ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Stars of the big screen continue promoting their upcoming projects at the 2024 Berlin International Film Festival (Berlinale), highlighting the significance of cinema and its ability to transcend cultural and societal barriers in interviews with Rudaw.
The Berlinale, Europe’s first major film festival of the year, kicked off on Thursday and will last ten days, during which around 200 films of all genres are screened. A Rudaw team is covering the cultural event on the ground.
“The past four or five days were very exciting. There is a lot of audience, and the films are very well received by both the audience and the press. So we are very happy with the result,” Mariette Rissenbeek, executive director of the festival, told Rudaw’s Payam Sarbast.
Rissenbeek touched on the power of filmmaking to raise awareness for global issues and providing different perspectives while avoiding polarization.
“I think people can be more aware of what is going on, and what different perspectives there are on a complicated situation through cinema, yes, I believe in that. Whether politics change because of it that’s maybe another question,” she added.
The Berlinale is counted among the “Big Three,” alongside Venice and Cannes, as one of Europe’s most prestigious film festivals. Hundreds of films will be screened during the 74th edition of the showcase event, taking place between February 15 to February 25.
Sterben, the latest film of German Director Matthias Glasner, is one of the pictures competing for the competition’s top prizes.
“I hope that people who watch it have a great experience… I hope it’s not just watching a movie or a story, but meeting people on screen and having a life experience,” said Glasner.
With a runtime of over three hours, Sterbern is dark comedy epic contemplating on subjects like mortality and family drama. The film has received fairly positive reviews.
“That is what I am hoping for: That you don’t forget the characters. That these characters will stay with you for the rest of your life when you see the movie.”
French-Swiss Actress Irene Jacob is also at Berlinale, promoting her latest film Shikun. The film follows the lives of a diverse group of people living in one large building in the Negev desert.
“I think it is a poetic film about living together… It’s a film that is like a dream. It’s a cinematic dream about togetherness,” she told Rudaw.
Directed by leftist Israeli director Amos Gitai, the film has been described as a vague critique of the Israeli government. The film draws a lot of inspiration from Eugene Ionesco’s famous 1959 play Rhinoceros, which has been viewed as a criticism to the rise of fascism in Europe during and prior to World War II.
