The Berlin Film Festival has staged its first in-person edition since 2020, soldiering on amid a wave of the Covid omicron variant in Germany and a last-minute virtual pivot for the European Film Market. Here are our main takeaways below:
Film Industry Pining For In-Person Meetings
Despite the EFM being online, a clutch of buyers and sellers made the trek to Berlin where they held a mix of online and physical meetings in the Marriott and a very bare Gropius Bau. Though the fest nixed parties due to omicron concerns, film delegations held dinners for select outsiders that felt like clandestine wartime get-togethers. “Enough with the Zooms! We need the human contact to make deals,” said Vision Distribution’s Catia Rossi, a veteran Italian sales agent, during the dinner for Panorama title “Swing Ride.” “I never thought I’d say this, but give me back the AFM!”
Technical difficulties
The opening...
Film Industry Pining For In-Person Meetings
Despite the EFM being online, a clutch of buyers and sellers made the trek to Berlin where they held a mix of online and physical meetings in the Marriott and a very bare Gropius Bau. Though the fest nixed parties due to omicron concerns, film delegations held dinners for select outsiders that felt like clandestine wartime get-togethers. “Enough with the Zooms! We need the human contact to make deals,” said Vision Distribution’s Catia Rossi, a veteran Italian sales agent, during the dinner for Panorama title “Swing Ride.” “I never thought I’d say this, but give me back the AFM!”
Technical difficulties
The opening...
- 2/16/2022
- by Manori Ravindran and Elsa Keslassy
- Variety Film + TV
Otto is a 17-year-old punk rocker who gets wrapped up in an investigation into his girlfriend Laura’s death. Angry and rebellious, he lashes out against his family and neighbors while relentlessly pouring through videos of her, trying to piece together clues about her final days. But as he struggles to make sense of her death, he also has to come to terms with the part he played in the tragic event.
“Otto the Barbarian” is the feature-length directorial debut of Romania’s Ruxandra Ghițescu. Produced by Alien Film (Romania) and co-produced by Polar Bear (Belgium), it world premieres on the recently launched VOD platform of the Sarajevo Film Festival, where it was selected for the official competition. “Otto” was developed in part through the Berlinale Script Station and Cinefondation’s L’Atelier in Cannes, and participated in Sarajevo’s CineLink Works in Progress last year. REASON8 Films is handling world sales.
“Otto the Barbarian” is the feature-length directorial debut of Romania’s Ruxandra Ghițescu. Produced by Alien Film (Romania) and co-produced by Polar Bear (Belgium), it world premieres on the recently launched VOD platform of the Sarajevo Film Festival, where it was selected for the official competition. “Otto” was developed in part through the Berlinale Script Station and Cinefondation’s L’Atelier in Cannes, and participated in Sarajevo’s CineLink Works in Progress last year. REASON8 Films is handling world sales.
- 8/13/2020
- by Christopher Vourlias
- Variety Film + TV
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