The Berlin International Film Festival’s upcoming 2019 Competition lineup is looking decidedly more female-friendly than the fest’s 2018 edition. As previously announced, Lone Scherfig’s latest, Zoe Kazan-starrer “The Kindness of Strangers,” will open the 69th iteration of the Berlinale and is part of its Competition lineup. The fest just revealed more titles in its Competition slate: including “The Kindness of Strangers,” the lineup now contains seven films. Three of them are women-directed, amounting to 43 percent of the program.
More titles will be added to the Competition section in the days leading up to the fest, which will take place February 7-17, so it remains to be seen just how much of an improvement we’re looking at.
Joining Scherfig in the Competition lineup are Marie Kreutzer’s “The Ground Beneath My Feet,” a drama about a powerful business consultant, and Angela Schanelec’s “I Was at Home, but,” the story of a 13-year-old who disappears then returns under mysterious circumstances.
Women-directed films accounted for just 21 percent of the films eligible for the Berlinale’s highest honors in 2018. Despite overwhelming odds, the fest’s most prestigious prizes, the Golden Bear and the Silver Bear Grand Jury Prize, went to films helmed by women. Adina Pintilie’s “Touch Me Not” took home the former and Malgorzata Szumowska’s “Mug” the latter.
The Berlinale also named Zoya Akhta’s “Gully Boy,” a Bollywood musical drama, as a Berlinale Special Gala at the Friedrichstadt-Palast.
Juliette Binoche is set to serve as President of the International Jury at the fest.
The Berlinale has yet to sign the gender parity pledge that fests around the world are committing to. Cannes, Venice, and Toronto are among those that have signed on.
