Following today’s press conference, let’s summarize the members of the TFL community to be presented by the prestigious Berlinale in a few weeks.
SHAMBHALA by Min Bahadur Bham joins the 20-films Competition. This Nepalese feature - a former FeatureLab project of 2019 - takes place in a Himalayan polyandrous village in Nepal, where pregnant Pema faces scrutiny as her first husband; Tashi vanishes on the trade to Lhasa. Accompanied by her de facto husband, monk, Karma, she embarks on a journey to find him, evolving her quest into self-discovery and liberation.
A highlight? This #TFLfilm will be the first Nepalese film ever selected by one of the three major film festivals for the official competition section. The screening times are available on the dedicated page.
The Generation section, screening state-of-the-art international cinema, will showcase two films very close to TFL. ELBOW, the debut film of the German-Turkish Asli Özarslan and former ScriptLab 2020, focuses on Hazal, a 17-year-old living in Berlin; the screening times can be discovered over here. MY SUMMER WITH IRÈNE, set in Italy in 1997, is directed by TFL alumnus Carlo Sironi and joined in 2022 the TFL programme focused on sustainable film production, Green Film Lab.
Speaking of alumni and alumnae, the Competition section features, as well, Another End by Piero Messina, while Arcadia by Yorgos Zois joins the Encounters’ rows. Lastly, Panorama includes the new work of Jan Bonny named Zeit Verbrechen 2: Der Panther and the documentary of Markus Stein, Baldiga – Unlocked Heart.
For those of you wanting to catch up with the first TFL premiere of the year, BRIEF HISTORY OF A FAMILY by Lin Jianjie, will be screened in Berlin after its premiere at the Sundance Film Festival.
In the picture: SHAMBHALA by Min Bahadur Bham