BERLINALE 2018 Competition / Berlinale Special

The first seven films selected to compete at the Berlinale have been announced

18/12/2017 - The list includes many well-known names, such as Gus Van Sant, Benoît Jacquot, Małgorzata Szumowska and will be completed by mid-January. Two films have been selected for the Special Gala section

Eva by Benoît Jacquot

The preliminary list of films selected to compete in the 68^th Berlin Film Festival (15 to 25 February 2018) has been revealed, as well as two films for the Special Gala section.

The animated title Isle of Dogs [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] by Wes Anderson, which was announced as the opening film at the beginning of the month (read the news here), is among the list of seven feature films from well-known names in the film industry and at Berlin festival, coming from France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Switzerland, Serbia, Russia and the USA (with Gus Van Sant’s new film). Included in the list is Benoît Jacquot, who opened the festival in 2012 with Farewell My Queen [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Benoît Jacquot
film profile] and who recently competed in 2015 with Diary of a Chambermaid [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile], returning this year with Eva [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Benoît Jacquot
film profile], a story about a young writer (Gaspard Ulliel) who becomes obsessed with a mysterious woman, Eva, embodied by the enchanting Isabelle Huppert.

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The Polish director Małgorzata Szumowska, battling it out with Mug [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Małgorzata Szumowska
film profile], is also well acquainted with the Berlinale: after a detour in the Panorama section with Elles [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Malgorzata Sumowska
film profile] in 2012, she competed with In the Name Of [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Malgorzata Szumowska
interview: Mateusz Kosciukiewicz
film profile] in 2013, winning the Silver Bear with Body [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Malgorzata Szumowska
interview: Malgorzata Szumowska
film profile] in 2015, the year in which Russian director Aleksei German Jr also won with Under Electric Clouds [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile], and who will once again be competing this year with Dovlatov [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Milan Maric
film profile].

An international jury headed up by Tom Tykwer will also be deliberating over the new film by Philip Gröning. The director, whose past works include fiction films such as L’Amour and The Policeman's Wife [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Philip Gröning
film profile], but also documentaries such as Into Great Silence [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Philip Groening
film profile], will be competing with My Brother's Name Is Robert and He Is an Idiot [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Philip Gröning
film profile]. Thomas Stuber, who competed in the German section in 2008 with his debut feature film Teenage Angst [+see also:
trailer
film profile], will be competing with the hotly anticipated football film In the Aisles [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Franz Rogowski
interview: Thomas Stuber
film profile], which stars the promising actors Franz Rogowski, Sandra Hüller and Peter Kurth. Finally, the Italian director Laura Bispuri who competed in 2015 with her debut feature film, Sworn Virgin [+see also:
film review
trailer
Q&A: Laura Bispuri
film profile], will be competing for the Bear with Daughter of Mine [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Laura Bispuri
film profile].

Out-of-competition, in the Berlinale Special Gala section, festival goers can look forward to the new film by Isabel Coixet, The Bookshop [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile], and the latest release by German director Lars Kraume (The People Vs. Fritz Bauer [+see also:
trailer
interview: Lars Kraume
film profile]), The Silent Revolution [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile], which stars the actors Ronald Zehrfeld, Burghart Klaußner, Florian Lukas, Jördis Triebel and Michael Gwisdek.