The Berlinale begins with “20,000 species of bees” in its Official Section

Euskaraz irakurri: Berlinale gaur abiatuko da, “20,000 species of bees” Sail Ofizialean dela

The red carpets are already rolled out, the projectors calibrated and the Golden and Silver Bears arranged in Berlin: the film festival in the German capital begins this Thursday, and will run until February 26.

In the Official Selection, there will be nineteen films willing to repeat the feat achieved last year by the Catalan Carla Simón with her second feature film: winning the Golden Bear for Best Film.

One of those films will be “20,000 species of bees”, the first feature film by Llodian Estibaliz Urresola. It will be presented at the Berlinale Palast auditorium on February 22, and shows the process of transformation of a girl and the consequences that this change entails throughout her family environment. The film stars the actresses Sofía Otero, Patricia López Arnaiz, Ane Gabarain and Itziar Lazkano.

The president of the Berlinale jury will be the actress Kristen Stewart, and the Bear of Honor will this year go to the American director Steven Spielberg.

The 73rd edition of the Berlinale will kick off with a romantic comedy starring Peter Dinklage, Marisa Tomei and Anne Hathaway. “Ella She came to me”, which will be seen out of competition, is the new film by Rebecca Miller.

Among the films that will compete for the Golden Bear along with Urresola’s work, we also find titles such as “Blackberry”, by Matt Johnson, which tells the story of the Canadian company that launched the first smartphones; the British film “Manodrome,” starring Adrien Brody and Jesse Eisenberg; the animated films “Suzume” and “Art College 1994”; the Franco-Italian “Disco Boy, Past Lives” by Celine Song; or the new works of Philippe Garrel, Margarethe von Trotta and Christian Petzold.

Out of competition, “Superpower” will be screened, a documentary directed by Sean Penn and shot in Ukraine that includes his meeting with President Zelenski, and the film “Golda”, in which Helen Mirren plays Israel’s Prime Minister Golda Meir .

More Basque cinema

For its part, in the Encounter section, dedicated to “daring and innovative” works, they will screen “Samsara”, a film directed by Lois Patiño and produced by the San Sebastian production company Señor y Señora. The director reflects on death from the point of view of Buddhism.

In addition, the Basque filmmakers Mikel Gurrea and Maddi Barber will participate in Berlinale Talents, which brings together new and new filmmakers, producers, and other members of the industry.

Parallel to the festival, critics will celebrate Berlin Critic’s Week, a framework in which the first feature film by Amat Vallmajor del Pozo, “Mission to Mars” will be screened. Between punk songs by Hertzainak, it tells the story of Txomin, an unemployed Basque archaeologist who is commissioned to carry out an expert opinion on Mars. With his brother Gene at the wheel, they leave Eibar on an adventure through northern Spain.