Dieter Kosslick: 'Trump is more overrated than Meryl Streep'
Adrian Kennedy
February 8, 2017
The director of Berlin's largest film festival, Dieter Kosslick, discusses with DW how science-fiction and politics sometimes meet. He also reveals the event he's most looking forward to.
Image: DW/P. Kouparanis
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A lot has happened around the world since the last festival - including last year's jury president Meryl Streep being called the "most overrated actress in Hollywood" by the new US president. Does the program reflect new political realities?
Dieter Kossslick: First of all, I'd say it's rather the most overrated president in history and not the most overrated actress - but that's another story…
Yes, we have a lot of films reflecting today's world, such as exploitation in Africa, or colonialism, which still happens in the Antarctic. There are films about Brazil, where big companies - called "investors" - are now exploiting the country.
So we have all these films dealing with developments that have been taking place over the last few years. Of course filmmakers have been tackling these topics. And now there's more focus on such issues, with the arrival of a new president who's in favor of the old world, of so-called fossil capitalism.
Biopics play a big role this year...
The opening film is a musical biopic on Django Reinhardt, one of the world's most famous gypsy and swing guitarists.
The young Karl Marx (right), hanging out with Friedrich EngelsImage: Kris Dewitte
We also have a biopic on the famous Swiss artist Giacometti, portrayed by Geoffrey Rush in an incredible performance and directed by Stanley Tucci.
And we have "The Young Karl Marx," directed by Raoul Peck. He describes Marx as a young, wonderful guy stumbling around today's Soho, having some drinks with his friend Engels and thinking about Manchester's capitalism and writing the big book, "Das Kapital."
The film is right on time, because even newspapers like "Die Zeit" in Germany just wrote: "Was Karl Marx right?" Yes, Karl Marx was right. The capitalist system didn't make the poor people rich; it only makes the rich people richer. The communist system unfortunately didn't work either - but Marx had foreseen the whole thing.
One of the things I most look forward to every year is the Berlinale looking back. This year's retrospective is called "Future Imperfect. Science - Fiction - Film," and offers mostly bleak visions of the future.
Looking back allows us to see the future or to see the reality we are living in: This is interesting because someone who just took the time and only saw these films during the Berlinale would also recognize today's reality, because science-fiction filmmakers had fantasies which, unfortunately, in some cases, are now realities.
What are you personally most looking forward to?
As every year, I'm looking forward to the opening night. With 3,500 people sitting there watching a film. I hope they'll like it!
The 67th Berlinale in pictures
The Berlin International Film Festival features nearly 400 films this year. Discover some of the highlights of the packed program at Germany's largest film festival.
Image: picture alliance/dpa/R. Arpajou/
A musical opening: 'Django'
The 67th Berlin International Film Festival (February 9-19, 2017) opens with a musical biopic. The debut film of French director Etienne Comar tells the story of the legendary jazz and swing musician, Django Reinhardt.
Image: picture alliance/dpa/R. Arpajou/
Strong German showing
There are 18 films competing this year for the festival's top awards. Three German works are on the list, including Volker Schlöndorff's "Return to Montauk," starring Nina Hoss (pictured). There are also six German co-productions in the run.
Image: Wild Bunch
'Beuys,' a documentary
Another German highlight is "Beuys," a documentary about famous German artist Joseph Beuys. Director Andres Veiel is known for his films dealing with political and social issues. His latest documentary is vying for the Golden Bear, going up against feature films.
The directorial debut of the actor Josef Hader, the dark comedy "Wild Mouse," is bound to become an audience's favorite among the competing films. Hader's performance in the lead role in "Stefan Zweig: Farewell to Europe" (2016) was critically acclaimed.
Image: WEGA Film
'Trainspotting' is back
This British dark comedy is also one of the headliners of the festival. "T2 Trainspotting" is the sequel to the cult drug trip directed by Danny Boyle in 1996 and stars the original cast, 20 years later. "T2" will screen out of competition.
