Berlinale 2004: Preview.

Squeezed in between the Globes last night and the Oscar noms tomorrow (keep track of all this at the MCN Awards Scoreboard), was, today, the press conference unveiling the full lineup, program and anything at all having to do with the Berlinale, known more formally as the Berlin International Film Festival.

This'll be the 54th. Not for me, of course, but for them. February 5 through 15, that's where I'll be, and you know I'll be reporting as faithfully and as often as possible on all I see and hear. Fair warning, though: I go for the films. If some star runs off with some other star and doesn't reappear until the next morning, you'll probably hear about it from somebody else first. Same goes for acquisitions, that sort of thing. It's not that I'm not interested. I am, but the days are short and the films are long and many, so for those 10 days or so, real life will be passing me by. So be it, I'll catch up later.

Fortunately, I've already written up a brief historical chronology I can simply refer you to so that we can move straight into what we have to look forward to: 394 films, 67 of those, shorts. Naturally, I won't be catching all of them. I'll be concentrating on the Competition, catching the odd showing in the Forum or Panorama when I can.

As for the conference, the numbers, the sponsors and so forth, I'll spare you the details, but this much should be said: The ever-charming Dieter Kosslick, the festival director you can barely make out on the far right there, and his team did a splendid job of almost introducing absolutely everything within the time period they'd set out for themselves, half an hour. They'd even rehearsed! So, out of respect for their efforts, just a few of the barebones essentials.

There are two geographical emphases this year, running throughout every program: South Africa and Latin America. I would add: Africa in general, actually, because there'll also be a special program devoted to the "Nigerian phenomenon," as Kosslick called it. You may have seen, for example, the recent piece in the Guardian on Nollywood. The BBC sent Nick Moran to make a movie in Nigeria where film is the boomingest industry in the young democracy. It wasn't exactly a blast for Moran. "Day four," he writes. "This is when things start to go belly up." But Kosslick and Co. had a grand time. They went down there and asked those in the know for guidance. Here's an industry that produces 1200 "films" on video a year. Who could help select just a few to show in Berlin? Why select any of them, came the reply. You just tell us what you need for your Competition, your Forum, your Panorama... and we'll make the films for you!

Thing is, they'll also be showing films from India that have fallen through the cracks between Bollywood and the arthouse, and there'll be a film from North Korea, and there'll be three young ladies flown in by the German army from Kabul to report on the festival for the folks back home, and all in all, I think what happened is: They set out to have two geographical emphases and ended up with a genuine festival of world cinema on their hands, which is wonderful. Bravo.

"All in all, there's a certain seriousness about the films in the program this year," says Kosslick, "you can't help but sense it." But wouldn't that be all but inevitable, given what all went down in 2003? Of course, as Kosslick hastens to add, there'll be moments of irony and fun, "and above all, hope," and that's as it should be, too. All in all, though, this team has its collective finger on the pulse of the planet right now.

Posted by dwhudson at January 26, 2004 3:02 PM