Berlin film fest to beam in Zelensky for opener with Sean PennThe Berlinale, traditionally the most politically minded of big European cinema showcases, will mark the Russian invasion's first anniversary
by Agence France-Presse
16-02-2023 16:36
in Entertainment
Sean Penn Ukraine doc to premiere at Berlin film fest
Image via Instagram @berlinale
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky will join Hollywood actor Sean Penn by video link on Thursday at the opening of the Berlinale, Europe's first major film festival of the year, as it spotlights the fight for freedom in Ukraine and Iran.
--
BERLINALE MOST POLITICALLY MINDED' The 73rd annual event, traditionally the most politically minded of the three big European cinema showcases, will mark the Russian invasion's first anniversary as well as anti-regime protests in Iran with new feature films and documentaries.
US actor Kristen Stewart ( Spencer ), head of the jury for the Golden and Silver Bear top prizes, told reporters it was an enormous opportunity to have a hand in highlighting beautiful things in the face of global turmoil.
It's the job of an artist to take a disgusting and ugly thing and sort of transmute it and put it through your body and pump out something more beautiful in response to the world that's falling apart around us, she said.
--
Artistic director Carlo Chatrian said the festival stood with the suffering population, the millions who left Ukraine and the artists (who) have remained defending the country and continue filming the war, adding that it was a special honour to welcome Zelensky digitally.
Penn will appear on stage at the opening gala in the German capital and introduce Zelensky who will speak via video stream, organisers said.
The two-time Oscar winner, who was filming in Kyiv at the start of the Russian onslaught, will on Friday premiere Superpower , tracking Zelensky's transformation from comedian to president to war hero.
--
Zelensky was two completely different creatures from one day to the next, Penn told entertainment industry magazine Variety this week about the impact of the invasion. He was a spirit in waiting.
Beyond movie screenings, the Berlinale plans panel discussions with embattled directors and red-carpet protests in a show of solidarity with the people of Iran and Ukraine.
Sean Penn Ukraine doc to premiere at Berlin film fest Image via Instagram @berlinale ALSO READ: Sean Penn to premiere Ukraine documentary at Berlin film fest
ANIMATION BACK IN FORCE The Berlinale has barred filmmakers, companies and reporters with direct ties to the Russian or Iranian governments from taking part in the event, including its sprawling European Film Market, a key movie rights exchange for the industry.
Hollywood actors Peter Dinklage, Anne Hathaway and Marisa Tomei will later Thursday present romantic comedy She Came to Me , the first of nearly 300 new movies from around the world to screen during the 11-day event.
Nineteen films will vie for the main awards, including British-US co-production Manodrome featuring Jesse Eisenberg and Adrien Brody in a thriller about an Uber driver who is lured into a cult while he is expecting his first child.
Two Asian animated pictures will also join the running, Art College 1994 by China's Liu Jian and Makoto Shinkai's Suzume , the first Japanese anime to compete at the Berlinale since Hayao Miyazaki's Spirited Away clinched the Golden Bear in 2002.
ALSO READ: AKA: New album Mass Country' will be released as planned
GOLD FOR SPIELBERG Three-time Academy Award winner Steven Spielberg is to collect an honorary Golden Bear for his life's work, spotlighted in a retrospective.
British actor Helen Mirren will unveil the keenly awaited Golda in which she stars as Israel's only female prime minister, Golda Meir.
And Vicky Krieps, the acclaimed Luxembourg-born actor from Phantom Thread and Corsage , will present her turn as renowned Austrian writer Ingeborg Bachmann in a biopic by veteran German director Margarethe von Trotta.
One-third of the films in competition are by women, who make up 40 percent of all directors represented at the festival.
Love to Love You , a documentary about disco queen Donna Summer, who defined an era on the dance floor and helped inspire Beyonce's latest album Renaissance , will have its world premiere.
The film was co-directed by Summer's daughter, Brooklyn Sudano, and features never-before-seen home videos.
