Written by Julieta Gozalo
This year, the 72nd Berlin International FIlm Festival took place from February 10 to 20, 2022 as an in-person event.
Each year, the Berlinale comprises about 400 films of every genre, length, and format. The festival is divided into the following categories: Competition, Berlinale Special & Berlinale Series, Encounters, Berlinale Shorts, Forum & Forum Expanded, Panorama, Generation, Perspektive Deutsches Kino, and Retrospective, Berlinale Classics & Homage.
According to their website, “The Berlin International Film Festival enjoys an eventful history. The festival was created for the Berlin public in 1951, at the beginning of the Cold War, as a “showcase of the free world”. Shaped by the turbulent post-war period and the unique situation of a divided city, the Berlinale has developed into a place of intercultural exchange and a platform for the critical cinematic exploration of social issues. To this day it is considered the most political of all the major film festivals.”
Read below for a list of the films presented this year:
Still from A E I O U – A Quick Alphabet of Love.
A E I O U – A Quick Alphabet of Love
Director: Nicolette Krebitz
Anna is 60 and her acting heyday is now behind her. She reluctantly accepts a job as a language coach for 17-year-old misfit Adrian who has a speech impediment. But she recognises him as the thief who recently snatched her handbag in the street.
Alcarras
Director: Carla Simon
The Solé family spends the summer picking peaches in their orchard in Alcarràs, a small village in Catalonia, Spain. But this year’s crop may well be their last as new owners plan to replace the peach trees with solar panels and the family’s livelihood is threatened.
Call Jane
Director: Phyllis Nagy
Joy, a 1960s housewife with an unwanted pregnancy, discovers that even a confirmed medical threat to her life will not soften her hospital’s all-male, anti-abortion board. With nowhere to turn, she stumbles upon the “Janes“, an underground women’s group.
Everything Will Be Ok
Director: Rithy Panh
Rithy Panh’s dense mnemonic essay is a 21st century dystopian fable that unfolds in magnificent dioramas. Animals have enslaved humans and taken over the world. The statues of the past are gone and new ones are erected to suppress the will of the people.
Still from Both Sides of the Blade.
Both Sides Of The Blade
Director: Claire Denis
Sara has been in a stable, loving relationship with Jean for years. But then a man from their past reappears and, without warning, an old passion reignites. The ensuing fire threatens to consume everything in its path.
A Piece of Sky
Director: Michael Koch
Young love in the Alps. Anna is from the village and has a daughter from a previous relationship. Marco is a hired alpine farmhand. A gem of a film about life as an endurance test and having faith in people, told in precise, unassuming and tranquil image
Leonora Addio
Director: Paolo Taviani
The ashes of writer and playwright Luigi Pirandello are transported from a hasty burial site in fascist Rome to a permanent resting place in his native Sicily, on a trek that takes us through post-war Italy and its filmed memories.
The Line
Director: Ursula Meier ∙
After hitting her mother in a violent argument, 35-year-old Margaret is served with a three-month restraining order. But the line that marks the newly forbidden 100-metre zone around her mother’s home only exacerbates her desire to be closer to her family.
The Passengers of the Night Mikhaël Hers
Director: Charlotte Gainsbourg
The presidential election heralds the winds of change which find an echo in the life of Elisabeth, whose husband has just abandoned her. She and her teenage children now find themselves holding the reins of their destiny.
Rabiye Kurnaz vs. George W. Bush
Director: Andreas Dresen
Her son Murat’s detention in Guantanamo catapults Rabiye Kurnaz from everyday life in her terraced house in Bremen into the heart of world politics. The brilliant, stunning, combative, witty performance by Meltem Kaptan assures her a place in the film annals.
Still from Rabiye Kurnaz vs. George W. Bush.