Image: Sony Pictures Releasing GmbH
All forms allowed
Feature films are set against documentaries and animated films in the Berlinale competition. The Chinese animated feature "Have a Nice Day," by Liu Jian, tells a gangster story.
Image: Berlinale/Liu Jian
The 47th International Forum
The festival's section called Forum includes 43 films this year, including documentaries and several feature films, such as "Barrage." This French production deals with the relationship between three generations of women in a family.
Image: Red Lion
Queer cinema in Panorama
The program of the section Panorama is once again colorful and diverse: It would be impossible to find just one overarching theme to define it, though Panorama traditionally features many films about homosexuality. Jochen Hick's documentary "My Wonderful West Berlin," about the campaigns of the gay community in the 1980s, is one of them this year.
Image: Wilfried Laule
100th anniversary of Russia's October Revolution
Beyond the traditional sections of the program, the Berlinale Special series highlights recent works by contemporary filmmakers. Among them is the film "The Young Karl Marx," depicting Marx (August Diehl, right) and Friedrich Engels (Stefan Konarske). The film was directed by Haitian-born filmmaker Raoul Peck.
Image: Kris Dewitte
The Oleg Sentsov case
In 2015, the Ukrainian filmmaker and activist Oleg Sentsov went on trial in Russia, accused of "plotting terrorist acts." Human rights observers described it as a politically motivated case. Despite strong international solidarity with Sentsov, he was sentenced to 20 years in a Siberian prison. The documentary "The Trial: The State of Russia vs Oleg Sentsov" is being shown during the Berlinale.
Image: Marx Film
Young talents from Germany
Through 14 shorter and longer films, the upcoming generation of German filmmakers is featured in the series Perspektive Deutsches Kino (Perspective on German cinema). One of the most original titles is certainly "Self-Criticism of a Bourgeois Dog," by Julian Radlmaier.
Image: faktura film
Films for a younger audience
The Generation series aims to attract younger movie-goers to the festival. The German-Italian co-production "Mountain Miracle - An Unexpected Friendship" tells the story of a 15-year-old girl called Amelie, who suffers from life-threatening asthma, but decides to run away from her doctors and concerned friends and family.
Image: M. Rattini
Putting food on the table
The section Culinary Cinema presents films dealing with nutrition, ecology, agriculture and haute cuisine. The documentary "At the Fork" explores how farm animals are raised for our consumption. Going beyond the usual clichés on the topic, the film introduces viewers to real people: America's farmers, grappling with the moral issues of their work.
Image: Emergent Order
Honorary Golden Bear
Films are not only made by actors, directors, producers and cinematographers. This is what this year's Honorary Golden Bear aims to underline by paying tribute to the work of the Italian costume designer Milena Canonero. The winner of four Oscars has often worked with Stanley Kubrick, but she also designed the costumes on Sofia Coppola's "Marie Antoinette."
Image: Courtesy of Park Circus/Sony
Visions of the future
This year's Retrospective section looks back at the past to show cinema's vision of the future. Among the most original works to be featured is "Warning from Space" (1956) by Japanese director Kōji Shima.
Image: KADOKAWA CORPORATION 1956
Films from the North
Festival-goers won't need to wear their warmest clothes to face the frost, thanks to the Berlinale section NATIVe. It focuses this year on indigenous cinema from the Arctic. The film "Angry Inuk" by Alethea Arnaquq-Baril provides insight into the consequences of the seal hunting debate for the Inuits of the North of Canada.
Image: National Film Board of Canada
Creepy classics
Those fearing a zombie apocalypse might prefer to avoid George A. Romero's "Night of the Living Dead." A restored version of the cult film from 1968 is to be screened in the section Berlinale Classics, along with other masterpieces of film history.
Image: Image Ten/Photofest
Berlinale Talents
Throughout the week's series of workshops held at the Berlin theater Hau Hebbel am Ufer, some 250 young talents from 71 countries will be networking with professionals in the film industry. This year's focus, "Courage: Against All Odds," will lead them to discuss fearlessness in an increasingly challenging film industry.