The Berlinale ranks with Cannes and Venice among Europe's top film festivals. It will hand out the top prizes on February 25 before wrapping up the next day with screenings of popular movies from this year's selection.
By: Deborah Cole Agence France-Presse
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE ARTICLES BY AFP
The 12 Apostles Hotel & Spa is not just for overnight guests: Fancy a scenic helicopter ride or panoramic picnic among the fynbos? READ MORE
Most recent headlines
06/10/2025
France T l visions, France's leading broadcaster, has received the 2025 EBU ...
04/09/2025
Monumental Sports & Entertainment (MSE), in collaboration with Dalet, has been a...
30/08/2025
WASHINGTON The Federal Communications Commission has adopted its FY 2025 Regulatory Fees Order that establishes the regulatory fee rates for the broadcast stati...
29/08/2025
Australian Red Cross and SBS launch training to help workplaces in the fight aga...
29/08/2025
The National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF), an agency of the Department of Sp...
29/08/2025
L3Harris Technologies has concentrated decades of expertise across the entire enterprise to develop affordable and reliable best-of-breed solutions to rapidly c...
29/08/2025
BURBANK, Calif. The CW Network and the Pac-12 Conference have announced a new media rights deal that will extend their broadcast partnership beginning with the ...
29/08/2025
NEW YORK Gracenote has released a new analysis of its global video dataset showing that the number of FAST channels grew nearly 14% from Q1 2025 and 76% since 2...
29/08/2025
SAN JOSE, Calif. Harmonic has announced a series of improvements to its live sports streaming solution that the company said will improve fan engagement, protec...
29/08/2025
NEW YORK and LOS ANGELES Fox Corp. and YouTube TV last night announced a renewal of the full portfolio of Fox networks, including Fox News Channel, Fox Business...
29/08/2025
Budapest, Hungary, August 2025 - The integration of Microsoft Teams Rooms (MTR) with Lightware's Taurus universal matrix switchers delivers a new level of f...
29/08/2025
Frequency, the engine behind many of the world's best-known streaming television channels, today announced it will launch Studio Live, a next-generation uni...
29/08/2025
In an era when AI and cyber resilience are essential, Scality will mark the 10th anniversary of Scality Day on October 16, 2025 in Paris. This flagship global e...
29/08/2025
Disguise's In-House Creative and Technical Teams Pre-Visualised, Programmed and Delivered Content for the Experience, All Powered by EX 3+
Technology solu...
29/08/2025
Disguise will be demonstrating the latest workflows for TV, film and live events on a number of partner booths at the show
Disguise, the industry-leading tech...
29/08/2025
STOCKHOLM, Sweden Accedo will showcase Accedo Compose, its AI agent-powered modular orchestration layer that assists streaming providers in transitioning client...
29/08/2025
LOS ANGELES Cineverse has announced that it is working with Xperi to bring four of its streaming channels to automobiles for the first time as part of the DTS A...
29/08/2025
DALLAS & ATLANTA Gray Media has announced an agreement with the sports streaming service Victory+ to simulcast 17 Dallas Stars NHL games in 15 television market...
29/08/2025
NEW YORK AND CULVER CITY Comcast NBCUniversal and Amazon have announced new and extended distribution agreements that will expand the content available on their...
29/08/2025
FOOTHILL RANCH, Calif. RED Digital Cinema will feature its Cine-Broadcast Module supporting live broadcast workflows during IBC2025, Sept. 12-15, at the RAI Ams...
29/08/2025
29 Aug 2025
Kyivstar Rings Opening Bell at Nasdaq Marking Landmark Listing and ...
29/08/2025
More than half of all NFL games live on Sky for the first timeFriday 29 August 2025
Sky Sports has announced a new three-year deal with the NFL, extending its ...
29/08/2025
Back to All News
RIV4LRIES: The Trailer of the New Series With Samuele Carrino ...
29/08/2025
Get ready for an inspiring and emotional insight into the world of competitive Irish dancing with My Story: Tomi Champion of the World airing on RT 2 this monda...
