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The festival "Berlin Critics' Week"

The festival "Berlin Critics' Week" just started
09.02.2022

Parallel to the Berlinale, the “Berlin Critics’ Week" has started. A festival of a special kind hosted at Hackesche Höfe Cinema.

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What does Filipino punk have to do with male feminism and Shakespeare? How does a passion for cinema relate to Brazilian telenovelas and fetish? What does freedom of art have to do with work, sex and rock 'n' roll? If you want to explore these questions, this year's "Berlin Critics’ Week" is the place to be. The film festival of a special kind will take place from February 9 to 17, 2022, parallel to the Berlinale. Once again, Hackesche Höfe Kino will be the venue for a whole range of international, previously unreleased films. To start, there are Brazilian films by experimental filmmaker Júlio Bressane and director André Antônio. 

The festival is a real highlight in the federal capital which is not short of festivals. Although the Berlin Critics’ Week is usually overshadowed by the big Berlinale, it sees itself more as an anchor point for all those who combine intellectual reflection with sensual pleasure in the film experience. 

The "other" festival for critics

In concrete terms, this means that film critics should have their own voice in Berlin to talk about films that get lost in the hype of the Berlinale. For one week, the films address aesthetic or cultural-political topics. After the screenings, the audience and directors or actors or art directors have room for discussion. 

Fifty-seven years ago, the original event took place parallel to the Berlinale in 1964. Since 2015, the Berlin Critics’ Week has been held regularly in Berlin. In 2020, Dennis Vetter took over the artistic direction of the festival. This year he has gathered a collective around him: Amos Borchert, Elena Friedrich, Istvan Gyöngyösi and Petra Palmer are also responsible for the artistic direction of the mini-festival.

The Berlin Critics’ Week starts on February 9, 2022

The Berlin Critics’ Week kicked off on February 9, 2022 at the Academy of Arts with the conference "Standstill forbidden? – What Progress Cinema Needs." One day later, the film program will start at Hackesche Höfe Kino – coinciding with the Berlin International Film Festival, the Berlinale.