The venerable Berlinale International Film Festival has announced the complete lineup for the official competition of its upcoming 64th edition. Of the 20 films competing for Golden and Silver Bears, three are from Latin America - a significant increase from last year, where Sebastián Lelio’s Gloria was the only Latin American representation in competition.
Not surprisingly, the two countries represented are perennial regional powerhouses Argentina - with two films - and Brazil with one. The films are: The Third Side of the River / La tercera orilla (pictured) by Celina Murga, Praia do Futuro (pictured below) by Karim Aïnouz, and Historia Del Miedo by Benjamín Naishtat.
Additionally Peruvian director Claudia Llosa will also participate in Berlin's main competition with the film Aloft, a Spanish-Canadian co-production.
Murga's fourth feature film tells the story of Nicolas, a 16-year-old boy, lives in a small town in the Argentine province of Entre Ríos. Nicolas’ father, a much respected local doctor, has fathered two families and lives two parallel lives. Nicolas takes this situation for granted, as though it were completely normal, for it’s the only reality he knows. Yet, the tension of the situation must inevitably explode one way or another. Nicolas will have to make a decision.
Aïnouz's fifth feature film follows Donato who is a lifeguard. He spends his days looking at the sea. Ayrton loves motorbikes and admires the courage of Donato, his older brother, to throw himself into the waves to save strangers. One day Donato rescues a blue-eyed man named Konrad. On this very day Donato starts to vanish... And Ayrton starts searching for him.
Naishat's debut feature, a co-production between Argentina, Uruguay, Germany, and France, is about an abandoned plot of land in the suburbs and an uncontrollable wave of smoke spark uncertainty and chaos.
In addition, the festival’s Berlinale Shorts and Panorama sections will feature films from Cuba, Peru and Brazil, with dozens of countries represented from all over the world. The festival will take place in Berlin from the 6-16 of February.
