Cologne-based sales agent and production firm The Match Factory has unveiled its line-up of features set to world-premiere at this year’s Berlinale (16-26 February). The seven pictures, which will be presented at the European Film Market (15-22 February), include four competition films, two Encounters entries and one Panorama title.

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The much-anticipated competition title being sold by the outfit is Afire, directed by Christian Petzold (Undine [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Christian Petzold
scheda film], Barbara [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Christian Petzold
scheda film]). The German helmer’s new film (see the news) is set in a small holiday home by the Baltic Sea. The days are hot, and it hasn’t rained in weeks. Four young people come together, friends old and new. As the parched forests around them begin to ignite, so do their emotions. Happiness, lust and love; but also jealousies, resentments and tensions. Meanwhile, the forests burn. And before long, the flames are there. The main cast members are Thomas Schubert, Paula Beer, Langston Uibel, Enno Trebs and Matthias Brandt.

The second competition film is Margarethe von Trotta’s latest outing, titled Ingeborg Bachmann: Journey Into the Desert [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Margarethe von Trotta
scheda film] (see the news). Shot in German, French and Italian, the feature follows the charismatic Ingeborg Bachmann, who has conquered the male-dominated bastion of German-language literature with her poetry. Though still young, she is at the peak of her career when she meets the famous playwright Max Frisch. Their love is passionate, but professional and personal friction begins to disrupt the harmony. When the poet is struggling, her friends are there to help, including Hans Werner Henze and the young Adolf Opel, a Viennese journalist and man of literature. They travel to the desert together. On this journey, she finds a way back to herself and – above all – to her writing. The title role is played by Vicky Krieps (Corsage [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Marie Kreutzer
intervista: Marie Kreutzer
scheda film]) who stars alongside Ronald Zehrfeld, Tobias Resch and Basil Eidenbenz.

The third competition title, Someday We’ll Tell Each Other Everything [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Emily Atef
scheda film], is based on Daniela Krien’s novel of the same name, set in the summer of 1990 in the scorching countryside of Thuringia, East Germany. Maria is about to turn 19, lives with her boyfriend Johannes on his parents’ farm and would rather lose herself in books than focus on graduating. There is a sense of a new era dawning with the German reunification, when she bumps into Henner, the farmer next door. One touch is all it takes to ignite an all-consuming passion between Maria and the headstrong, charismatic man twice her age. In an atmosphere buzzing with possibilities, love is born: a secret passion full of longing and desire that devours everything in its path. The drama, directed by Emily Atef (More than Ever [+leggi anche:
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scheda film]), stars Marlene Burow, Felix Kramer and Cedric Eich in the leading roles.

The last competition title on the slate is Christoph Hochhäusler’s (The Lies of the Victors [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Christoph Hochhäusler
scheda film], The City Below [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Christoph Hochhäusler
scheda film]) Till the End of the Night [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Christoph Hochhäusler
scheda film] (see the news). The plot is as follows: in order to gain the trust of a drug dealer, undercover cop Robert has to pretend to be Leni’s lover. The police hope her ties with the felon will help them to infiltrate the organisation. But while this part of the plan works relatively smoothly, their fake relationship is rocky from the start. Leni is trans, and Robert was once in love with her former self. Ironically, it is Victor, the drug dealer, who will force Robert to confront his conflicting feelings of love. The cast is led by Timocin Ziegler, Thea Ehre and Michael Sideris.

In the Encounters section, the two titles being sold by the company are Tatiana Huezo’s documentary The Echo [+leggi anche:
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scheda film] and Tia Kuovo’s debut, Family Time [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Tia Kouvo
scheda film]. Huezo’s doc is described as “a story about the echo of what clings to the soul, about the certainty of shelter provided by those around us, about rebellion and vertigo in the face of life”, whilst Kouvo’s first feature promises to be “bitingly humorous” and to face “a question we can all relate to: […] are we destined to remain stuck in the same patterns, or can we ever change – and at last become a happy family?”

Finally, the Panorama feature included on The Match Factory’s slate is Sisi & I [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Frauke Finsterwalder
scheda film], directed by Frauke Finsterwalder (Finsterworld [+leggi anche:
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scheda film]). Toplined by actors Susanne Wolff, Sandra Hüller, Georg Friedrich, Stefan Kurt and Sophie Hutter, the movie is billed as “a fresh and new look at the excentric and extravagant Princess Sisi”.