Back to church: Berlinale judges set stage for in-presence festival

Berlin (dpa) – The judges at Berlin’s 72nd International Film Festival showed their elation on Thursday that the Berlinale was taking place in person and with the public attending.

“We are all sitting here because we love cinema so much,” said German filmmaker Anne Zohra Berrached at a press conference marking the start of the festival.

“Cinema for me has always been like a religion … the church is the theater,” said French Tunisian producer Saïd Ben Saïd. “We are back to the church, together” he said.

“It has always been church to me as well,” agreed the president of the jury this year, Hollywood director M. Night Shyamalan, who became famous for his film “Sixth Sense” in 1999.

While the jury applauded the return of the public to theatres, the festival opens on Thursday evening with a world premiere of French director François Ozon’s “Peter von Kant,” which is set during a lockdown.

The Berlinale, which runs until February 20, is one of the world’s leading film festivals alongside Cannes and Venice – and one of the few to open its doors to the public.

But due to the Covid-19 hygiene measures, there will be a reduction in seating capacity in the Berlinale cinemas to 50 per cent.

All parties and receptions have also been called off.

Around 800 guests are later expected in for the showing of “Peter von Kant,” which the festival says features “love and jealousy, seduction and humour.” It stars Denis Ménochet, Isabelle Adjani and Hanna Schygulla.

The film is one of 18 that are competing for the the Golden Bear, the top prize awarded at the festival. It will be handed out on February 16, although the festival’s non-competition programming continues through the following weekend.

In total, around 400 films of all genres, lengths and formats will be shown.

Last year, the Golden Bear for Best Film went to the satire “Bad Luck Banging or Loony Porn” by Romanian director Radu Jude. In it, a teacher gets in trouble because of a sex film.

French actress Isabelle Huppert, 68, is to receive the Berlinale’s Honorary Golden Bear for lifetime achievement this year.