berlinale Special

Golda [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] – Guy Nattiv (UK)
Kill Boksoon – Byun Sung-hyun (South Korea)
Massimo Troisi: Somebody Down There Likes Me [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Mario Martone
film profile] – Mario Martone (Italy)
Last Night of Amore [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Andrea Di Stefano
film profile] – Andrea Di Stefano (Italy)
Mad Fate – Soi Cheang (Hong Kong/China)
Sun and Concrete [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] – David Wnendt (Germany)
Talk to Me – Danny and Michael Philippou (Australia)
Measures of Men [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Lars Kraume
film profile] – Lars Kraume (Germany)
Infinity Pool [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] – Brandon Cronenberg (Canada/Hungary/Croatia/France)
Loriot's Great Cartoon Revue [+see also:
trailer
film profile] – Loriot and Peter Geyer (Germany)
#Manhole – Kazuyoshi Kumakiri (Japan)
Seneca – On the Creation of Earthquakes [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Robert Schwentke
film profile] – Robert Schwentke (Germany/Morocco)
TÁR – Todd Field (USA)
Boom! Boom! The World vs. Boris Becker [+see also:
trailer
film profile] – Alex Gibney (UK/USA)

Berlinale Shorts

8 – Anaïs-Tohé Commaret (France)
Back – Yazan Rabee (Netherlands)
Les chenilles – Michelle and Noel Keserwany (France)
Eeva – Morten Tšinakov, Lucija Mrzljak (Estonia/Croatia)
From Fish to Moon – Kevin Contento (USA)
Happy Doom – Billy Roisz (Austria)
Daydreaming So Vividly About Our Spanish Holidays – Christian Avilés (Spain)
It’s a Date – Nadia Parfan (Ukraine)
Jill, Uncredited – Anthony Ing (UK)
A Kind of Testament – Stephen Vuillemin (France)
Dipped in Black – Matthew Thorne, Derik Lynch (Australia)
The Beads – Rafaela Camelo, Emanuel Lavor (Brazil)
A Woman in Makueni – Daria Belova, Valeri Aluskina (Germany)
Sleepless Night – Donatienne Berthereau (France)
Bear – Morgane Frund (Switzerland)
Daughter and Son – Cheng Yu (China)
Terra Mater – The Mother Land – Kantarama Gahigiri (Rwanda/Switzerland)
The Veiled City – Natalie Cubides-Brady (UK)
The Waiting – Volker Schlecht (Germany)
All Tomorrow’s Parties – Zhang Dalei (China)