The Berlin Film Festival has announced the full line-up for its 72nd event, with new films from auteurs Claire Denis, Andrew Dominik and Francois Ozon among the highlights. In what has clearly been a hugely difficult period for filmmakers and festivals owing to Covid-19, artistic director Carlo Chatrian noted that “many films have responded with the power of imagination”. Only two are set in the pandemic era; none of them – thankfully – are about the virus.
Already it had been announced that with the Omicron variant sweeping Europe and beyond, the Berlinale would be operating at a reduced capacity, with cinemas allowed to be no more than 50 per cent full and the festival running four days shorter than its usual 11 days.
But while the overall selection is 20 per cent smaller than usual, that hasn’t drastically curtailed the main competition, which has 18 films playing. All but one are world premieres, with five of the directors also being past winners of either a Golden or Silver Bear.
Among the titles of interest for Middle Eastern film fans will be See You Friday, Robinson, a documentary featuring in the Encounters strand. This non-fiction experience is co-produced by Lebanese producer Georges Schoucair via his Shortcut Films outfit and is directed by Iranian filmmaker and painter Mitra Farahani.
The focus is a conversation between the famed French New Wave director Jean-Luc Godard – now 90 years old – and Iranian filmmaker and literary figure Ebrahim Golestan, which took the shape of weekly email exchanges. Godard will also feature heavily at the festival, with an exhibition devoted to him and a restored version of his 2004 film Notre Musique.
In the Forum section, the festival’s more experimental strand, this year comprises of 27 films. Mohammad Shawky Hassan, a filmmaker who lives in Cairo, will present Shall I Compare You to a Summer’s Day? Described intriguingly as a metafictional audiovisual essay, this co-production between Egypt, Lebanon and Germany is said to explore “romantic encounters, haunting memories, pop music and folktales” in Arab culture.
The Forum Special strand has also programmed Beirut the Encounter, Borhane Alaouie’s 1981 feature that feels as relevant today as it did 41 years ago. In what will be a rare opportunity to see the film on the big screen, this adaptation of the script by Ahmed Beydoun stars Nadine Acoury as Zeina, a young woman planning to leave Beirut for America, without knowing if she’ll ever come back. The night before she leaves, she and her former college lover record tapes of their innermost feelings to exchange them at the airport.
Receiving its world premiere in the Panorama section is Israeli film Concerned Citizen by director Idan Haguel. Starring Ariel Wolf and Shlomi Bertonov, this Tel Aviv-set story deals with prejudice in a local neighbourhood after a conflict arises over something as innocent as a newly planted tree. Haguel is not a first timer at the festival, with his 70-minute work Inertia playing in the Forum back in 2016.
In the Berlinale Special strand, Israeli documentary 1341 Frames of Love and War will also be unveiled. Directed by Ran Tal, this non-fiction film tells the story of Israel’s most-celebrated war photographer, Micha Bar-Am. Shifting from Berlin in 1930 to Palestine in 1936 and beyond, Tal follows Bar-Am on a journey of self-doubt across the ages.
As ever the festival has some returning favourites, and will open with Francois Ozon, hot on the heels of his Cannes 2021 entry Everything Went Fine. His latest effort, Peter Von Kant, starring Denis Menochet and Isabelle Adjani, is a take on Rainer Werner Fassbinder’s The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant – albeit switching the gender of the main character. It's Ozon’s sixth time at the Berlinale; his first was with Water Drops on Burning Rocks back in 2000 – another Fassbinder adaptation.
Ozon’s fellow French filmmaker Claire Denis will make her first appearance in Berlin Competition, somewhat surprisingly, with Both Sides of the Blade, a love triangle drama that has her reunite with the peerless Juliette Binoche as well as team up with Vincent Lindon, who is fresh from starring in the Cannes-winning Titane.
The competition selection will also premiere Phyllis Nagy’s Call Jane. Nagy, who previously gained an Oscar nomination for her script work on Todd Haynes’ Carol, has just one other directorial credit to her name: the 2005 TV movie Mrs. Harris. This latest film stars Elizabeth Banks as a married woman who must deal with an unwanted pregnancy at a time when finding a legal abortion is nigh-on impossible.
