The 66th Berlin International Film Festival is almost upon us and it is one of the most prestigious on the festival circuit. While shining a light on German film, the festival also invites filmmakers from around the world to show off their latest film projects.
Hail, Caesar!
2016 sees the festival put together another very exciting programme and we take a look at some of the films that we are looking forward to the most.
- Hail, Caesar!
It is always exciting when a Joel and Ethan Coen movie is on the horizon and it is a while since we have seen the filmmaking brothers in the director's chair; Inside Llewyn Davis was their last feature film in 2014.
Hail, Caesar! marks their return and the film will screen out of Competition and open the 2016 festival in fine style. I really am looking forward to seeing what they deliver with their latest comedy.
They have brought together a terrific cast as Josh Brolin, George Clooney, Scarlett Johansson, Channing Tatum, Jonah Hill, Tilda Swinton, and Ralph Fiennes are just some of the names on board. The Coen brothers reunite with Brolin and Clooney, with whom they worked on No Country for Old Men and Burn After Reading.
The Coen's have always assembled impressive cast lists, but Hail, Caesar! could well be their most impressive yet as some of Hollywood's biggest stars have flocked to work with the Oscar-winning filmmakers.
Set in the latter years of Hollywood's Golden Age, the movie follows fixer Eddie Mannix, who tries to keep some of the biggest actors in line. His job is made difficult when Baird Whitlock is kidnapped whilst filming his latest movie.
Hail, Caesar! is set to hit the big screen in the UK at the beginning of next month and it is one of the March movies that I am looking forward to the most.
- Genius
We are huge fans of Colin Firth here at FemaleFirst and he is set to return with this latest film Genius, which will receive its world premiere as it competes for the Golden Bear at the festival.
Genius is a biopic about literary editor Max Perkins, played by Firth. The movie will chronicle his time as book editor at Scribner, where he worked with Thomas Wolfe, Ernest Hemingway, and F. Scott Fitzgerald.
The movie is based on the book Max Perkins: Editor of Genius by A. Scott Berg and sees Michael Grandage make his feature film directorial debut. John Logan in on board the project having penned the film's screenplay.
Jude Law, Dominic West, and Guy Peace are on board as Wolfe, Hemingway, and Fitzgerald, while Nicole Kidman, Laura Linney, and Vanessa Kirby complete the terrific cast list.
Genius is a British/American film project and is loaded with some really great British talent that I cannot wait to see in action. Could this be another Oscar winning performance from Firth? I guess we are going to have to wait and see.
- Midnight Special
For me, Jeff Nichols is one of the most exciting actors around with Mud and Take Shelter already under his belt. The filmmaker is set to return with Midnight Special, which is another film that will receive its world premiere.
Midnight Special will also compete in Competition at the festival and sees Nichols on writing as well as directing duties.
Midnight Special sees Nichols and Shannon reunite for their second project together; they did work together on Take Shelter. This is also the first film for Nichols since the success of Mud. Shannon is joined on the cast list by Adam Driver, Kirsten Dunst, Joel Edgerton, Sean Bridgers, and Sam Shepard.
Shannon will take on the role of a father who goes on the run with his young son after he learns his child possesses special powers.
We are going to have to wait until April until Midnight Special hits the big screen here in the UK, but it is promising to be one of the science fiction movies that is not to be missed.
- Alone in Berlin
Another British actress to watch out for at the Berlin Film Festival comes in the form of Oscar-winner Emma Thompson as she is set to star in war drama Alone in Berlin.
Alone in Berlin is based on the book Every Man Dies Alone by Hans Fallada and sees Vincent Perez in the director's chair. Alone In Berlin is the third feature film of Perez's career and comes after Once Upon an Angel and The Secret. As well as being in the director's chair, Perez has also teamed up with Achim and Bettine von Borries to pen the screenplay.
Thompson is set to star alongside Brendan Gleeson as they take on the roles of Otto and Anna Quangel, who are based on the real-life couple Otto and Elise Hampel.
Set in Berlin in 1940, the movie follows Otto and Anna as they receive word that their son has died on the battlefield in France. The couple decides to resist and fight back against the Nazi regime... only to become Gestapo targets.
Daniel Brühl and Mikael Persbrandt complete the line-up and star alongside Thompson and Gleeson. The movie will screen In Competition at the festival and will battle it out for the prestigious Golden Bear. It has not yet been announced when the film will be released in UK cinemas.
- Above and Below
Nicolas Steiner is back with his new film Above and Below, which is the second feature film of his directing career to date.
Above and Below is one of the documentaries to watch out for as it screens as part of the LOLA at Berlinale section of the festival. This movie follows five people who live on the edges of American society and don't really fit in.
Far, far away and out of sight, that's where April, Dave, Cindy, Rick, and the Godfather are creating life on their own terms. From the depths of the flood channels under Sin City, to a reclaimed military bunker in the middle of the dusty, heated Californian nowhere land, to beyond the stratosphere where Mars now lives on earth.
Each individual has been flung into periling circumstances on this rollercoaster ride called life. Through the hustle, pain, and laughter, we are whisked away to an unfamiliar world where we discover its inhabitants to be souls not unlike our very own.
Above and Below has already been playing well on the festival circuit and is set to be unlike any other film that we will see at Berlin this year.
- The Patriarch
The Patriarch is a film from New Zealand and is another that will feature in the In Competition section of the Berlin Film Festival this year.
The Patriarch is a big screen adaptation of the novel by Witi Ihimaera. Ihimaera is no stranger to the big screen with his book Whale Rider getting a movie makeover back in 2003.
Lee Tamahori is in the director's chair this time around and has brought us films such as Mulholland Falls and Die Another Day. The Patriarch is his first film since The Devil's Double back in 2011.
Temuera Morrison, Akuhata Keefe, Nancy Brunning, Jim Moriarty, and Regan Taylor make up the film's cast list.
1960s, East Coast of New Zealand. Two Maori sheep-shearing families, the Mahanas and the Poatas, are longstanding enemies and commercial rivals.
14-year-old Simeon Mahana, the youngest son is in conflict with his traditionalist grandfather, Tamihana. As Simeon unravels the truth behind the longstanding family vendetta he risks not just his own future prospects but the cohesion of the entire tight-knit society.
- War on Everyone
Tessa Thompson has made a name for herself this year with her role in Creed and now she is set to return to the big screen with War on Everyone.
Playing in the Panorama section of the festival, War on Everyone sees Thompson as part of a very exciting cast as Alexander Skarsgård, Michael Pena, Theo James, and Caleb Landry Jones are all also on board.
War on Everyone is the third feature film for John Michael McDonagh, who has already brought us The Guard and Calvary during his filmmaking career. As well as being in the director's chair for War on Everyone, McDonagh has also penned the film's screenplay.
War On Everyone is about two corrupt cops in New Mexico who set out to blackmail and frame every criminal unfortunate enough to cross their path. Things take a sinister turn, however, when they try to intimidate someone who is more dangerous than they are. Or is he?
McDonagh is one of the most exciting filmmakers around and The Guard and Calvary were two great movies to kick off his career. I am looking forward to seeing what he delivers with War On Everyone.
Other movies to watch out for include Miles Ahead, Boris Without Béatrice, Letters From War, and The Commune.
The 66th Berlin International Film Festival runs from 11th February - 21st February.
Tagged in Berlin Film Festival