Berlin (AFP)

Prominent or controversial guests with sulphurous works: here are the five highlights expected from the 70th Berlinale, starting on Thursday.

- Hillary -

If Helen Mirren is about to receive a Bear of Honor, the other woman in the spotlight is undoubtedly Hillary Clinton.

The Democrat, unsuccessful presidential candidate of 2016, will come to defend Monday the documentary series, which is devoted to her (out of competition): four one-hour episodes (soon to be broadcast on the Hulu platform) to return to the life and career of the one who could have become the first president of the United States.

In front of the Berlinale audience, Hillary could take the opportunity to give his opinion on hopes on the Democratic side, before the election on November 3.

- Prohibited for minors? -

The initial idea was to carry out a biopic on the Russian Nobel Prize in physics Lev Landau (1908-1968). Quickly, the project of the Russian Ilya Khrzhanovsky turned into a crazy experience: recreating a Soviet scientific city, in Ukraine, and providing more than 400 people with a totalitarian experience, under the eyes of the cameras ...

From two years of immersion and 700 hours of rushes, he shot 13 films, screened a year ago in Paris during an immersive experience called "DAU", prohibited for children under 18.

Two of the films will be screened in Berlin, including "DAU Natasha", vying for the Golden Bear. "Most of the scenes in the whole project are hardcore, not just in this film," warned the organizers.

- Pixar madness -

Just crowned with an Oscar for the fourth installment of "Toy Story", the Pixar studios (Disney) set out to conquer the public with "Onward" ("En avant!"), In theaters at the beginning of March, the story of two brothers embarking on a magical quest to revive, for 24 hours, their father whom they barely knew.

Presented out of competition, the film promises to thrill the youngest. Especially since the voice cast has many stars from the Marvel universe, including Tom Holland (Spider-Man) and Chris Pratt (Star-Lord in "Guardians of the Galaxy").

- Do Brasil -

With filmmaker Kleber Mendonça Filho ("Bacurau") on the jury, a film vying for the Golden Bear ("Todos os mortos") and a handful of others in the parallel sections, Brazil is very well represented .

A coincidence that has nothing political, assure the organizers of the Berlinale, but which is perhaps explained by the threats weighing on the cinema in Brazil, since the coming to power of the president of extreme right Jair Bolsonaro. "Many directors have hurried to finish their film this year" for fear of lower subsidies.

- Dissent -

Awarded in Cannes in 2017 for "A man with integrity", Mohammad Rasoulof was sentenced two years later to two years of inadmissibility. If his presence in Berlin is more than hypothetical, his film "There is no evil", in the running for the Golden Bear, should be talked about.

The festival will also honor the second film by Ukrainian Oleg Sentsov. Arrested at home in 2014 after protesting against the annexation of Crimea, he was imprisoned for five years in a camp in Russia. It was during this period that he directed "Numbers" (out of competition), inspired by this experience.

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