The Berlin International Film Festival has finalized its 2019 Competition. Of the 23 films selected, eight are helmed by women, or about 35 percent. That figure is more than double last year’s 17 percent. Of the 17 Competition films eligible for the festival’s top prizes, the Golden Bear and Silver Bears, seven are from women directors, or a very respectable 41 percent.
Berlinale’s two highest honors, the Golden Bear and the Silver Bear Grand Jury Prize, both went to women-directed films in 2018. Adina Pintilie’s “Touch Me Not” took home the former and Malgorzata Szumowska’s “Mug” the latter.
Isabel Coixet’s portrayal of Spain’s first lesbian marriage, “Elisa y Marcela,” is among the festival’s 2019 Competition films. The 1901-set drama centers on two women who wed when one successfully poses as a man. Agnieszka Holland’s “Mr. Jones,” a thriller about a journalist reporting on the Soviet Union in the ’30s, will also screen.
“Varda by Agnès,” Agnès Varda’s retrospective of her own filmmaking career, will play in Competition but will not compete for the fest’s top honors.
Berlinale also announced the films screening as Special presentations. Four of the 12 pics, or 33 percent, are women-directed or co-directed. Titles include Cordula Kablitz-Post and Paul Dugdale’s concert doc “You Only Live Once – Die Toten Hosen on Tour.”
Berlinale’s 2019 edition will take place February 7-17. As previously reported, Lone Scherfig’s ensemble drama “The Kindness of Strangers” will open the fest.
Check out all of the women-directed or co-directed Competition and Special presentation titles below.
Competition
Der Boden unter den Füßen (The Ground beneath My Feet) by Marie Kreutzer (Austria)
Elisa y Marcela (Elisa & Marcela) by Isabel Coixet (Spain)
Gospod postoi, imeto i’ e Petrunija (God Exists, Her Name is Petrunya) by Teona Strugar Mitevska (Macedonia / Belgium / Slovenia / Croatia / France)
Ich war zuhause, aber (I Was at Home, But) by Angela Schanelec (Germany / Serbia)
The Kindness of Strangers by Lone Scherfig (Denmark / Canada / Sweden / Germany / France) – Opening film
Mr. Jones by Agnieszka Holland (Poland / United Kingdom / Ukraine)
Systemsprenger (System Crasher) by Nora Fingscheidt (Germany)
Varda par Agnès (Varda by Agnès) by Agnès Varda (France) – Documentary, Out of competition
Special Presentations
ANTHROPOCENE: The Human Epoch by Jennifer Baichwal, Nicholas de Pencier, Edward Burtynsky (Canada) – Documentary
Gully Boy by Zoya Akhtar (India)
Lampenfieber (Kids in the Spotlight) by Alice Agneskirchner (Germany) – Documentary
Weil du nur einmal lebst – Die Toten Hosen auf Tour (You Only Live Once – Die Toten Hosen on Tour) by Cordula Kablitz-Post, concert director Paul Dugdale (Germany) – Documentary
