She Who Must Be Loved.
Another four Australian projects have joined the line-up at the Berlin International Film Festival: feature documentary She Who Must Be Loved, 2015 film Tanna and two shorts, Blackbird and The Mermaids, Or Aiden in Wonderland.
As IF has previously reported, Rodd Rathjen’s feature debut Buoyancy will also make its world premiere in Berlinale’s Panorama section, while Damon Gameau’s feature doc 2040 will screen in the Generation Kplus section.
She Who Must Be Loved will make its international premiere as part of Berlin’s NATIVe program, which celebrates Indigenous storytelling. The film is a portrait of Central Australian Aboriginal Media Association (CAAMA) and Imparja TV co-founder Freda Glynn, from director and daughter Erica Glynn and producer and granddaughter Tanith Glynn-Maloney. It first premiered at the Adelaide Film Festival last October, where it won the audience award, and will screen on NITV later this year.
Benley Dean and Martin Butler’s Tanna, which was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film in 2017, will also screen in the NATIVe program, in addition to short film Blackbird directed by Amie Batalibasi.
The Mermaids, Or Aiden in Wonderland from Karrabing Film Collective, an experimental short film about what might happen at the end of the world, will screen as part of the Berlin’s Forum Expanded program. The collective, an Indigenous media group who use filmmaking to interrogate the conditions of inequality for Aboriginal people in the Northern Territory, also had their film Wutharr, Saltwater Dreams screen as part of the strand in 2017.
Two Australian producers Kate Laurie and Peter Ireland will participate in the Berlinale Talents program, as well as production designer and art director Alicia Clements. Actress and director Tilda Cobham-Hervey will sit on the International Generations Kplus jury. Her short A Field Guide to Being a 12-Year-Old-Girl screened in last year’s Generation Kplus program and won the Crystal Bear for Best Short Film.
Producer Greer Simpkin from Bunya Productions is also part of the international team behind Flesh & Blood, which will be pitched at the European Film Market’s co-production market for co-pro Series.
Screen Australia CEO Graeme Mason said: “Be it thought-provoking documentaries, moving dramas, or short films it’s clear that Australian stories and our filmmakers continue to resonate around the world. We congratulate all the Australian teams on their Berlinale selection and we are proud to have such distinctive and diverse projects representing our industry at this esteemed festival.”
Aussie films are getting a lot of festival love of late, with a record six features currently screening in Sundance, which started yesterday: Top End Wedding, Animals, The Nightingale, Judy and Punch, Little Monsters and I Am Mother.
The Berlin International Film Festival runs 7-17 February.