Italian cinema fans will also be curious to see Leonora Addio by veteran filmmaker Paolo Taviani. It's his first film released since his filmmaker brother Vittorio Taviani died in 2018 – and marks a return to the Berlinale, where he and his sibling won the Golden Bear for 2012’s Caesar Must Die. This latest film centres around three surreal funerals, and the murder of a young Sicilian boy in Brooklyn.
Of the key selections away from the main competition, the UK effort Good Luck to You, Leo Grande will see Emma Thompson return to Berlin. The Oscar-winning actress was last at the festival for 2016’s WW2 drama Alone in Berlin. Here, she’s back for a contemporary comedy, directed by Sophie Hyde, in which she plays a widowed retired teacher who sets out in her twilight years to find some adventure – zeroing in on a gigolo named Leo Grande.
Another Oscar-winner Mark Rylance will front Graham Moore’s drama The Outfit, in which he plays a former Savile Row tailor who finds himself in Chicago making suits for a family of gangsters. Moore, who co-wrote the script, marks his feature debut with the film, seven years on from winning Best Adapted Screenplay at the Oscars for his drama about Enigma code cracker Alan Turing, The Imitation Game.
Australian director Andrew Dominik (Chopper, Killing Them Softly) is also back with This Much I Know To Be True. Though still putting the finishing touches to his long-awaited Marilyn Monroe biopic Blonde, he’s also been filming musician Nick Cave during lockdown, with a documentary that looks at Cave and Warren Ellis’ last two studio albums, Ghosteen and Carnage. It marks Dominik’s second Cave film after the poignant 2016 effort One More Time with Feeling – doubtless one of the must-see films of the festival.
The 72nd Berlin Film Festival runs between February 10 and February 16
Company Profile
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Co-founders: Ahmad Hammouda and Seif Amr
Sector: FinTech
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UAE base: Hub71, Abu Dhabi
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'Ghostbusters: From Beyond'
Director: Jason Reitman
Starring: Paul Rudd, Carrie Coon, Finn Wolfhard, Mckenna Grace
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Batti Gul Meter Chalu
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Director: Sree Narayan Singh
Cast: Shahid Kapoor, Shraddha Kapoor, Divyenndu Sharma, Yami Gautam
Rating: 2/5
RESULT
Arsenal 1 Chelsea 2
Arsenal: Aubameyang (13')
Chelsea: Jorginho (83'), Abraham (87')
A cheaper choice
Vanuatu: $130,000
Why on earth pick Vanuatu? Easy. The South Pacific country has no income tax, wealth tax, capital gains or inheritance tax. And in 2015, when it was hit by Cyclone Pam, it signed an agreement with the EU that gave it some serious passport power.
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French business
France has organised a delegation of leading businesses to travel to Syria. The group was led by French shipping giant CMA CGM, which struck a 30-year contract in May with the Syrian government to develop and run Latakia port. Also present were water and waste management company Suez, defence multinational Thales, and Ellipse Group, which is currently looking into rehabilitating Syrian hospitals.
Company profile
Name: Tratok Portal
Founded: 2017
Based: UAE
Sector: Travel & tourism
Size: 36 employees
Funding: Privately funded
UAE squad
Esha Oza (captain), Al Maseera Jahangir, Emily Thomas, Heena Hotchandani, Indhuja Nandakumar, Katie Thompson, Lavanya Keny, Mehak Thakur, Michelle Botha, Rinitha Rajith, Samaira Dharnidharka, Siya Gokhale, Sashikala Silva, Suraksha Kotte, Theertha Satish (wicketkeeper) Udeni Kuruppuarachchige, Vaishnave Mahesh.
UAE tour of Zimbabwe
All matches in Bulawayo
Friday, Sept 26 – First ODI
Sunday, Sept 28 – Second ODI
Tuesday, Sept 30 – Third ODI
Thursday, Oct 2 – Fourth ODI
Sunday, Oct 5 – First T20I
Monday, Oct 6 – Second T20I
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Who was Alfred Nobel?
