Generation
Hermetically sealed

That kind of strong, self-accountable young character can also be found in the Kplus programme. Nebesnyj Verbljud (Celestial Camel) from Russia takes place in the steppes of Kalmykia. A mother camel has strayed to search for her foal, which has been sold. Twelve-year-old Bayir goes off alone on a motorcycle much too big for him to find the camel and bring it back to his family, whose survival depends on it. Bayir takes that responsibility upon himself and has one adventure after the other.
Min lilla syster (My Skinny Sister), a Kplus film for viewers 12 years and over, is about a sister relationship. When the younger sister notices her older sister's eating disorder and confronts her, the older one forbids her to tell the parents their "shared secret". That's a big responsibility too. But the younger sister reacts with sensitivity and ends up handling the situation better than their helpless parents.
The different strategies the protagonists find to confront their problems are indeed impressive. But I definitely also look at it critically: When children can't be children, it means there is something wrong in this world.

Are there films in which the burdens are too heavy for the young people to bear?

The many short films in this year's programme also come in powerful forms.
Bloodlines is an US-American short film where two brothers compete for the attention of their strict father. The film has no dialogue; the severity and harsh interaction is communicated through voiceless glances. In #Ya (#Rise), the subject is revolts by young people in Argentina - they throw rocks, write on walls, run off. The film's frenzied editing pace transports a specific attitude. And in the Kplus programme we're showing Kacey Mottet Klein, Naissance d’un acteur (Kacey Mottet Klein, Birth of an Actor) by Ursula Meier, whose film L'enfant d'en haut (Sister) screened in Competition in 2012. In her short film this year, the young actor Kacey Mottet Klein - who starred in L'enfant d'en haut - comments on film excerpts and talks about his acting, his experiences and evolution during filming. He'll be attending the premiere with Ursula Meier and I'm very much looking forward to meeting them both. The documentary The Face of Ukraine: Casting Okana Baiul, in turn, focuses on girls at a film casting for the role of a Ukrainian ice dancer who won the first Olympic gold medal for Ukraine in the mid-1990s and is now a national hero. One after another, the girls come to face the camera and answer questions posed by the casting agent, off-camera. Some of the girls get very emotional and a few start crying, because the questions can also be applied to the current situation in Ukraine.

Hermetic Worlds

A noticeable number of films take place in rural areas: the Gobi desert, a forest in northern Sweden, the plateaus of Guatemala.

Religion seems to be a big theme this year. You described the overly tight constraints of the Christian religion in the film you mentioned. What other facets can be found in the programme?

What's truly remarkable is that there are five films in the Kplus competition dealing with Buddhism - some more on the surface, others more deeply. Besides the young monks in Myanmar, there's also the Thai documentary A-wang (So Be It), about two boys who decide to enter a monastery. One in order to find a way out of poverty, and the other because he's truly interested in the religion and wants to become the student of a great monk. Gtsngbo (River) has its foundations in Tibetan Buddhism. A five-year-old girl meets her grandfather, who is a Lama and lives in a cave. In Celestial Camel, which I already mentioned, Buddhist beliefs are part of daily life, and in Jia Zai Shui Cao Feng Mao De Di Fang (River Road), Buddhist practice is the traditional way of life for the Uyghure people threatened by extinction. In all five films, although the less rosy aspects of the religion are touched on, the general portrayal is positive. Not in a western, esoteric way, but very well-grounded and often with great wisdom that a young audience can absorb.
In the Indian road movie Dhanak (Rainbow), in turn, Hinduism plays a role with music, gurus and karma, but also in the form of charlatans that Pari, who wants to help her blind brother, must beware of. There's a billboard advertisement that features Bollywood star Shah Rukh Khan promising "new eyes", so they set out to find him.

As always, the discovery of sexuality plays a big role in a number of 14plus films. Is there any development in particular that you've noticed with that subject over the years?

I'm not fond of films that rely solely on setting and costumes, and most of the films are very anchored in the here and now. But there are in fact a number of films in which the time frame plays a significant role in the dramatisation. Corbo is based on historical events. At the centre is a young Canadian man who joins a violent political movement fighting for the independence of Québec in the 1960s. Kar Korsanları (Snow Pirates) takes place during the Turkish military dictatorship in the 1980s. A group of boys sets off out into the snow in search of scraps of coal. The political aspects form the framework of the film, and in the Q&A, director Faruk Hacıhafızoğlu wants to draw some connections to Germany and the young coal thieves of post-World War II. In The Diary of a Teenage Girl, the historical setting conveys an atmosphere: The wild 1970s in San Francisco, full of sex, drugs and rock'n'roll. The older generation is so liberal that the girl can't find something to grasp onto, she keeps going further and does things that she regrets later. One film that I definitely want to mention here is the South African documentary Coming of Age. It follows four young people over a period of two years, living in the highlands around Lesothos and their growing up processes. Rituals play a big role, and it made me think of how important those kinds of milestones can be for young people, as a means of consciously perceiving their path to adulthood. Too few limitations and too many possibilities can also hold danger.

This year the festival and the European Film Market are both significantly widening their spectrum to include serial formats. And Generation is presenting a series for the first time as well...

We'll be showing the first five episodes of the Danish series Heartless. A great way to close the programme, on the last Sunday, the Berlinale Publikumstag. And in another special screening we'll have That Sugar Film, a documentary with a Supersize Me style that humorously illuminates the consequences of sugar consumption. That will also screen on Publikumstag, in cooperation with Culinary Cinema.