The 74th Berlin Film Festival opens Thursday with the world premiere of Small Things Like These, starring man of the moment Cillian Murphy. Cillian, a frontrunner at next month’s Oscars for his turn in Oppenheimer, plays a coal merchant in 1980s Ireland who uncovers shocking secrets kept by the convent in his town. (Also Read: Sundance Film Festival 2024: Indian productions Girls Will Be Girls and Nocturnes win big)
Here are five things to look forward to at Berlinale:
Cillian’s reunion with Peaky Blinders director
Based on an Irish novel, Small Things Like These reunites Cillian with Peaky Blinders director Tim Mielants and co-stars Eileen Walsh, Michelle Fairley and Emily Watson. The film explores Ireland’s Magdalene laundries, Catholic-run institutions from the 18th to the late 20th century intended to reform those deemed “fallen women.”
Debate around war in Gaza
Politics is never far from the agenda at the Berlinale, but it’s the ongoing war in Gaza that is likely to spark debate and demonstrations. Festival directors Mariette Rissenbeek and Carlo Chatrian, who will step down after this year, expressed their aim for “open dialogue” surrounding the war. When they introduced this year’s program, they said they were “concerned to see that antisemitism, anti-Muslim resentment and hate speech are spreading in Germany and around the world.”
First Black jury president
Kenyan-Mexican actor Lupita Nyong’o will be the Berlinale’s first Black jury president at this year’s festival. The Oscar winner will be joined on the jury by actor-directors Brady Corbet and Jasmine Trinca, directors Ann Hui, Christian Petzold and Albert Serra, and Ukrainian writer Oksana Zabuzhko.
Star line-up
Last year’s jury head Kristen Stewart will return to Berlin with ‘80s thriller Love Lies Bleeding, a tale of bodybuilding, crime and revenge. Other eclectic titles starring big names include Adam Sandler as a lonely astronaut in Spaceman, based on a Czech novel; Stephen Fry and Lena Dunham as father and daughter in Treasure on a road trip through post-communist Poland; and Marvel’s Sebastian Stan is unrecognisable in psycho-thriller A Different Man as an actor who is transformed by facial reconstruction surgery.
Lifetime achievement awards
Martin Scorsese will receive an honorary Golden Bear for lifetime achievement at a ceremony on February 20. Isabelle Huppert will return to Berlin to collect her unclaimed lifetime achievement from 2022 when the French acting icon could not attend. She returns this year with the movie A Traveler’s Needs from South Korean filmmaker Hong Sang-soo.
Entertainment! Entertainment! Entertainment! 🎞️🍿💃 Click to follow our Whatsapp Channel 📲 Your daily dose of gossip, films, shows, celebrities updates all in one place.
