The Dinner from U.S. director Oren Moverman (The Messenger) and starring Richard Gere, Rebecca Hall, Laura Linney and Steve Coogan, and The Party, the latest star-studded effort from U.K. helmer Sally Potter (Orlando), will have their world premieres in competition at the Berlin International Film Festival next year.
Organizers on Thursday announced the first handful of competition films for the 2017 fest, which is set to run Feb. 9-19.
The Dinner, which The Orchard picked up for North America at Marche du Film in Cannes this year, is the story of two families who, over the course of a single meal, struggle with the most difficult decisions of their lives. Chloe Sevigny and Adepero Oduye co-star in the drama adapted from Herman Koch’s best-seller.
Potter’s dramedy The Party is set during a celebration at a London home that unfolds in real-time onscreen. The veteran U.K. director has lined up an impressive ensemble cast for the feature, including Patricia Clarkson, Cillian Murphy, Kristin Scott Thomas, Bruno Ganz, Timothy Spall, Emily Mortimer and Cherry Jones.
Other Berlin 2017 entries include The Other Side of Hope, from acclaimed Finnish director Aki Kaurismaki (Le Havre), which will have its international premiere in Berlin, and Spoor from Oscar-nominated Polish helmer Agnieszka Holland (In Darkness).
Also in the running for Berlin’s Gold and Silver Bears next year will be On Body and Soul, from Hungarian director Ildiko Enyedi; Ana mon amour from Romanian helmer Calin Pater Netzer, winner of the Berlin Golden Bear in 2013 for Child’s Pose; and Beuys, a documentary on controversial German artist Joseph Beuys by acclaimed nonfiction filmmaker Andres Veiel (Black Box Germany).
Colo, from Portugese filmmaker Teresa Villaverde; Alain Gomis‘ Felicite and Una Mujer Fantastica from Chilean filmmaker Sebastián Lelio also made the Berlin competition cut.
In addition to the competition titles, Berlin confirmed four films that will get special, out-of-competition gala screenings at the 2017 fest. These include Fernando Trueba’s period comedy The Queen of Spain, the sequel to 1988’s The Girl of Your Dreams, starring Penelope Cruz and Mandy Patinkin; Raoul Peck’s biopic The Young Karl Marx featuring German star August Diehl as the founder of communism; and Last Days in Havana from director Fernando Perez.
Berlin also will hold a special screening of a newly restored version of Eight Hours Don’t Make a Day, a 1972 German TV series written and directed by Rainer Werner Fassbinder and starring Hanna Schygulla, Gottfried John, Luise Ullrich, Werner Finck and Irm Hermann.
