The Berlin film festival, Europe’s first major cinema showcase of the year, opens on Thursday with a focus on the fight for freedom in Ukraine and Iran and the starriest line-up since the pandemic. The 73rd Berlinale, traditionally the most politically minded of the big three European festivals, will coincide with the first anniversary of the start of the Russian invasion. The event will screen nine new movies, primarily documentaries, about Ukrainian life in wartime, including Sean Penn’s Superpower, shot by the two-time Oscar winner in Kyiv last February. Berlinale executive director Mariette Rissenbeek (left) and Berlinale artistic director Carlo Chatrian. Photo: Tobias Schwarz/AFP Iran’s embattled independent filmmakers will also take centre stage with a series of premieres and panel discussions looking at the country, which has been rocked by rights protests since September. Artistic director Carlo Chatrian said the 11-day festival was “standing shoulder to shoulder with those who fight to express their ideas”. He promised films that “tell the story of the world with all its wounds as well as its heartbreaking beauty”. Spielberg, Mirren, Krieps French-Iranian actor...
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