The festival's Forum Special and Expanded strands also unveiled
By Ben Dalton 9 Jan 2025
The Berlinale’s Co-Production Market has selected 35 feature projects for its 2025 edition, including new works from Tatiana Huezo, Kirsten Tan and Stephan Komandarev.
The 35 projects hail from 27 countries, and will participate in the market to find financing and production partners. The Berlinale has also programmed its Forum Special and Forum Expanded strands.
Salvadoran-Mexican filmmaker Huezo will participate with her new project Galerna, produced by Mexico’s Pimienta Films. Huezo’s first fiction feature Noche de Fuego won a special mention in Un Certain Regard at Cannes 2021, and was Mexico’s entry for the international feature Oscar.
Singaporean director Tan participates with Crocodile Rock, a co-production between Singapore’s Momo Film Co. and the US’ 10minuteslater Films. The film will explore the underground lesbian club culture of 1990s Singapore; it was presented at the Busan Asian Project Market last year. Tan’s debut feature Pop Aye won awards at Sundance, Rotterdam and Zurich in 2017.
Bulgarian filmmaker Komandarev takes part in the ‘Berlinale Directors’ strand of the market, with The Block Universe. Komandarev has previously directed 11 features, most recently Blaga’s Lessons, which won the Crystal Globe for best film at Karlovy Vary in 2023.
19 of the 35 projects are directed by women, with 351 total submissions for this year’s market. The 22nd Co-Production Market will run from February 15-19, at the Octogon in Leipziger Platz. Cash prizes include a new €5,000 Gen Z audience award.
“The industry currently talks a lot about audience development and how to reconnect with the younger generations,” said Tanja Meissner, director of Berlinale Pro which runs the market, of the new award. “To me the logical next step is to involve not only (co)producers but also representatives of the target audience in the creative process of film conception. Intergenerational exchange is crucial in order to validate our events through fresh perspectives and to keep the future of our co-production market vibrant and culturally relevant”.
Previous festival titles to come through the market include Golden Bear winners Alcarràs and Bad Luck Banging Or Loony Porn, and last year’s competition entry My Favourite Cake.
The theme for the Forum Special this year is ‘Open Wounds, Open Words’, with a selection of films that focuses on ‘the younger generation and the impact of norms, inequality and injustice’, according to the festival.
Six world premieres are among the eight Special titles, including Vibeke Lokkeberg’s The Long Road To The Director’s Chair, a documentary featuring Lokkerberg’s previously-lost footage of the 1973 First International Women’s Film Seminar.
Celebrating its 20th anniversary this year, the Forum Expanded section features 24 works from 21 countries, including both films and video art installations. Titles include Alternative Monument For Germany, which has the German title Alternatives Dnekmal fur Deutschland [ADfD] - an augmented reality installation commemorating migration from queer, feminist and migrant perspectives. Last year’s Berlinale drew controversy due to the invitation of members of the right-wing Alternative for Germany [Alternatives fur Deutschland, AfD] political party to the opening ceremony, with the invitations ultimately rescinded.
This story originally appeared on KFTV's sister site Screen
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