The 43rd Hong Kong International Film Festival (HKIFF43) will give Asian premieres to several award-winning films from this year’s Berlin International Film Festival, including the winners of its top three prizes.
SYNONYMS, written and directed by Nadav LAPID, won this year’s Berlinale Golden Bear for Best Film and the FIPRESCI Prize. In this powerful new feature, the Israeli filmmaker – whose previous works include the outstanding POLICEMAN (2011) and THE KINDERGARTEN TEACHER (2014) – mines his own memories of youthful adventures and reflects his search for identity in Paris.
Acclaimed French director François OZON picked up the Silver Bear Grand Jury Prize for BY THE GRACE OF GOD, a story that probes the child abuse scandals of the Catholic Church inspired by a real-life headline case. Veteran Berlin School helmer Angela SCHANELEC took home the Silver Bear for Best Director with I WAS AT HOME, BUT, in which her opaque and minimalist style excels in a mesmerizing tale about the entangled relationship between a widowed mother and her rebellious son. Chinese director XIANG Zi won the Teddy Award’s Special Jury Award with intimate portrayal of homosexual feelings and repression in her debut feature A DOG BARKING AT THE MOON.
Emerging directors demonstrate their talents and shine in Berlinale’s Generation section. Three winning works will be presented in HKIFF43, including the Generation Kplus Grand Prix winner A FIRST FAREWELL, the debut feature of Chinese director WANG Lina, who tells a quietly moving coming-of-age story in her hometown Xinjiang. Receiving special mentions are BULBUL CAN SING, Indian writer-director Rima DAS’ sophomore film after her award-winning VILLAGE ROCKSTARS (2017), a visceral drama about a girl’s puberty blues completed by her one-woman production team; and WE ARE LITTLE ZOMBIES, another joie de vivre tale by Japanese director NAGAHISA Makoto, following his spell-binding debut short AND SO WE PUT GOLDFISH IN THE POOL (2017).