Full line-up of Berlinale Generation programmes announced

With 59 competition entries, including 29 world premieres and eleven debut films from 34 countries and a share of female directors reaching 58%, the programme of the 43rd Generation is now complete.

 

“A keen and open eye, the questioning of conventions and the often dramatic transgressions of borders make the films in the Generation programme particularly powerful: in their stories and topics, but also in their film language,” says head of Generation Maryanne Redpath.

 

Generation Kplus

Broken Bird

USA

by Rachel Gordon

World premiere / Short film

Birdie, growing up as the daughter of a Black American and a white woman, is Jewish, has unruly hair and must deal with the different identity offers that surround her. Highlighting the challenges of lived intersectionality, empowering and original.

 

Elders

Australia

by Tony Briggs

Documentary form / Short film

Nature teaches us vital lessons. In Wojobaluk Country, two elders introduce their grandson to the characteristics of the country of their ancestors. With keen senses, great attention to detail and the necessary respect for the environment, the boy becomes acquainted with the terrain.

 

El nombre del hijo (The Name of the Son)

Argentina

by Martina Matzkin

International premiere / Short film

Long hair would look good on him, but so would a mustache. This summer by the sea, the trans boy Lucho knows that there is a lot in him that is difficult to share with others. A sensitive approach to the diversity of gender in body and soul.

 

El sghayra (Miss)

Algeria / France

by Amira Géhanne Khalfallah

International premiere / Short film

There is a wrecked car in the Algerian desert. The girl gets in and drives. Apart from sand, there is nothing to see for miles. Searching for a change of scenery, she visits the elderly in her village and the nearby oasis. However, whether shepherd, merchant or blacksmith, nobody can see what she sees.

 

El silencio del río (The Silence of the River)

Peru

by Francesca Canepa

World premiere / Short film

The waters are deep, and the thicket of the jungle is shadowy in the dreamy and mysterious landscape of the Amazon. The fisher boy Juan decides to share with his father the terrifying dream that haunts him. Maybe then he can save his father’s soul.

 

En route

Netherlands

by Marit Weerheijm

International premiere / Short film

For Inay and her brother, the world is inexhaustibly rich in small, wonderful things, but poverty is the current fate of their family. For them, life is a balancing act along the fine line between steadfastness and tragedy. The film tells of the  precariat beyond conventional presumptions.

 

Hello Ahma

USA

by Siyou Tan

Short film

Now, Grandma is just a framed photo on the wall. Eight-year-old Michelle observes how her parents cope with her death, how they pause, remember, carry on with life. The girl has her own thoughts about this. Is it possible that the grandmother was born again?

 

The Kites

Iran

by Seyed Payam Hosseini

World premiere / Short film

On the slope of a river valley along the Iraqi-Iranian border of Kurdistan, a girl’s kite flies away. She calls three boys for help. However, the children are not only separated by the river valley, but also by the explosive legacies of past wars.

 

Der kleine Vogel und die Bienen (The Little Bird and the Bees)

Switzerland

by Lena von Döhren

World premiere / Animation / Short film

After the little bird has fluttered across the Generation canvas in fall and winter episodes, a new adventure follows. It is springtime, and the little bird makes the acquaintance of the bees, but the voracious fox is already in pursuit.

 

Las niñas (Schoolgirls)

Spain

by Pilar Palomero

World premiere / Debut film

Prodded by the rebellious Brisa, puberty is awakening in twelve-year-old Celia. Quickly, the two become allies against the rigid rules of authority in the Catholic girls’ school. However, questions about the right bra, cool bands, and sexy clothing cannot hide the urgent search for their own identity.

 

Lístek (Leaf)

Czech Republic

by Aliona Baranova

World premiere / Animation / Short film

A beautiful red leaf of a tree is the ticket of the girl who wants to board the big steamer. The scent of this leaf reminds the sailor of his homeland and finally leads him back there.

 

Mamá, mamá, mamá (Mum, Mum, Mum)

Argentina

by Sol Berruezo Pichon-Riviére

World premiere / Debut film

A veil of sadness lies over the oppressively hot summer days. Cleo dives into daydreams with her cousins, the girls share secret signs and rituals. Flowing gently, in impressionistic images, the empty space that the death of Cleo’s sister has left in the family is poetically encircled.

 

Mishou

Germany / Bulgaria

by Milen Vitanov

World premiere / Animation / Short film

Far and wide only snow, ice and pleasant silence. Until a helicopter drops a load of noisy tourists. Humorous animation about animalistic interaction and the human ignorance of nature. Milen Vitanov, the co-founder of the Berlin Talking Animals collective, has a film in Generation for the second time.

