Berlinale's House of Talents

From the impossibility of nothingness to the seeming nothingness of death. In this episode, we sit down with renowned Thai director Apichatpong Weerasethakul. True to Apichatpong’s unconventional narrative work, this talk draws us into meditative spaces, inviting us to slowly question filmmaking habits and the rat-race of expectations we are all involved in.

Time to break with old habits. In this episode, we hear from film professionals who are committed to challenging norms and promoting alternative ways of thinking about filmmaking. They boldly engage in discussions on representation in the industry and although change doesn’t happen overnight, what these African and indigenous filmmakers, curators, queer collectives and people behind community cinemas sketch out are the many paths that lead to it.

In this episode, we sit down with one of French cinema’s most prominent voices: Céline Sciamma. Drawing on Anglo-Saxon and French filmmaking traditions, the writer and director (Water Lilies, Portrait of a Lady on Fire, Petite Maman) portrays characters caught up in new desires, bridging childhood and adulthood. At Berlinale Talents 2021, we got the chance to ask Céline about her artistic coming-of-age before we turned to her “delicate machines”: that is to say, her films.

In this episode, we take a closer look at some of the different stations involved in the making of a movie. Cinematographers, screenwriters, and production designers pitch in as we travel through the Berlinale Talents archive to understand what it takes to carry a director’s vision to the big screen. The pros we talked to – visionaries like Josephine Decker, Agnès Godard or Uli Hanisch – are clear on one aspect of filmmaking: the virtue of collaboration.

Our journey through the Berlinale Talents archive begins with the award-winning Brazilian screenwriter, director, critic and festival organiser Kleber Mendonça Filho (AQUARIUS; BACURAU). In this talk, Kleber Mendonça Filho reflects on artistic responses to the racial and social tensions and inequalities within Brazilian society. Due to the precarious political situation in Brazil, filmmakers are on the verge of a crisis - and yet find themselves in one of the best moments of Brazilian cinema. Sitting within the exploration of ‘Collectives’ during Berlinale Talents 2020, this conversation between Kleber Mendonça Filho and Head of the World Cinema Fund Vincenzo Bugno responds to a desire within the film industry to support dissident creative voices and challenge established hierarchies.

Every February, Berlinale Talents becomes home to the world’s most promising filmmakers. Nested within the Berlin International Film Festival, it’s a one-of-a-kind forum for film professionals and cinema lovers alike, where a global vision for the cinema of the future is built and shared. Now, we’re reaching out to plunge you into this world on a monthly basis, introducing the brand new podcast Berlinale’s House of Talents. Starting march 5, 2021.