Dovlatov

Alexey German : 2018

Leningrad, November 1971. The city is shrouded in fog. Another anniversary of the revolution is being celebrated, but the country is not making any progress – politically, economically or culturally. Sergei has first-hand experience of this stasis. The young writer's manuscripts are regularly rejected by the official media; his view on things and people is not desired. Others are experiencing similar problems, one of them is his friend Joseph Brodsky whom the state forces into exile. Sergei is however determined to stay and lead a normal life with his wife Lena and daughter Katya. He wants to write about discovering reality: about shipyard workers, or the construction of the metro where one day the bodies of thirty children killed during the Second World War are uncovered. The film portrays the world of Russian-Jewish writer Sergei Dovlatov (1941–1990), whose brilliantly ironic texts were forbidden from being printed in the Soviet Union under Brezhnev. Out of a tragicomic rondeau of rebellion and assimilation, pain and fatigue, ensues a portrait of an era of stagnation and its destructive effects. Alexey German's feature was winner of the Silver Bear for Outstanding Artistic Contribution when it premiered in competition at Berlin International Film Festival 2018.

Season of the Devil

Lav Diaz : 2018
Ang Panahon ng Halimaw

In the late 1970s, a military-controlled militia is oppressing a remote village in the Philippine jungle. The uniformed men armed with machine guns are responsible for spreading a terror that is both physical and psychological in nature. They create an atmosphere in which neighbours become enemies and seek to eradicate the villagers' faith in legends and spirits. Fearless young doctor Lorena opens a clinic for the poor, but disappears without a trace shortly afterwards. Her husband, the poet, activist and teacher Hugo Haniway, wants to find out the truth of his wife's whereabouts. When he arrives, he is confronted with a community shattered by despotism and violence. Lav Diaz's feature premiered in competition at Berlin International Film Festival 2018.

Transit

Christian Petzold : 2018

When a man flees France after the Nazi invasion, he assumes the identity of a dead author whose papers he possesses. Stuck in Marseille, he meets a young woman desperate to find her missing husband – the very man he's impersonating. The German troops are just outside Paris. Georg escapes to Marseille at the last moment. His luggage contains the legacy of a writer named Weidel, who took his own life out of fear of persecution. This legacy comprises a manuscript, some letters and the Mexican Embassy's assurance of a visa. Only those who can prove that they will leave are allowed in this port town, and this means you need an entry permit from a potential host country. Assuming the identity of Weidel, Georg tries to obtain one of the few scarce passages on a ship. Talks between refugees take place in the corridors of his small hotel, the waiting rooms of consulates, and the cafés and bars down at the harbour. Georg befriends Driss, the son of his late comrade Heinz, who died whilst trying to flee. But when he meets the mysterious Marie, his plans change. The film is set in contemporary Marseille where these characters from the past move around. And so, refugees from back then meet refugees from today, history meets the present, and all of their stories combine to create one eternal transit space. Christian Petzold's feature premiered in competition at Berlin International Film Festival 2018.

3 Tage in Quiberon

Emily Atef : 2018
3 Days in Quiberon

Robert Lebeck's photographs of Romy Schneider are world-famous. They capture this actress's contradictory nature, her exuberance, melancholy and pain. Lebeck also took the photographs that were to accompany the legendary interview Romy Schneider granted 'Stern' magazine reporter Michael Jürgs in Quiberon in 1981 – in spite of her previous negative encounters with the German press. The actress had retired to this Breton spa town to recuperate with Hilde, her close friend of many years, keeping her company. The interview and black-and-white photos form the basis of this film that captures the special atmosphere of these three days in which Schneider bares her soul – to breaking point. The more the actress exposes herself and allows the person behind the celebrity to come to the fore, the more the group dynamics of the quartet kick in. Hilde is desperate to protect her friend from herself as she begins to break down the cynical reporter's reserve with her disarming honesty. In his photo sessions, Lebeck rediscovers Romy Schneider's many different faces. A multi-faceted portrait emerges of a compelling actress and woman who unsparingly gives her all and yet believes she has seldom truly been seen or understood. Emily Atef's feature premiered in competition at Berlin International Film Festival 2018.

The Tree

André Gil Mata : 2018
Drvo

A man and a child meet under a tree on a river bank, sharing the same memory and a secret. An old man in a city under siege, during a very snowy winter, goes around collecting bottles from his neighbours at night in order to bring back drinking water. He carries them hanging by a rope from a tree branch over his shoulders, slotted behind his neck. When he gets to the mouth of the river, after a lot of walking and rowing in an old boat, and starts filling the bottles, it is suddenly daytime. We see a boy sledding down a slope to his mother. But then the boy wakes up from his dream in a dark attic, calling for his mum. The only thing he hears from outside is a voice barking orders in German, and then marching boots. After the soldiers have left, he goes out into the night with a sack and trudges through the snow from one deserted ruin of a house to another, picking out canned food or clothes. Walking through the woods, he reaches a clearing where a very specific tree is located. It is unmistakably the tree that the old man saw in the first half of the film, as he was rowing down the river. The boy lights a campfire. The old man spots the boy and starts rowing faster, while the boy has also seen the old man and started running away. André Gil Mata's feature premiered in the Forum section at Berlin International Film Festival 2018.