 

Money Honey

New Zealand

by Isaac Knights-Washbourn

World premiere / Short film

Hank is in a bad mood. Red wants to cheer up her buddy. Perhaps, with a bit of luck and business acumen, they might acquire enough money for an Elvis sandwich with peanut butter, banana and bacon?

 

Mugge & vejfesten (Monty and the Street Party)

Denmark

by Anders Morgenthaler and Mikael Wulff

International premiere / Animation

Monty, a cheerful optimist, wants to organize a big neighborhood party to reconcile his parents shortly before their divorce. Nuns with beards on stilts and enthusiastic parkour nudists, those are part of everyday life in his little town. A breath-taking firework of bizarre and pointed punch lines on the occasion of a hopeless situation.

 

Ochite mi sini, rokljata sharena (Blue Eyes and Colorful My Dress)

Germany

by Polina Gumiela

World premiere / Documentary form

Full of self-confidence, three-year-old Zhana explores her neighborhood in Plovdiv, Bulgaria. A fresh look at the world, at places and people who fascinate, who make one laugh, who challenge or are challenged by the little explorer. A documentary as an endless chain of little miracles.

 

Onderhuids (Under the Skin)

Netherlands

by Emma Branderhorst

International premiere / Short film

The blue depths of the swimming pool is her home. Keesje is a passionate synchronized swimmer, and the big competition is just around the corner. However, when a fight erupts between the girls during the final rehearsal, everything changes. The subtle nuances between belonging and feeling marginalized begin to surface.

 

Rã (Frogs)

Brazil

by Ana Flavia Cavalcanti, Julia Zakia

International premiere / Short film

It’s dripping through the ceiling, the space for sleeping is scarce. Under poor living conditions, a young mother handles everyday life with her two daughters in the Brazilian suburb as best she can. When they unexpectedly acquire a load of frog legs, this gives rise to a celebration that will not soon be forgotten.

 

Sthalpuran (Chronicle of Space)

India

by Akshay Indikar

World premiere

The move from the city to the country, the disappearance of the father. Nobody explained to Dhigu why this is so. Throughout the summer, the observant boy takes note of his surroundings. Together with Dhigu, the film explores his new place of life in the Indian province, with images of vastness and abundance that become deeply etched into the memory.

 

Sune – Best Man

Sweden

by Jon Holmberg

International premiere

Sune meets himself as a figure from the future, someone who wants to give him the lead on an important decision. But it is in Sune’s family that no one can really make a decision. Aimlessness and inventiveness characterize grandpa, the parents, and the children. After Sune vs. Sune, a turbulent family trip with heart, humor, and action.

 

toni_with_an_i

United Kingdom

by Marco Alessi

International premiere / Short film

Music lover Toni lives out in the virtual world what she can’t show at school. Online likes torpedo malice in real life, and vice versa. In Marco Alessi’s (Special mention Generation 14plus 2019 with Four Quartets) toni_with_an_i, a gaudy and colorful portrait of a teenager, the Internet is the answer.

 

Qiu shi (Harvest)

People’s Republic of China

by Sun Lijun

World premiere / Animation / Short film

An animation illustrated by the renowned Chinese water-color artist Sun Lijun, in which a small grasshopper hunts for the season’s most sought-after fruits. His dramatic escape from a large predator leads him unexpectedly to the object of desire: the pomegranate.

 

Generation 14plus

Alice Júnior

Brazil

by Gil Baroni

International premiere

Alice Júnior is trans, confident and ready to confront life. In the new school in the Brazilian province, she is first bullied and then admired. In her struggle for acceptance, her YouTube community is omnipresent, in the comments and emojis on her page, but also all throughout the visual level of the film.

 

Babylebbe (Babydyke)

Denmark

by Tone Ottilie

World premiere / Short film

Tagged as Babydyke by her older sister and her clique, a teenager delves into the party life of the queer scene. Frede doesn’t like labels, she wants to love and be loved. A film as rough and as tender as the world which it depicts.

 

Comrades

Hong Kong, China

by Kanas Liu

International premiere / Documentary form / Short film

Young people are protesting on the streets of Hong Kong in order to bring about change. Air soaked with tear gas, the dark uniforms and loud commands of the police officers in the colorful umbrella sea of the protesters. In the midst of the action, the film documents a brand new protest movement.

 

The Earth Is Blue as an Orange

Ukraine / Lithuania

by Iryna Tsilyk

Documentary form / Debut film

The budding filmmaker Myroslava and her family are at home in the middle of the Ukrainian war zone. In the formerly lively environment, emptiness has spread, once familiar things now seem threatening. By re-enacting scenes and telling each other what has happened, the family members process the persistent state of emergency together.

