The Berlinale Film Festival celebrates its 73rd edition this year, which will take place in the German capital from February 16th to 26th, 2023. After the success of Catalan cinema in the 2022 edition, where Alcarràs (Vilaüt, Avalon, Elastica, Kino Produzioni) by Carla Simón won the Golden Bear, this year the Catalan presence at the festival is again very prominent. Five Catalan productions are part of the festival selection, while two projects in development will be presented in the sections of the Co-Production Market, six Catalan professionals and two projects will participate in Berlinale Talents and more than 70 Catalan companies will attend the European Film Market.
Five Catalan productions selected at the festival
This year the Catalan cinema will once again compete in the Official Competition of the festival with 20.000 Species of Bees (Gariza Films, Inicia Films, 20000 Especies de abejas AIE) by Estibaliz Urresola. The first feature film by the Basque director will compete in the festival after participating last year in the Co-Production Market of the EFM.
For its part, the debut film of Álvaro Gago, Matria (Ringo Media, Avalon, Matriuska, Elastica Films) will compete in the Panorama section. The feature film is also called short film called Matria (Ringo Media, Sombriza Films), which in 2018 was awarded the Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival.
The new film by Carla Subirana, Sica (Alba Sotorra, Miramemira, Zuzú Cinema, Amorambre Films, Film Market Fund, Sica, Alba Sotorra, AIE) will be presented in the Generation section. The film, shot in Catalan and Galician, is starring Thais García and Núria Prims and set on Costa da Morte in Galicia, where Sica, a fourteen-year-old girl, is obsessed with the sea returning his father's body after a shipwreck.
The Catalan documentary will also be present at Berlinale with Anqa (Kepler Mission Films, Helin Çelik), directed by Helin Çelik, selected in the Forum section. Anqa is the story of three surviving women who escaped the extreme male violence and were trapped in the diluted line between life and death.
Finally, the short film Daydreaming So Vividly About Our Spanish Holidays by Christian Avilés will compete in the Berlinale Shorts section. The film, produced by ESCAC Films, follows the journey of some teenagers to the Balearic Islands in search of the sun.
Catalan presence in industry activities
The Catalan audiovisual industry will be present, once again, in the European Film Market (EFM), with a delegation of more than 70 companies from the sector. In addition, within the activities organized in the framework of the EFM Co-Production Market two Catalan projects will be pitched: Iván & Hadoum, a feature film in development directed by Ian de la Rosa and produced by Vayolet Films and Avalon, which is part of the Official Selection of Feature Films, and the series The Chauffeur's Son (Zeta Studios) by Isaki Lacuesta, Isa Campo and Cristóbal Garrido, that will participate in the Co-Pro-Pro Series pitch. At the same time, the series This is not Sweden (Nanouk Films, Funicular Films, Anagram, RTVE) will participate, within the framework of the EFM, in the Next from Spain: First Look + Q&A session.
On the other hand, six Catalan professionals are part of the selection of Berlinale Talents, the festival's talent development program. Among them is Júlia de Paz with her feature film project Fed Up (Mayo Films, Televisió de Catalunya) that will participate in the Script Station development section. The project is the adaptation to feature film of the short film also called Fed Up which has recently been awarded the Gaudí Award for Best Short Film. Together with Júlia de Paz, professionals Mikel Gurrea, Ricard Balada, Agnès Piqué, Álvaro Gurrea and Helena Vilaplana will be present in the activities of Berlinale Talents. Likewise, the Colombian director and screenwriter Manuel Correa will participate in Berlinale Talents with his new Catalan production project, Atlas of Disappearance (GusanoFilms, Perspektiv Produksjon).
The Catalan Institute for Cultural Companies (ICEC) will be present again at the European Film Market at the C1 - MGB stand, with the representation of Catalan Films and Catalunya Film Commission, who will also take part in the Co-Production Market by presenting Catalonia at the Country Focus.
