Berlin Film Festival 2023
‘White Plastic Sky’ Review: From Hungary, Richly Realized Dystopian World-Building
The sci-fi rotoscoped animated feature from Hungarian filmmakers Tibor Banoczki and Sarolta Szabo bowed in Berlin.
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‘Opponent’ (‘Motstandaren’) Review: Payman Maadi Brings Searing Intensity to Character Study of an Iranian Refugee in Sweden
Writer-director Milad Alami’s accomplished second feature weaves an emotional domestic drama around a wrestler torn between family and suppressed desires.
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Berlin: LGBTQ+ Teddy Award for Nigerian Drama ‘All The Colors in the World Are Between Black and White’
All the Colours of the World Are Between Black and White, the debut feature from director Babatunde Apalow, has won the 2023 Berlin Film Festival’s Teddy Award for best LGBTQIA+ film at this year’s Berlinale. Apalow’s drama follows the story of two men, Bambino and Bawa, who meet in Lagos and immediately hit it off […]
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Berlin: ‘Kokomo City,’ ‘Sira’ Win Panorama Audience Awards
D. Smith’s Sundance audience award winner Kokomo City has won over Berlin cinemagoers as well, winning the audience award for best documentary in Berlin’s Panorama section. Apolline Traoré’s Sira won the audience prize for best narrative feature. A raw depiction of the lives of four Black trans sex workers fro New York and Georgia, Kokomo […]
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Berlin: ‘The Survival of Kindness,‘ ‘Here’ Win Critics’ Fipresci Awards
Rolf de Heer’s The Survival of Kindness, a stark, and dialog-free dystopian fable about racism and the legacy of colonialism, has won over international film critics at this year’s Berlinale, taking the top prize for best film as picked by the Fipresci jury. Produced by Vertigo Productions and Triptych Pictures, The Survival of Kindness is […]
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‘Art College 1994’ Review: Chinese Director Liu Jian Looks Back in a Wistful Animated Film
The low-key comedy about art school students premiered in competition at the end of the Berlin Film Festival.
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‘Till the End of the Night’ (‘Bis ans Ende der Nacht’) Review: Queer Crime Romance Runs Afoul of Unsound Plotting
A gay undercover cop pairs up with a paroled trans felon to infiltrate a drug network and finds their liaison complicated by his love for the person she used to be.
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‘Limbo’ Review: Simon Baker Is Superb as a Jaded Detective in Ivan Sen’s Visually Striking Outback Procedural
Generations of interracial damage and distrust fuel roiling undercurrents of tension in this cold-case thriller set in an Australian desert mining town.
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‘Suzume’ Review: Anime Maestro Makoto Shinkai Returns With a Coming-of-Age Adventure That Pulses With Feeling
A hit in its home territory of Japan late last year, the film now rolls out internationally after playing in competition at the Berlinale.
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‘Bad Living’ (‘Mal Viver’) Review: A Miserable Melodrama of Female Cruelty
Anabela Moreira, Rita Blanco and Madalena Almeida star as three generations of women perpetually at odds with one another in Portuguese auteur Joao Canijo's film.
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‘Totem’ Review: A Mexican Family Portrait, Bursting With Beauty and Drama
Mexican filmmaker Lila Aviles' follow-up to 'The Chambermaid' follows a chaotic family gathering through the eyes of a young girl.
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‘Boom! Boom! The World vs. Boris Becker’ Review: Alex Gibney’s Tennis Doc Is for Fans Only
The documentarian tracks the tennis legend's rise and fall in a two-part Apple TV+ docuseries premiering at the Berlin Film Festival.
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