Berlinale Talent Campus, Goethe-Institut and FIPRESCI organized at this year's Berlinale (February 7-17, 2008) for the sixth time the "Talent Press". This workshop allowed young critics to attend the festival, and to win experience in writing, on a daily basis, and on one of the biggest film festivals of the world. We publish their coverage of the festival. The talents and their texts

Berlinale. It's undoubtedly one of the biggest film events worldwide and Fest Head Dieter Kosslick manages to make it even bigger from one year to the next. He has enriched the four classical sections of Competition, Panorama, Forum and Retrospective with a series of additional sections, events, panels, showings of German films, hommages, a gigantic (but useful) Talent Campus... It is impossible to get a general idea of all the films and events as every visitor sees himself in the situation of having to compose his own festival. Kosslick managed as well to anchor the festival in the city of Berlin: the whole city celebrated, German television were reporting around the clock. The Kosslick-Berlinale is not only a film event but also a social event: glitz and glamour, red carpet, stars.
   The central competition, however, posed more questions than it answered. To attract the media, Dieter Kosslick needs Hollywood, its bestsellers, its stars. This battle he won in an admirable way (with the Oscar campaign in the background, which provided some films like There Will Be Blood with even more attention). However, is it indeed necessary to include films which you will soon see in your local theater? Are such films worthy enough for this program? Kosslick seems to have, at least in this festival edition, a preference for actors: Daniel Day-Lewis, Natalie Portman, Scarlett Johansson, Kristin Scott Thomas, Penélope Cruz, Ben Kingsley, Julia Roberts, Tilda Swinton, not to mention Martin Scorsese and the Rolling Stones (opening), all of whom could be admired on the screen (and most of them also in natura). Kosslick has as well a preference for political themes (which was at the end honored by Constantin Costa-Gavras and his jury): The Elite Squad (José Padilha, Golden Bear) and Standard Operating Procedure (Errol Morris, Silver Bear).
    A small observation. Three European directors who had started their careers with promising debuts, continued their work in the States or at least with English-language films: Isabel Coixet (Elegy), Michel Gondry (Be Kind Rewind, the closing film), and Erick Zonca (Julia).
    The retrospective presented Luis Buñuel — a welcome occasion for a younger generation to get acquainted with the work of one of the masters of cinema. An hommage was also dedicated to Francesco Rosi. (k.e.)

Berlinale — 58th Berlin International Film Festival, February 7-17, 2008, www.berlinale.de, www.fdk-berlin.de (Forum)

Natalie Assouline, Anna Melikyan, Fernando Eimbcke (from left)

FIPRESCI Prizes. Lake Tahoe by Fernando Eimbcke (Competition), Mermaid (Rusalka) by Anna Melikyan (Panorama), Shahida — Brides of Allah (Shahida) by Natalie Assouline (Forum). Details

Reports

Absolutely a Country for Old Men. The sentiments of a veteran Norwegian film critic casts a significant light on the current state of cinema but there are at least some things that gives Per Haddal encouragement for the future.
A Single Day Odyssey in the Yucatan City of Children. The winner of the Critics' Prize, Lake Tahoe by Fernando Eimbcke, was chosen for its clever use of withholding information and creating a compelling story with offbeat characters. Jurica Pavicic details how the director also mixes a Jarmusch-like approach to pacing with a unique Mexican signature and a surprise ending.
The City of Women. Pablo Utin looks at the Forum section winner Shahida — Brides of Allah by Jewish director Natalie Assouline. This almost too-revealing documentary uncovers some of the real reasons that women become suicide bombers, but in so doing helps us come to a better understanding of Muslim women today.
"Mermaid (Rusalka"): An Urban Fairytale about Teenage Alienation. Thomas Abeltshauser describes how a fairytale tells us, in his review of Anna Melikyan's film, about the fast changes in contemporary Russia and what that does to its soul. This is a country torn between its old traditions and love for melancholy and hysterias' and of turbo-capitalism in a place where everything can and will be sold.
Modest Films about Loss. Despite more films each year being affected by the TV subculture of soap operas and Big Brother, Barbara Hollender was relieved to find a selection of films that deal with loneliness and loss as a way of making us show our feelings and human solidarity.
Impressions Are Made of This. Elfriede Schmitt gives an impression of the atmosphere at one of the world's most famous film festivals and also what this year meant on a personal level while picking out the films that had the most resonance or far-reaching effects.
Thar She Blows. The Panorama section included films that used graphic sex as central themes. Göran Bjelkendal picks out two by second time directors and argues the fact they were made by young women meant they had more freedom of expression.
A Woman's Passion. Echoes of Ozu may be prevalent in Cherry Blossoms but Hassouna Mansouri believes the German director Doris Dörrie has still created a story which manages to tie together Eastern and Western cultures in its journey of love, fate, loss and spirituality.
Seemingly Simplistic: "The Song of Sparrows". The entry by Majid Majidi tells its story through several Muslim proverbs and draws attention to many aspects of human nature, underlying the notion that those who are without are the ones most likely to be happier. Gulnara Abikeyeva reports

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