The Nobel Prize was created by wealthy Swedish chemist and entrepreneur Alfred Nobel.
- In his will he dictated that the bulk of his estate should be used to fund "prizes to those who, during the preceding year, have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind".
- Nobel is best known as the inventor of dynamite, but also wrote poetry and drama and could speak Russian, French, English and German by the age of 17. The five original prize categories reflect the interests closest to his heart.
- Nobel died in 1896 but it took until 1901, following a legal battle over his will, before the first prizes were awarded.
Syria squad
Goalkeepers: Ibrahim Alma, Mahmoud Al Youssef, Ahmad Madania.
Defenders: Ahmad Al Salih, Moayad Ajan, Jehad Al Baour, Omar Midani, Amro Jenyat, Hussein Jwayed, Nadim Sabagh, Abdul Malek Anezan.
Midfielders: Mahmoud Al Mawas, Mohammed Osman, Osama Omari, Tamer Haj Mohamad, Ahmad Ashkar, Youssef Kalfa, Zaher Midani, Khaled Al Mobayed, Fahd Youssef.
Forwards: Omar Khribin, Omar Al Somah, Mardik Mardikian.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Specs
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AI traffic lights to ease congestion at seven points to Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Street
The seven points are:
Shakhbout bin Sultan Street
Dhafeer Street
Hadbat Al Ghubainah Street (outbound)
Salama bint Butti Street
Al Dhafra Street
Rabdan Street
Umm Yifina Street exit (inbound)
Blackpink World Tour [Born Pink] In Cinemas
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The Africa Institute 101
Housed on the same site as the original Africa Hall, which first hosted an Arab-African Symposium in 1976, the newly renovated building will be home to a think tank and postgraduate studies hub (it will offer master’s and PhD programmes). The centre will focus on both the historical and contemporary links between Africa and the Gulf, and will serve as a meeting place for conferences, symposia, lectures, film screenings, plays, musical performances and more. In fact, today it is hosting a symposium – 5-plus-1: Rethinking Abstraction that will look at the six decades of Frank Bowling’s career, as well as those of his contemporaries that invested social, cultural and personal meaning into abstraction.
Who has lived at The Bishops Avenue?
- George Sainsbury of the supermarket dynasty, sugar magnate William Park Lyle and actress Dame Gracie Fields were residents in the 1930s when the street was only known as ‘Millionaires’ Row’.
- Then came the international super rich, including the last king of Greece, Constantine II, the Sultan of Brunei and Indian steel magnate Lakshmi Mittal who was at one point ranked the third richest person in the world.
- Turkish tycoon Halis Torprak sold his mansion for £50m in 2008 after spending just two days there. The House of Saud sold 10 properties on the road in 2013 for almost £80m.
- Other residents have included Iraqi businessman Nemir Kirdar, singer Ariana Grande, holiday camp impresario Sir Billy Butlin, businessman Asil Nadir, Paul McCartney’s former wife Heather Mills.
Hunting park to luxury living
- Land was originally the Bishop of London's hunting park, hence the name
- The road was laid out in the mid 19th Century, meandering through woodland and farmland
- Its earliest houses at the turn of the 20th Century were substantial detached properties with extensive grounds
What can you do?
Document everything immediately; including dates, times, locations and witnesses
Seek professional advice from a legal expert
You can report an incident to HR or an immediate supervisor
You can use the Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratisation’s dedicated hotline
In criminal cases, you can contact the police for additional support
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
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Islamophobia definition
A widely accepted definition was made by the All Party Parliamentary Group on British Muslims in 2019: “Islamophobia is rooted in racism and is a type of racism that targets expressions of Muslimness or perceived Muslimness.” It further defines it as “inciting hatred or violence against Muslims”.
AndhaDhun
Director: Sriram Raghavan
Producer: Matchbox Pictures, Viacom18
Cast: Ayushmann Khurrana, Tabu, Radhika Apte, Anil Dhawan
Rating: 3.5/5
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