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If we were to live in normal times, we could now report which stars will all appear at the Berlinale: Michael Caine, Jodie Foster, Benedict Cumberbatch, Shailene Woodley, Michelle Pfeiffer, Imogen Poots, Tina Turner, Angela Bassett, Tom Schilling, Albrecht Schuch , Sandra Hüller, Daniel Brühl, Peter Kurth.

Films from all of them are shown at the 71st Film Festival.

But we don't live in normal times, and so none of the big names will come to Berlin - but their films in the competition and the so-called “Special” section.

Because the two-part Berlinale will take place from 1st to 5th

March online only for accredited persons and the jury (who sees everything in Berlin in a cinema), and then from 9. – 20.

June for the audience in Berlin cinemas (let's hope that one or the other star could show up).

The Berlinale plays “normality” as much as possible and has filled all its program vessels, from competitions to children's films, albeit with fewer films than usual. There are only 100 instead of 400.

The big question, of course, is: is this an emergency program?

It has now been eleven months since the pandemic started and the films that were finished before the shooting stopped running out.

Venice had no problems at all last September because these were all pre-Corona films.

Katia Pascariu in the Romanian post "Babardeal cu buclucsau porno balamuc" (Bad luck or: Crazy porn)

Source: © Silviu Ghetie / microFilm

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If one takes into account the production times of feature films, this Berlinale could still benefit from the pre-pandemic projects;

it may look more difficult for Cannes in July and Venice next September.

Each of the 15 films in the competition is a world premiere and almost all of them are specials;

a good sign that the Berlinale is sticking to this claim and can afford it.

Four competition films come from Germany: the Kästner film adaptation of “Fabian” by Dominik Graf, the documentary “Herr Bachmann und seine Klasse” by Maria Speth, Maria Schrader's “Ich bin dein Mensch” and Daniel Brühl's directorial debut “next door”.

There are also three Germans in the special: Christian Schwochow's terror survivor drama “Je suis Karl”, Tim Fehlbaum's post-apocalypse fiction “Tides” and Marc Bauder's “Who we were”, in which six thinkers and scientists reflect on the state of the world.

That is an exceptionally high German quota, and we will see whether it is due to exceptionally good films or gaps in the program;

let's wait and see if there is a new "system sprinkler" like two years ago.

What definitely did not come true was the hope that because the Oscars were postponed to the end of April, the Berlinale would now be used again as a gallop catwalk for Oscar candidates, as was the case until a few years ago.

Where are Netflix and Amazon?

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There is not a single American in the competition, but three in the special: “Best Sellers” with Michael Caine as an author on a reading tour, “Language Lessons”, the first directorial work by actress Natalie Morales, and the documentary “Tina” about the singer Tina Turner.

At first glance, there is no trace of Netflix or Amazon either, which is not surprising, because firstly they both shot their best powder in the Christmas season, and secondly, both festivals were always just a crutch to gain recognition in the industry;

As a corona crisis profiteer, you no longer need that.

The rest of the world is taking the place of Hollywood (which was already rarer at festivals before Corona) - which doesn't have to be a bad sign at all.

Xavier Beauvois (France), Radu Jude (Romania), Bence Fliegauf (Hungary), Hong Sangsoo (Korea) have a good reputation as cineastes, and it is a coup, "Petite Maman", the new film by the acclaimed French Célina Sciamma, to have in competition.

The French competition film "Petite Maman"

Source: © Lilies Films

A jury of six previous Golden Bear winners - the directors Mohammad Rasoulof (Iran), Nadav Lapid (Israel), Adina Pintilie (Romania), Ildikó Enyedi (Hungary), Gianfranco Rosi (Italy) and Jasmila Žbanić (Bosnia and Herzegovina) will be in Berlin at the beginning of March and enjoy the great privilege of being able to enjoy all films in one cinema.

The winners will be announced around March 6th, but audiences will have to wait until June to see them.