A wintery Berlin gears up to host the 60th edition of the Berlinale. The film festival opens February 11 with Chinese director Wang Quan’an’s latest movie Tuan Yuan (Apart Together). Bookending the fest, another Asian film, About Her Brother, from Japanese director Yoji Yamada, will be screened on February 20 as the official closing film.
Apart Together Up for a Golden Bear
Apart Together will have its world premiere in Competition, the festival’s most high-profile section devoted to major international films. The movie is both a love story and a depiction of a divided country. More than 50 years after the People’s Republic of China was established, soldier Liu Yansheng, who fled to Taiwan in 1949 to escape Mao Tse-tung’s troops, has only just been granted permission to return home to his family in Shanghai. This was also where he left the love of his life, Qiao Yu’e, and a son he has never seen. Qiao Yu’e has since remarried and started a new family, but their reunion rekindles old emotions.
Wang Quan’an previously took part in the Berlinale’s Competition section in 2007 with Tuya’s Marriage, for which he won the Golden Bear, the festival’s top prize.
The closing film, About Her Brother, is screening out of competition, but Yoji Yamada is no newcomer to the Berlinale either. A prolific writer and director, Yamada has attended the film festival six times over the years.
Films in Competition
Also screening in Competition are Greenberg, starring Ben Stiller, Martin Scorsese’s Shutter Island, Roman Polanski’s The Ghost Writer and Howl, the James Franco vehicle that premiered in January at Sundance, Home-grown films in with a chance of winning the Golden are the Nazi tale Jew Suss – Rise and Fall and The Robber.
Freezing Weather No Deterrent for Festivalgoers
Now in its 60th year, the Berlinale has one of the largest audiences of any film festival in the world and ranks as one of the top global movie events alongside Cannes and Venice. The festival’s public program includes up to 400 films, the large majority of which are European or world premieres.
Berlin is in for freezing temperatures right into the weekend and the festival organization is advising visitors to bring sturdy shoes for the icy sidewalks and to wear warm clothes.
We will be in Berlin next week covering the film festival and will be posting movie reviews and other festival news on this site. The Berlinale runs until February 21.
Cecily Layzell - Cecily Layzell is a food and travel writer and founder of restaurant review site www.eat-amsterdam.com.
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