Berlin Film Festival Diaries. Day 1
The most democratic and most widespread festival of category A, the Berlin Film Festival, opened in the German capital on February 7. Filmmakers, journalists and producers are imposingly getting to work, while cinephiles, students, hipsters, and pensioners are creating crowds and storming the box office to buy tickets to world premieres. Practical Germans rolled out a red carpet made from industrial waste, which they proudly announced in the festival press.
The opening film, The Kindness of Strangers by female director Lone Scherfing, looks like a kind albino in the cruel world of arthouse cinema. In form, this is a modern fairy tale about how strangers help each other overcome the most dramatic life situations, and their driving force is kindness, compassion and forgiveness. The film is built on several stories of strangers who randomly intertwine with each other, certainly helping each other. It is surprising that the Russian restaurant in Manhattan became their meeting place and object of attraction. At the press conference, the director admitted that she highly values Russian culture, especially pre-revolutionary culture. It was Tsarist Russia that her parents admired in her family. And the actor who plays the Russian restaurant owner Timofey, Bill Nighy, learned the Russian accent from a certain Dmitry from London. The lessons were not in vain. In addition, at the press conference, European journalists admitted that the film deeply touched them, since they found themselves in situations where they had nowhere to go and had to sleep on the street.
Some may think that the film is simple in form, but the message of the film is optimistic and creative, which makes it worth watching. Just like in the Bible, when on the first day of Creation God separated Light from Darkness. In this film, the forces of good prevail, which is rare on the silver screen these days (and it's sad!).
Festival competition does not sleep. How strong other films in the competition program are in the fight for the Golden Bear will become clear today. At 18:15 in the Berlin Palace on Marlene Dietrich Square, another blockbuster of French cinema from Francois Ozon “Thanks to the Lord”. In this film, everything will definitely not be clear...
Premiere of The Kindness of Strangers, Andrea Riseborough, Berlin Film Festival 2019
Premiere of "The Kindness of Strangers", Bill Nighy, Berlin Film Festival 2019
Premiere of "The Kindness of Strangers", Jay Baruchel, Berlin Film Festival 2019
Photo credits to the owner
