Berlinale 2020 Roundup
Settling back in Dubai after my trip to Berlin for the film festival, and instead of pulling together my notes and photos to write about it, I’m distracted by news of the global pandemic which I managed to avoid because I was mostly in a film festival bubble for the past couple of months (first at Rotterdam and then in Berlin).
But now it’s becoming more and more difficult to focus on anything else. So instead of the usual roundup, here’s a list of standouts from the festival.
This year’s edition was under the helm of Carlo Chatrian, the festival’s new Artistic Director. He also has a blog on Berlinale’s website where he “reflects and describes his journey to the festival programme over the year and approaches the story of the Berlinale in a personal way”. Kudos for sharing with us insights as a film festival artistic director.
I always have a good time at Berlinale and this year it was no different. I watched lots of good films in some of the most beautiful cinemas. Already looking forward to next year, unless COVID-19 destroys us or the planet self combusts.
Festival highlight:
King Vidor Retrospective - I watched 18 of the 35 films and hope I get a chance to see the rest in a cinema somewhere.
Top 5:
Show People (1928, 35mm)
The Patsy (1928, 35mm)
Stella Dallas (1937, 35mm)
Our Daily Bread (1934)
H.M. Fulham, Esq. (1941, 35mm)
Favourite films (new)
First Cow (Kelly Reichardt)
The Viewing Booth (Ra’anan Alexandrowicz)
The Woman Who Ran (Hong Sang-soo)
Most impenetrable:
Malmkrog (Cristi Puiu)
Most perplexing:
Maggie’s Farm (James Benning)
Horniest film:
Siberia (Abel Ferrara)
Best sweater style:
Sigourney Weaver in My Salinger Year (Philippe Falardeau)
Most walkouts (press screening):
Days (Tsai Ming-liang)
Berlinale 2020 soundtrack
Elastica - Connection (MY SALINGER YEAR)
Bee Gees - Stayin' Alive (UNDINE)
Linda Ronstadt - Blue Bayou (MAGGIE'S FARM)
Del Shannon - Runaway (SIBERIA)
A Flock Of Seagulls - Wishing (If I Had a Photograph of You) (NEVER RARELY SOMETIMES ALWAYS)
The scene that crushed me:
Never Rarely Sometimes Always (Eliza Hittman)
The scene that touched me:
First Cow (Kelly Reichardt) - Two men discussing business ideas whilst eating buttermilk scones. A lovely display of tender masculinity and friendship we rarely see in film.
Delightful to watch:
Marion Davies. Also delighted to experience pie in the face scenes still gets loud laughs in cinemas. This one is from Show People (King Vidor)
Most dramatic screening:
The last few minutes of The Citadel (King Vidor) was interrupted by a fire alarm and evacuation message. Firefighters and police turned up a couple of minutes later, but we couldn’t see any fire or smoke. It was too cold to wait outside, so I left. Found out the following day there was some smoke from the building nearby.
List of all the films I watched at Berlinale 2020:
Competition:
Bad Tales (Fabio & Damiano D’Innocenzo)
DAU. Natasha (Ilya Khrzhanovskiy, Jekaterina Oertel)
Days (Tsai Ming-liang)
Delete History (Benoît Delépine, Gustave Kervern)
First Cow (Kelly Reichardt)
The Intruder (Natalia Meta)
Never Rarely Sometimes Always ((Eliza Hittman)
Siberia (Abel Ferrara)
There Is No Evil (Mohammad Rasoulof)
Undine (Christian Petzold)
The Woman Who Ran (Hong Sang-soo)
Berlinale Special:
My Salinger Year (Philippe Falardeau)
Swimming Out Till the Sea Turns Blue (Jia Zhang-ke)
Encounters:
Malmkrog (Cristi Puiu)
Shirley (Josephine Decker)
Panorama:
The Assistant (Kitty Green)
Forum:
The Alien (Nader Saeivar)
Anne at 13,000 ft (Kazik Radwanska)
Corporate Accountability (Jonathan Perel)
Divinely Evil (Gustavo Vinagre)
Maggie’s Farm (James Benning)
My Neighbours (Med Hondo, 1971)
The Passengers (Annie Tresgot, 1971)
Soleil Ô (Med Hondo, 1970)
Victoria (Sofie Benoot, Liesbeth De Ceulaer, Isabelle Tollenaere)
The Viewing Booth (Ra’anan Alexandrowicz)
WR: Mysteries of the Organism (Dušan Makavejev, 1971)
Generation:
Jumbo (Zoé Wittock)
King Vidor Retrospective:
The Big Parade (1925)
Beyond the Forest (1949)
La Bohème (1926)
The Champ (1931)
The Citadel (1938)
Cynara (1932)
Duel in the Sun (1947)
The Fountainhead (1949)
H.M. Pulham, Esq. (1941)
Lightning Strikes Twice (1951)
Our Daily Bread (1934)
The Patsy (1928)
Ruby Gentry (1952)
Show People (1928)
Solomon and Sheba (1959)
Stella Dallas (1937)
Street Scene (1931)
The Wedding Night (1935)
