Berlin International Film Festival - Day 1
Feb. 7, 2008
There is nothing like throwing yourself into the sensory overload of a film festival when you have not slept in 28 hours! I have never been able to sleep on an international flight, so if anyone reading this has a tip, please let me know (and fast, I could use it for the trip home.)
The sheer amomunt of information to take in here is dizzying. I pretty much have a routine, having been here the past several years, but when I arrived today and received my catalogues it was initially incomprehensible to sort through the mass of films screening. I don't have an official count, but between the festival and the European Film Market (more on that in a later post) there are probably 400 to 500 movies showing over the next 10 days!
The festival opens tonight with a screening of Martin Scorsese's new film, Shine a Light, a documentary on the Rolling Stones. It has significant buzz amongst the boomer crowd and judging by the fans and paparazzi on the streets there is significant excitement for this opening night film. It is easy to understand why it was selected for opening night, but I wonder how important the Stones are to anyone under 40.
Time to get back to sorting through the titles to plan my viewing for the first few days. This year's festival includes severa films I am looking forward to. The competition alone includes new films from famous international auteurs such as: Isabel Coixet, Hong Sangsoo, Doris Dorrie, Robert Guediguian, Errol Morris, Majid Majidi, Mike Leigh, Erick Zonca, Andrzej Wajda, and Johnnie To.
