Artnewspress: The children and youth film sidebar will screen entries from 34 countries.
The Berlin Film Festival on Wednesday unveiled its Generations sidebar lineup, consisting of 59 children and youth films, with 58 percent of the titles, both feature-length and short films, directed by women.
Berlin organizers recently also said that the festival’s co-production market, where producers look for partners to finance their new projects, will feature more than 50 percent female-directed films for the first time in its 17-year history.
Leonie Krippendorff’s female coming-of-age tale Cocoon, starring German actresses Lena Urzendowsky and Jella Haase, will open Generation’s 14plus competition section. H Is for Happiness, John Sheedy’s adaptation of the Barry Jonsberg graphic novel, will open Generation’s Kplus section targeting younger viewers.
Veins of the World, the latest from Oscar-nominated director Byambasuren Davaa (The Story of the Weeping Camel), will have its world premiere in Generations. The feature focuses on a young Mongolian goat herder whose dream is to one day perform onstage in the TV reality show Mongolia’s Got Talent.
Other Generation highlights include Sweet Thing, the new feature from U.S. indie veteran Alexandre Rockwell (In the Soup) and Death of Nintendo from Filipino filmmaker Raya Martin (Independencia), both of which will have their world premiere in Berlin.
In total, Generations will feature 29 world premieres and 11 debut features from a total of 34 countries.
The 70th Berlin International Film Festival runs Feb. 20-March 1. Berlin will unveil its full selection in the coming weeks.
