Berlin Film Festival: Red Carpet Protests And Political Speeches Dominate Opening Ceremony
deadline.comThe Berlin Film Festival officially kicked off this evening with an eventful opening ceremony at the Berlinale Palast theater in the German capital.
After a divisive build-up to the fest, the opening ceremony was, in contrast, a relatively conventional affair. High-profile attendees included veteran German filmmakers Wim Wenders and Fatih Akin, Phantom Thread actress Vicky Krieps, and international jury president Lupita Nyong’o alongside her fellow jury members, Brady Corbet, Ann Hui, Christian Petzold, Albert Serra, Jasmine Trinca, and Oksana Zabuzhko.
The evening’s opening film was Small Things Like These, starring Cillian Murphy, who was in attendance with producer Matt Damon and co-star Emily Watson.
Directed by Tim Mielants (Peaky Blinders), Small Things Like These is the first Irish film to open the Berlinale. Before the pic opened, the crowd inside the Palast theater was welcomed by hosts Hadnet Tesfai and Jo Schück, who began their introductions with a series of remarks addressing what they later described as the “elephant in the room”: politics. “When thousands have died, and there’s been so much violence in the Middle East since the 7th of October, what do we want a film festival to do?
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