Berlin 2022

Swedish director Magnus Gertten’s film, also nominated for the Berlinale Documentary Award, “exemplifies the necessity of queer history and queer collective memory of World War II while providing long-needed recognition of the forgotten victims and survivors of the Holocaust,” says the jury citation. The TEDDY AWARDS combine a network of over 180 queer film festivals from across the world.

“This project was a passion project for me,” German director Alice Agneskirchner tells BDE of her feature doc Come With Me To The Cinema (a world premiere last weekend as a Forum Special). The film tells the story of Erika and Ulrich Gregor, the ardent cinephiles who launched the Arsenal Cinema in Berlin and established the International Forum at the Berlin Film Festival.

The recent Oscar nomination for Austrian-based doc sales outfit Autlook for Writing With Fire (pictured) continues the company’s impressive awards run. It follows on from such other Autlook titles such as For Sama and Of Fathers And Sons which have been prominent in past awards campaigns. Company CEO Salma Abdalla talks docs, sales and award strategies to BDE.

Rithy Panh’s Everything Will Be OK won a Silver Bear for Outstanding Artistic Contribution in Berlin earlier this week. It’s a bleak essayistic documentary which uses both archive material and clay figurines to tell a story of cruelty and destruction. The Oscar-nominated Cambodian filmmaker discusses his documentary with Business Doc Europe.

Producer Hubertus Siegert, CEO of spicefilm GmbH, explains to BDE how Simon Brückner’s provocative new documentary, about populist German right-wing party AfD (Alternative For Germany), was conceived, and why it is likely to have the effect of a foot being plunged into a hornet’s nest when it is released in Germany by Majestic in April.

The training and promotion program designed for European doc producers will run in Ji.hlava in October 2022 and in Berlin February 2023. The program is organized and curated by the Ji.hlava IDFF whose 26th edition will take place October 25-30 in the Czech Republic. The application deadline for the programme is March 31 2022.

Myanmar Diaries wins Berlinale Doc Award. Silver Bear for Outstanding Artistic Contribution to Rithy Panh for Everything Will Be Ok. Encounters Best Film: Mutzenbacher. Encounters Jury Award to See You Friday, Robinson. In Generation, key winners are Kind Hearts (Grand Prix of the Generation 14plus), Alis (Crystal Bear for Best Film, 14Plus) and Born in Damascus (Crystal Bear for Best Film, 14Plus).

Gazing…Unseeing, the short film by Mohamed Abdelkarim which world premiered in Berlin’s Forum Expanded section, has a similar feel to Chris Marker’s classic La Jetée (1962), not so much on its aesthetics, “but in the approach to narrative and in the melding of reality and fiction,” the director explains.

Alain Gomis’ documentary on Thelonious Monk, which world-premiered in Berlinale Forum, is like a diamond in the rough, unpolished but of incredible valuable, showing the legendary jazz musician in his truest form. It depicts a man who doesn’t care about presence, fame and glory, interpretations of his music, or others' opinions. He just cares about music.

Infiltrating the highly secretive diamond industry, the Jason Kohn doc uncovers a threat to the lucrative trade that could devalue every diamond ever mined, effectively destroying the universal symbol of love and commitment. Dogwoof will present to buyers at MipTV. Showtime holds worldwide rights and will air the film in the USA and Canada, with a North American Premiere at SXSW.