Berlin Film Festival 2015, Golden Bear Winner Results, Predictions: What Latin American Films Are In Contention at Berlinale?
The Berlin Film Festival kicks off tomorrow with the premiere of "50 Shades of Grey."
But lost in the hoopla of the festival is the Latin films that will be featured in a number of different slates.
Golden Bear
Of course, the slate everyone is looking at is the competition for the prestigious Golden Bear. Among the films competing at this year's slate are "Eisenstein in Guanajuato," which is a co-production with Mexico with Netherlands, Belgium and Finland; two Chilean films - "The Club," directed by noted auteur Pablo Larrain and the documentary "The Pearl Button;" "Nobody Wants the Night," a co-production between Spain, France and Bulgaria; and "Ixancul Volcano," a co-production between Guatemala and France.
Latin Americans have had limited success in winning the Golden Bear over the years. Spain leads the charge with a total of seven victories, including three in a 1978 for a short film "Ascensor" and two feature films, "La Truchas" and "Las Palabras de Max." There have been other years where multiple films have been honored with the Golden Bear, but there has never been a case where three films were honored in the same year.
Aside from Spain, Brazil has notched two Golden Bears in its history. In 1998, Walter Salles' iconic "Central Station" took home the award and in 2008, "Elite Squad" obtained the honor.
The only other Latin American nation to get honored with the Golden Bear was Peru in 2010 for the feature film "The Milk of Sorrow," directed by Claudia Llosa. That film was also nominated for the Best Foreign Language film category at the Oscars but lost to Argentina's "The Secret in their Eyes."
Panorama
There are a number of films that are not featuring in the Golden Bear competition, but are being showcased in the Panorama slate. Brazil is being represented by a total of three films including "Blue Blood," "The Second Mother," "Absence," which is a co-production with Chile and France.
Argentina is being represented by two films in this slate including "The Fire," directed by Juan Schnitman, and "Butterfly," directed by Marco Berger.
Mexico's "600 Miles" will also be showcased in the Panorama slate.
Chilean director Sebastian Silva will also be present with his film "Nasty Baby," which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival.
The festival, which is in its 65th year, runs from Feb. 5-15. The jury will be led by director Darren Aronofsky, the celebrated filmmaker behind such works as "Pi," "Requiem for a Dream," "The Black Swan" and most recently "Noah."
"Darren Aronofsky has distinguished himself as an outstanding protagonist in contemporary auteur cinema," said Berlin chief Dieter Kosslick in a statement when announcing Aronofsky's involvement with the festival. "In his artistic approach he consistently sounds out cinematic language and its aesthetic possibilities. I'm pleased to be able to welcome him as Jury President of the Berlinale 2015."
Many believe that the favorite to lift the Golden Bear at the end of the festival is Terrence Malick's hotly anticipated "Knights of Cup," which features Christian Bale, Natalie Portman, Antonio Banderas, Cate Blanchett, Freida Pinto and Ben Kingsley among others.
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