Of the 19 films that will compete for the Golden and Silver Bears at the Berlin International Film Festival this year, only 3 will be directed by women, comprising a scanty 16% of the Berlinale’s highest-profile category. (The Competition program features 23 films this year, but only 19 will actually compete.)
All three of those women-directed works hail from Europe: festival opener Nobody Wants the Night by Spain’s Isabel Coixet, Sworn Virgin by Italy’s Laura Bispuri, and Body by Poland’s Malgorzata Szumowska.
Other films from female helmers that will debut at the Berlinale either internationally or continentally include Ava DuVernay’s Selma, Liz Garbus’ What Happened, Miss Simone?, Margarethe von Trotta’s The Misplaced World, and Laura Nix, Andy Bichlbaum, and Mike Bonanno’s The Yes Men Are Revolting.
The 65th Berlinale will take place on February 5–15, 2015.
Here are the women-directed films of the programs that have already been announced:
COMPETITION programme (3 of 23 films directed by women)
Vergine giurata (Sworn Virgin) — Italy / Switzerland / Germany / Albania / Kosovo By Laura Bispuri — Feature debut
Body — Poland By Malgorzata Szumowska
Nobody Wants the Night (Opening film) — Spain / France / Bulgaria By Isabel Coixet
Panorama
Dokumente [Documentaries]
Censored
Voices — Israel / Germany By Mor Loushy
Die
Widerständigen „also machen wir das weiter …” (The Resistors “their spirit
prevails …”) — Germany By Ula Stöckl, Katrin SeyboldJe suis
Annemarie Schwarzenbach (My Name is Annemarie Schwarzenbach) — France By Véronique Aubouy
What
Happened, Miss Simone? — USA By Liz Garbus
Danielův
Svět (Daniel’s World) by Veronika Lišková, Czech
Republic
The Yes
Men Are Revolting by Laura Nix, Andy
Bichlbaum, Mike Bonanno, USA
FORUM
Ben Zaken By Efrat Corem, Israel — IP
Ce gigantesque retournement de la terre (This Gigantic Furrowing of the Ground) by Claire Angelini, France — WP
Chaiki (The Gulls) by Ella Manzheeva, Russian Federation — WP
Exotica, Erotica, Etc. by Evangelia Kranioti, France — WP
Freie Zeiten (After Work) by Janina Herhoffer, Germany — WP
H. by Rania Attieh, Daniel Garcia, Argentina / USA — IP
Hedi Schneider steckt fest (Hedi Schneider is Stuck) by Sonja Heiss, Germany / Norway — WP
Hotline by Silvina Landsmann, Israel / France — WP
Mar by Dominga Sotomayor, Chile / Argentina — IP
Nefesim kesilene kadar (Until I Lose My Breath) by Emine Emel Balcı, Turkey / Germany — WP
Zurich by Sacha Polak, The Netherlands / Germany / Belgium — WP
Forum
Expanded: “To the Sound of the Closing Door”
Ruhe
auf der Leinwand By Friedl vom Gröller, Austria
Into
the Hinterlands By Julia Yezbick, USA
Face B By Leila Albayaty, Belgium / Germany
Shape
Shifting By Elke Marhöfer, Mikhail Lylov, Germany / Japan
Institute
Above — Ground By Florian Zeyfang/Lisa Schmidt-Colinet/ Alexander
Schmoeger, Germany
Barra
Fel Share’ (Out on the Street) By Jasmina Metwaly/Philip Rizk, Egypt
Memories
for a Private Eye By Rania Stephan, Lebanon
Calamity
Qui? By Isabelle Prim Canada / France
Have
You Ever Killed a Bear? Or Becoming Jamila By Marwa Arsanios, Lebanon
A Field
Guide to the Ferns By Basma Alsharif, USA
Vyshybalshitsa
(Embroideress) By Lyusya Matveeva, Russia
Strom By Eva C. Heldmann, Germany
Berlinale
Special
Selma — United
Kingdom / USA By Ava
DuVernay (Middle of Nowhere)
Die
abhandene Welt (The Misplaced World) — Germany By
Margarethe von Trotta (Rosenstraße)
Generation
14plus
Flocken
(Flocking) — Sweden By
Beata Gårdeler
Jennifer’s
claim of having been raped by a classmate lies heavily on this idyllic village
in the Swedish provinces. In chilling images, the director portrays how this
fourteen-year-old and her family are brutally shunned by the close-knit
community.
Nena –
Netherlands / Germany By
Saskia Diesing
Summer
’89 — the world is in turmoil, inside and out: Nena (rising star: Abbey Hoes)
is 16. She is in love and embraces life with unbridled joy. In contrast, her
paraplegic father (brilliant: Uwe Ochsenknecht) finds his life increasingly
pointless.
Generation
Kplus
Dorsvloer
vol Confetti (Confetti Harvest) — Netherlands By
Tallulah Schwab
Being
the only girl in a seven-sibling family, nobody pays much attention to
twelve-year-old Katelijne. While other children her age are having fun
discovering what it means to become a teen, her strict protestant parents and
village community see only the temptations of the devil.
Kar
Korsanları (Snow Pirates) — Turkey By
Faruk Hacıhafızoğlu
Turkey
1981: on their daily search for bits of coal, three friends defy the bitter
cold and poverty by telling each other their hopes and dreams. Their friendship
and unwavering courage are stronger than any dangerous obstacle they may
encounter.
Min
lilla syster (My Skinny Sister) — Sweden / Germany By
Sanna Lenken
For
Stella (brilliant: Rebecka Josephson), her big sister Katja is beautiful and a
divine figure skater. When Stella realizes that Katja vomits nearly everything
she eats, she is forced to choose between her concern for her loyalty. At the
same time she has her own private worries to deal with.