 

Grevillea

Australia

by Jordan Giusti

World premiere / Short film

Black ink on white skin. An incarcerated youth of Jewish faith decides to get a tattoo with the leaf of the Australian silver oak, against the conventions of his religion. A visual-sensual snapshot of a possibly irreversible decision.

 

Hot Mother

New Zealand

by Lucy Knox

World premiere / Short film

A horror trip based on a true incident: The feel-good atmosphere of the wellness resort cannot calm the tense mood between mother and daughter. They relentlessly criticize each other. Ultimately, in the hot sauna, there is no escape for either of them.

 

Irmã (Sisters in the End of the World)

Brazil

by Luciana Mazeto, Vinícius Lopes

World premiere / Debut film

The mother is dying, the father has never cared. The two sisters Ana and Ju, however, remain strong and in solidarity with each other - even if the world around them collapses and asteroids fall from the sky. An experimental road movie in pulsating images, containing ingenious dialogues and songs that reverberate.

 

Jumbo

France / Belgium / Luxembourg

by Zoé Wittock

Debut film

The shy Jeanne (Noémi Merlant) still lives with her mother. At night, she works in an amusement park. Suddenly, the new attraction Jumbo - a huge idiosyncratic carousel - appears and begins to put the young woman under its spell. A wild and unusual love story unfolds.

 

Kaze no Denwa (Voices in the Wind)

Japan

by Nobuhiro Suwa

International premiere

Years after her family was killed in the 2011 tsunami, the quiet Haru, played by the young Japanese star Serena Motola, travels across Japan in search of traces. A calm road movie that collects miniature portraits as painted by encounters, thus becoming the portrait of a society that is still deeply marked by trauma.

 

La déesse des mouches à feu (Goddess of the Fireflies)

Canada

by Anaïs Barbeau-Lavalette

World premiere

Following the separation of her parents, 16-year-old Catherine loses her footing. She plunges into life, lets herself be carried away by drugs and music, and finds a new family in a clique of her peers as well as the opportunity for her first sexual encounter. Pure teen spirit, impressively embodied by the high-energy, Canadian actress Kelly Depeault.

 

Le mal du siècle (The Great Malaise)

Canada

by Catherine Lepage

International premiere / Animation / Short film

The hedgehog between balloons, the feline predator on the hamster wheel, the fish in the lifebuoy: A young woman portrays herself in the best possible light in her self-description. Ingenious and humorous, the film illustrates honest images for the praised ideals of life in the 21st century. The burnout is pre-programmed.

 

Palazzo di Giustizia (Ordinary Justice)

Italy / Switzerland

by Chiara Bellosi

World premiere / Debut film

While a trial involving murder, manslaughter, and armed robbery is being conducted inside the courtroom, the two daughters of the accused are sentenced to wait outside in the hallway. It is casual, although meaningful moments that are captured that make this portrayal of a very ordinary day at the court truly impressive.

 

Panteres (Panthers)

Spain

by Èrika Sánchez

World premiere / Short film

They are scarred, overweight, pregnant, shaved, or tattooed. In the locker room, Joana studies the physical conditions of other women and later of herself in the mirror. Can your own body be modulated? Your gender? Your femininity? “Break Free” is written on her shirt - time for emancipation.

 

Progresso Renaissance

Italy / France

by Marta Anatra

International premiere / Documentary form / Short film

Portovesme in the south of Sardinia, a place with many faces: Once an industrial flagship, today an abandoned place of work. A breath of summer idyll has withstood the test of time. In neo-realistic 16mm images and archive material, and with an accentuated soundtrack, the film follows three boys who appear as if emerging from a memory.

 

White Winged Horse

Iran

by Mahyar Mandegar

World premiere / Short film

A man returns to his Iranian hometown, which was destroyed in the war 20 years ago. He is searching for his childhood sweetheart who had promised him eternal love – if he were to return as a white-winged horse. Past and present overlap in the poetic memory and imagination of the boy he once was.

 

Who Can Predict What Will Move You

USA

by Livia Huang

World premiere / Short film

What quickly and dynamically begins while playing basketball together evolves into a gently shy dance of two young men through the night. A poetic, yet wonderfully tender exploration of the various forms of affection and intimacy.

 

Yalda, la nuit du pardon (Yalda, a Night for Forgiveness)

France / Germany / Switzerland / Luxembourg / Lebanon / Iran

by Massoud Bakhshi

In the artificial entertainment world of the Iranian TV show “Joy of Forgiveness”, the wronged daughter and public of millions judge the fate of a young woman who is sentenced to death. Maryam is said to have murdered her much older husband, a man with whom she had lived in temporary marriage. A tense drama about the power of forgiveness and the women who are doomed to remain prisoners.