Berlin Film Festival Takeaways: Timothée Chalamet Brings the Star Power, but Market Remains Sluggish

variety.com:

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent On its 75th birthday, the Berlinale got a makeover. And the historic film festival proved that, despite some rustiness and wrinkles, it’s still hip enough to hang with Timothée Chalamet, Robert Pattinson and Jacob Elordi.

The sudden cool factor in Berlin can be attributed to its new chief, Tricia Tuttle, who is keeping the creative juices flowing while bringing more A-list star power to screenings (the kind commonly associated with Cannes or Venice). “The whole industry really wants a strong Berlinale,” Tuttle told Variety at the fest’s midway point.

How did things feel and look on the ground this year? Variety investigates all the changes. Tilda Gets Political The festival kicked off with the opening-night film “The Light,” but the real fireworks arrived when Tilda Swinton took the stage to accept a Golden Bear for career achievement.

In a pointed and passionate speech, Swinton spoke about Berlin as “a borderless realm and with no policy of exclusion, persecution or deportation.” She described the “great independent state of cinema” as “innately inclusive — immune to efforts of occupation, colonization, takeover, ownership or the development of riviera property,” an apparent dig at Trump’s suggestion that Gaza could be turned into a resort destination. Timothée’s Takeover Chalamet touched down in Berlin on Valentine’s Day for a special screening of “A Complete Unknown,” and he generated global headlines for donning a pink hoodie and tank top on the red carpet in a snowstorm.