29/08/2025
RT has today announced that David McCullagh is to be the new presenter of RT Radio 1's flagship Today programme, which airs every weekday at 10am, replaci...
28/08/2025
By Kristin Feeley, Director, Documentary Film & Artist Programs
If you want to tell untold stories, if you want to give voice to the voiceless, you've got ...
28/08/2025
Directed by Steven Bognar and Julia Reichert, Sundance Institute-supported Amer...
28/08/2025
Corridos have been a cornerstone of M sica Mexicana for generations, telling stories rooted in everyday life. Now, a new chapter is taking shape: motivational c...
28/08/2025
Los corridos han sido un pilar de la M sica Mexicana durante generaciones, contando historias enraizadas en la vida cotidiana. Ahora, un nuevo cap tulo est tom...
28/08/2025
Earlier this month, we promised our Verano Forever party would bring the heat, a...
28/08/2025
L3Harris will provide the Polish F-16V fleet with the Viper Shield electronic warfare system as part of an upgrade program....
28/08/2025
Bilbao, August 26, 2025 - AgileTV, an international television and video technol...
28/08/2025
Ken Wilkinson is an Emmy Awards nominated New York audio engineer who specialises in production sound mixing for film, commercial, episodic and documentary work...
28/08/2025
NEW YORK FuboTV today announced that it will launch Fubo Sports, a skinny bundle that focuses on sports with a subscription price of $56 monthly....
28/08/2025
NEVADA City, Calif. At IBC2025, Sept. 12-15 at the RAI Amsterdam, Telestream will debut its new Global Ingest strategy, introducing a next-generation ingest arc...
28/08/2025
Dr. Rhoda Bernard Releases Groundbreaking Debut Book on Accessible Arts Educatio...
28/08/2025
TAG Video Systems, the leader in software-based IP end-to-end workflow monitoring, deep probing, and real-time visualization, has named Oliver Gappa as Sales Di...
28/08/2025
AI-based voice enhancement will be among a series of innovations making their IBC 2025 debut on the DHD stand B46 in Hall 8 at the RAI Amsterdam Convention Cent...
28/08/2025
Telef nica Servicios Audiovisuales (TSA), the leading system integrator and service provider in the media sector in Spain, with the support of Appear, the globa...
28/08/2025
To fully immerse sailing fans in the world's biggest offshore yacht race, production company, Optical Media turned to LiveU's On-site Production solutio...
28/08/2025
Working with Calrec on its most recent overhaul, radio and television broadcaster, WNED has migrated to a fully IP infrastructure with multiple Type R consoles,...
28/08/2025
Cleeng, the Subscriber Retention Management (SRM ) inventor, has unveiled Cleeng Pro, the first-ever direct-to-consumer (D2C) subscription management platform t...
28/08/2025
Zixi, the industry leader in live broadcast-quality video over IP, today announced that French media distribution platform OKAST has selected Zixi to enable rel...
28/08/2025
Solution offers a streamlined, speaker-free architecture to optimize integration with premium external loudspeakers and advanced loudness metering
Nixer Pro Au...
28/08/2025
Cinegy, the premier provider of software-defined television technology, has announced a strategic partnership with Vision One Touch Film Production Services L.L...
28/08/2025
Telestream, a global leader in media workflow technologies, will debut its new Global Ingest strategy at IBC2025, introducing a next-generation ingest architect...
28/08/2025
Tier 1 operator selects Broadpeak to power high-performance, unified CDN solution across Norway, Sweden and Finland
Broadpeak, a leader in streaming and moneti...
28/08/2025
Leading video software provider, Synamedia, today announced that 24 Frames Digital, one of India's leading live event streaming service providers, has chose...
28/08/2025
Meet VisualOn at IBC2025: See What's Next in AI-Powered Video Streaming Join VisualOn at IBC2025 and discover how our AI-driven Optimizer and advanced media...
Berlin film fest to beam in Zelensky for opener with Sean PennThe Berlinale, traditionally the most politically minded of big European cinema showcases, will mark the Russian invasion's first anniversary 
