2025 | Page 2 | Generation Reports

Waiting until it gets dark – about one of America’s most dangerous migration routes

20Feb

Waiting until it gets dark – about one of America’s most dangerous migration routes

Critique, background article, and poem on the short film Atardecer en América And suddenly, an uncontrollable sadness rises from my stomach, and I feel the tears running. I sit there in front of my computer, in the midst of my research, and find myself crying. I see the images from the short film reappear, I watch the landscape – the Altiplano high plateau – vanish; people, animals, and nature disappear. I see people dying. I hear the buzzwords from the articles I’ve read: Venezuela – the world’s second largest exodus, 7.7 million people, plus climate refugees, drought, rising temperatures, 7,000 kilometers from Venezuela to Chile, and countless unreported cases. “Atardecer en América” – Sunset over America – is the title of the short film that moved me so deeply and led me to the re...

20Feb

By JohannaNo Comments

Interview

The art of creating change

An interview with Rima Das. Generation has the tendency to pull film makers back to Berlin again and again over the years. Sometimes it is for a second film, often they come back as part of the International Jury. For Rima Das it is already her third visit at Berlinale. After presenting her feature film Bulbul Can Sing (review) in the 2019 Generation program and returning as part of the International Jury in 2020, she is now showing her most recent feature film Village Rockstars 2 (review) in the 14Plus competition. The day after the European premier, Liv and I sit down with her and leading actress Bhanita Das at Berlinale Palast for an extended chat. In 2019 Liv and Carlotta already had the pleasure to interview her about Bulbul Can Sing (read here) and it’s a heartfelt reunion on ...

Lightness and Strength in Harmony with Nature

18Feb

By SarahNo Comments

Review

Lightness and Strength in Harmony with Nature

A review of Village Rockstars 2 With Village Rockstars 2, Rima Das returns to the Berlinale. In 2019, she received a Special Mention from the International Jury of Berlinale Generation for Bulbul Can Sing and in 2020, she was a member of the International Jury herself. Now comes Village Rockstars 2, the sequel to her 2017 feature film. However, prior knowledge of the first film is not necessary to immerse oneself in this story. In fact, the title, which suggests a straightforward continuation, somewhat understates how valuable and independent this film truly is. From the very beginning, the breathtaking landscapes stand out. Captured in rich colors, nature is illuminated from all angles. It plays a central role—not merely as a backdrop, but as a source of s...

18Feb

By KonstantinNo Comments

Review

Close Yet Strangers

Evenings were spent together—laughing, crying, getting annoyed, and wondering. Leaves sprouted on the branches, presentations were prepared, flashcards were filled out, and exams were taken. All the exams, until the very end. One last time, the graduating students of a religious high school in Brooklyn come together to reflect. They follow a ritual of their faith community—Quakerism. During this ritual, all members of the community sit together in silence. At any moment, anyone present may stand up and share a thought. Afterward, the group returns to silence to reflect on what has been said. The gathering takes an unexpected turn when one student admits that she never truly felt connected to the others. "Quaker" can be understood as a story about community in religious schools. Director...

Police brutality in the Favelas – a backround article on ‘Hora do Recreio’

18Feb

By Anouk SegebartNo Comments

Background

Police brutality in the Favelas – a backround article on ‘Hora do Recreio’

Favela Rocinha (https://rioonwatch.org.br/?p=33602) The noon sun burns on the corrugated iron roofs. The afternoon breeze carries many smells and sounds: from the smell of barbecues at informal street shops to the humming exhausts of motorbikes in the narrow alleyways of the favelas. Artistic illustrations are sprayed on some of the unplastered house walls. In these parts of the Brazilian metropolis, art and culture is everywhere, but at the same time, alongside life on the breadline, discrimination and marginalisation, there is a seemingly insoluble complex of problems of violence and organised crime: both of which are symptoms of a racist and classist system in which power monopolies exploit favelas in order to maintain and reinforce the inequalities of society. ...

16Feb

By JohannaNo Comments

Review

“It’s grand”

A review for Christy. The curtain rises on a nowadays unusually narrow movie screen as the opening film of the 14Plus section Christy by director Brendan Canty begins. In 4:3 format, the audience follows the eponymous protagonist (Danny Power) through his everyday life in Cork, Ireland, over the next 94 minutes, giving an insight into the living conditions of the people living in this area of the small island nation. After Christy loses his place in his foster family of the last ten years, he is temporarily accommodated by his brother Shane (Diarmuid Noyes) until he will be assigned a new place to live. During this period of transition, Christy meets new people and old acquaintances, builds relationships with family members he hasn't seen for over a decade and has to ...

Between Tradition and Self-determination

16Feb

By ClaraNo Comments

Background

Between Tradition and Self-determination

a review on "Uiksaringitara" With the world premiere of “Uiksaringitara” (The Wrong Husband), director Zacharias Kunuk returns to the Berlinale program after several years, attracting not only the attention of generation audience. Kunuk is considered one of the most important Inuit filmmakers and co-founded the first independent Inuit production company, Isuma. Isuma is intended to give Inuit filmmakers a platform and enable self-determination. Since the 1990s, Kunuk has been producing and directing films by, with and about Inuit and has won several awards. Like Kunuk's previous films, “Uiksaringitara” tells the story of people from the Inuit community: The story is set 4000 years ago in the Canadian Arctic region of Nunavut. Kaujak (Theresia Kappianaq) and Sapa (Haiden Angutimarik) ...

Little Rebels Cinema Club (Here we go again: Berlinale 2025)

14Feb

By KonstantinNo Comments

Background, General

Little Rebels Cinema Club (Here we go again: Berlinale 2025)

The time has finally come: tonight, the 48th edition of Generation will officially open at the Haus der Kulturen der Welt! It's a special year - the Berlin Film Festival is taking place for the 75th time - but then again, the Berlinale is always special. As every year, more and more people gather at Potsdamer Platz, film crews from all over the world arrive and trudge through Berlin's streets, people stand in endless queues outside the cinemas while others desperately try to click the “Tickets” button on their laptops in the right microsecond - and it's snowing. It's snowing! However, with this year's anniversary edition and the new Berlinale director Tricia Tuttle, there are definitely some changes ahead, and we are excited to see how the festival will grow with it. There is also...