Jan 21, 2020
Berlinale Special: Memory, Genre and Parable

The Berlinale Special takes audiences on a journey around the world and gives memory a special role. Whether it’s to remember a place, a life or following the scattered parts of the Berlin wall, these films offer on an unforgettable trip. The film selection also includes genre cinema such as thriller and western.

High Ground is a western that was developed in close collaboration with the Indigenous communities of Australia. It pays homage to a territory (now strongly compromised) and to the notion that places are filled with a soul. A new generation of actors led by Choi Woo-shik (admired in Parasite) shines in Sa-nyang-eui-si-gan (Time to Hunt), a film that follows the thriller tradition.

The Berlinale Special takes audiences on a journey around the world and gives memory a special role. Memory of a life, as in the case of Golda Maria, testimony of a survivor of deportations. The documentary The American Sector recounts the journey of the parts of the Berlin Wall, which have been scattered across the USA and have now become silent witnesses to recent history.

Based on Oleg Sentsov’s eponymous play, Nomera (Numbers) is a scathing dystopia and parable. From 2014 to 2019, Oleg Sentsov was Russia’s most famous political prisoner. He co-directed in collaboration with Akhtem Seitablaiev a film that fell out of time and was made under impossible circumstances and in complete isolation.

The Berlinale Special programme will include in total 20 films that will be communicated until the end of January.

Berlinale Special Gala at Friedrichstadt-Palast

High Ground
Australia
by Stephen Maxwell Johnson
with Simon Baker, Jacob Junior Nayinggul, Jack Thompson, Callan Mulvey, Witiyana Marika, Esmerelda Marimowa, Aaron Pedersen
World premiere

Sa-nyang-eui-si-gan (Time to Hunt)
Republic of Korea
by Yoon Sung-hyun
with Lee Je-hoon, Ahn Jae-hong, Choi Woo-shik, Park Jeong-min, Park Hae-soo
World premiere

Berlinale Special at Haus der Berliner Festspiele

The American Sector
USA
by Courtney Stephens, Pacho Velez
World premiere / Documentary form

Golda Maria
France
by Patrick Sobelman, Hugo Sobelman
World premiere / Documentary form

Nomera (Numbers)
Ukraine / Poland / Czech Republic / France
by Oleg Sentsov in collaboration with Akhtem Seitablaiev
with Evhen Chernykov, Agatha Larionova, Oleksandr Begma, Maksym Devizorov, Iryna Mak

Press Office
January 21, 2020