EXBERLINER Issue 168, February 2018

WHAT’S ON — Berlinale 2018
again of the power that the entertainment
industry wields over our wider culture.
Given the current climate, the Berlinale’s
unique political leanings and accessibility to
the public (see sidebar, page 21) manoeuvre
the festival into a new position of necessity.
Where else can cinemagoers find such
a wide range of queer, international and
political movies without working as an
industry insider? Certainly not Cannes nor
Venice, both of which remain privy only to
those with the correct pass.
Whether you laud the diversity that Kosslick
has brought to the festival or are eagerly awaiting
his retirement, it’s hard to deny that the
Berlinale is uniquely important at this juncture
of time. Much like Berlin itself, the Berlinale
prizes inclusivity above all else, and in this
tumultuous era, it’s hard to imagine anything
more important than that. —David Opie
A Berlin-based British film journalist, David
Opie has written about pop culture for a
number of publications, including Movie
Pilot, Highsnobiety and Flickering Myth.
C
O
N
STUCK IN
FOURTH PLACE
Here’s a quick question for discerning
cinephiles: What do the
Oscar-winning Stasi drama The
Lives of Others, the fantastic dramedy Toni
Erdmann and the Golden Globe-winning In
The Fade have in common?
Aside from the fact that all three were
breakout German productions that went on to
garner breathless international acclaim (even
if it wasn’t always deserved, as in the case of
Fatih Akin’s revenge flick), none of these films
premiered at the Berlinale. The most recent
ones both debuted at Cannes, as did Valeska
Grisebach’s Western (see page 6), lauded by
international critics as one of last year’s most
promising German films. For shame!
“They’ll tell you it’s a question of
timing, but it’s not.” Frédéric Jaeger,
the chief editor of Critic.de and artistic
director of Critics’ Week (see page 29),
believes that the Berlin festival will continue
to miss out on big films for its competition
selection as long as it isn’t able
to provide a better platform for them.
“The Berlinale has great films, especially
in Forum and Panorama sections, but it
Kosslick has excelled as a
host for A-listers, but the
Berlinale doesn’t need a
host right now. It needs a
real cinephile.
can’t manage to create the same effervescence
around these films as Cannes.”
Grisebach, who premiered her last two
films in Berlin and Cannes respectively,
confirms Jaeger’s judgement, testifying
to how much more buzz and support she
received from the latter. But timing does
play a part as well. The Berlinale, which
precedes Cannes and is positioned right
in the middle of awards season, has been
facing ever-growing competition from
January’s Sundance festival.
While Jaeger points out that “American independent
filmmakers choose Sundance for
its industry advantages and the opportunity
to sell big,” others have noticed more alarming
trends. “I’ve seen critics and industry
professionals not come to the Berlinale anymore
because they’d just been to Sundance.
You can say it’s a clear case of cannibalism!”
says Swiss film critic Malik Berkati, who celebrates
his 20th Berlinale this year. Last year,
Park City siphoned off the premieres of Luca
Guadagnino’s Oscar-tipped Call Me By Your
Name and Francis Lee’s stunning debut God’s
Own Country, forcing the Berlinale to screen
both films out of competition. But then, the
premiere requirements remain frustratingly
fuzzy: Gus Van Sant’s Don’t Worry, He Won’t
Get Far On Foot, based on the memoir of
famed cartoonist John Callahan, has been
selected this year for Competition, even
though it premiered at Sundance last month!
What is clear, however, is that the correlation
between Sundance’s expanding popularity
and the Berlinale’s steady decline in quality
isn’t a coincidence, a worrying trend which
brings us to the scarf-wearing elephant in the
room: Dieter Kosslick.
Last November’s open call for “a new beginning”
clearly had the festival’s director in
its sights, implying that the Berlinale had had
its day under his stewardship. As Berkati puts
it: “Kosslick has done a lot for the festival,
but he’s been running out of steam, especially
in the last two to three years.”
While the temptation to scapegoat is a
pretty poison, I’m among the many who
believe that after 16 years of good and loyal
service, Kosslick’s departure after his contract
runs out next year is good news for
Berlin. Kosslick has excelled as a host for
A-listers, but the man lacks the necessary
skills when it comes to cultivating tight
bonds with filmmakers. This is probably
what Ade, Akin, Grisebach and co. meant
in their Spiegel letter when they called for
his replacement to be “an exemplary curator
who has a burning passion for cinema.”
The Berlinale doesn’t need a host right
now: it needs a real cinephile.
Even a veteran German critic like Kristin
Buller, who credits Kosslick with bringing
A-list glamour to grim wintry Berlin, concedes
that his time might be up. “There are
still edgy and political films, but the glamour
has taken over. Things won’t magically
get better with Kosslick’s departure, but
it’s a good idea to get new blood.”
The Kosslick clique defends itself by boasting
about their stats, specifically the dizzying
numbers of screenings and record audiences.
But as Jaeger puts it: “This claim to be the
‘people’s festival’ can’t be used as an excuse
for mediocrity.” Now more than ever, the festival
needs to be streamlined. Reducing the
festival’s output would defuse criticisms of a
scattergun approach. Moreover, it would encourage
audiences to rally around and debate
the selected films, “which is what cinema
culture really needs,” according to Jaeger.
But the Berlinale, as it currently stands, is
more about politics than actual cinema.
“Berlin has approximately the same budget
as Cannes, but does so many more events.
Cannes has more focus on their films. It’s
a political decision, and allowing films to
break out is not Berlin’s priority right now.”
Kosslick’s final lap comes next year, and
what the future holds is anyone’s guess. But
business as usual would properly relegate
the festival to the underachieving runt of
the litter, and would reinforce the current
state of affairs: Sundance keeps getting
hipper by the minute, the Cannes experience
might be insane but it’s got the films
to show for it, and Venice is just brilliant.
Here’s hoping the Berlinale has enough
sense to take some risks and adapt to the
changing landscape of the festival circuit.
Otherwise, Exberliner’s budget may have to
stretch for tickets to Utah. —David Mouriquand
British-French culture journalist David
Mouriquand has been a film critic with
Exberliner since 2015.
FEBRUARY 2018
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