Let the bear hunt begin

29.01.2020 | Seven films at the Berlinale 2020

Hamburg-based Directors Mohammad Rasoulof can hope to win a Golden Bear with "There is No Evil". As the festival management announced at the end of January, the film will be screened in the competition of the 70th Berlin International Film Festival. The FFHSH is represented at the Berlinale with a total of seven world premieres, including the political thriller "Curveball" and the First Steps winner "Futur Drei".

The filmmaker Mohammad Rasoulof has not been allowed to leave Iran since autumn 2017. Last year, he was sentenced to one year in prison there. The deciding factor for the sentence was the critical portrayal of Iran in the Director's last films. With his new dramaThere is no evil (Cosmopol Film, Hamburg), the Cannes award-winning Director is now screening in competition at the Berlinale. In four episodes, Rasoulof poses the question of the extent to which people in an authoritarian regime are responsible for their own actions, regardless of what they do to others.

Helge Albers, CEO of Filmförderung Hamburg Schleswig-HolsteinWe hope that Mohammad Rasoulof will be allowed to leave Iran in time to attend his own world premiere in Berlin. With his film 'There is no evil', our location is now represented in the Berlinale competition for the third year in a row. This is good news for the north of the film industry. With five other premieres - from a documentary set in the depths of Russia to a queer coming-of-age drama - North German filmmakers are showcasing the diversity of our region. We send our congratulations to all the film teams!"

Johannes Naber's feature filmCurveball is screening as a special gala premiere at the Berlinale. The political thriller tells the true story of a BND bioweapons expert (played by Sebastian Blomberg) who made an internal mistake and provided arguments in favour of the 2003 Iraq war. The production by Hamburg-based Bon Voyage Films was shot in Germany and Morocco and was awarded the Green Shooting Card for sustainable filming.

The First Steps winning filmFuture three (La Mosca Bianca Films, Hamburg) by Faraz Shariat celebrates its world premiere in the Berlinale Panorama. The Directors takes us into the world of Parvis, whose life revolves around pop culture, queer Grindr dates and raves. The German-Iranian rediscovers his past through his refugee siblings Banafshe and Amon. A sensitive film about first love and life as a migrant in Germany.

Three FFHSH-funded productions will be screened in the Perspektive Deutsches Kino section:

In the feature film debutSleep by Hamburg Media School graduate Michael Venus (Junafilm, Hamburg), Mona's everyday life is characterised by worry about her mother. In search of answers, she comes to a village where Mona comes across an old family curse in a strange hotel. The role of Mona is played by Gro Swantje Kohlhof, the mother is played by "Toni Erdmann" star Sandra Hüller. The production has also been awarded a Green Shooting Card for sustainable filming.

In the DocumentaryGarage people by Natalija Yefimkina (Tamtam Film, Hamburg), they stretch into infinity: Garages, behind whose rusty gates everything but cars can be found. They are refuges for the Russian man, a refuge from a bleak everyday life and a projection surface for big dreams.

Rojda, a soldier in the German armed forces and a native of Kurdistan, makes an appearance in Daphne Charizani's dramaIn the fire (Pallas Film, Halle) for a mission in Iraq to train Kurdish female soldiers who are fighting against IS. Nobody is allowed to know that she is actually looking for her missing sister.

Daphne Charizani also wrote the script for the funded filmThe architect written by Ina Weisse. The film from 2008 is next to35 rhums (35 shots of rum) by Claire Denis in theSpecial anniversary programme On Transmission to see.

In the sectionBerlinale Shorts is also the filmInflorescence by HFBK graduate Nicolaas Schmidt.

EVENTS

Explorer X The EFM Producers Hub is cooperating for the first time with the Explorer Konferenz, which was launched in Hamburg in summer 2019 by the Producers Association, the FFHSH and Filmfest Hamburg.

European Film Market Filmförderung Hamburg Schleswig-Holstein is represented at the European Film Market in the Martin Gropius-Bau at the stand of Focus Germany, the association of the eight German state funding organisations.

Receptions During the Berlinale, the Hamburg Tea Time will take place at the Representation of the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg, as well as the Baltic Motion Reception, hosted by the State of Schleswig-Holstein, Filmwerkstatt Kiel and Nordic Film Days Lübeck.

Photo: Berlinale/Dirk Michael Deckbar