With a two-part structure featuring an online press and industry component that’s just concluded, followed by physical screenings this summer, the Berlin International Film Festival is unveiling a selection of the year’s finest films. Along with our extensive coverage of the festival (with a few reviews still to come), we’ve asked our Berlinale contributors to share their personal favorites. Check out their lists below, with links to coverage where available.
Ed Frankl
Memory Box
1. Petite Maman (Céline Sciamma)
2. Memory Box (Joana Hadjithomas & Khalil Joreige)
3. Brother’s Keeper (Ferit Karahan)
4. Ballad of a White Cow (Behtash Sanaeeha & Maryam Moghaddam)
5. Ninjababy (Yngvild Sve Flikke)
Honorable Mentions: The Fam, Language Lessons, Natural Light, Taste, and Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy.
Leonardo Goi
Taste
1. Taste (Lê Bảo)
2. Petite Maman (Céline Sciamma)
3. The Scary of Sixty-First (Dasha Nekrasova)
4. Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy (Ryûsuke Hamaguchi)
5. Bad Luck Banging or Loony Porn (Radu Jude)
David Katz
May June July
1. Petite Maman (Céline Sciamma)
2. Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy (Ryûsuke Hamaguchi)
3. May June July (Kevin Jerome Everson)
4. Bad Luck Banging or Loony Porn (Radu Jude)
5. Night Nursery (Moumouni Sanou)
Rory O’Connor
The Girl and the Spider
1. Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy (Ryûsuke Hamaguchi)
2. The Girl and the Spider (Ramon Zürcher and Silvan Zürcher)
3. Petite Maman (Céline Sciamma)
4. The Scary of Sixty-First (Dasha Nekrasova)
5. Mr Bachmann and His Class (Maria Speth)
6. Bad Luck Banging or Loony Porn (Radu Jude)
7. What Do We See When We Look at the Sky? (Alexandre Koberidze)
8. Introduction (Hong Sang-soo)
9. Come Here (Anocha Suwichakornpong)
10. Death of a Virgin, and the Sin of Not Living (George Peter Barbari)
Orla Smith
Petite Maman
1. Petite Maman (Céline Sciamma)
2. Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy (Ryûsuke Hamaguchi)
3. Mr Bachmann and His Class (Maria Speth)
4. Brother’s Keeper (Ferit Karahan)
5. Bad Luck Banging or Loony Porn (Radu Jude)
6. Ninjababy (Yngvild Sve Flikke)
7. Miguel’s War (Eliane Raheb)
8. I’m Your Man (Maria Schrader)
9. Short Vacation (Kwon Min-pyo and Seo Hansol)
10. Stop-Zemlia (Kateryna Gornostai)