Two Catalan films will compete in the Berlinale

Catalan films and projects are once more present in the programme of the 72nd Berlinale. For the first time, two Catalan productions have been included among the 18 finally selected for the official Competition section of the festival: “Alcarràs” by Carla Simón and “One Year, One Night” by Isaki Lacuesta. Besides, the short film “Agrilogistics” and the film “Afterwater” will participate in the Berlinale Shorts and Forum sections. Two other Catalan projects, “20.000 species of bees” and the series “Picadero” have been selected to take part in the Co-Production Market event and five Catalan professionals will be in the Berlinale Talents programme.

Due to the pandemics, the festival has come up with a new concept for 2022. While the industry part of the festival (European Film Market, Berlinale Co-Production Market, Berlinale Talents and World Cinema Fund) will be held online, the main part of the festival will be in-person, and the selected film teams will present their works in Berlin from 10 to 16 February.

Carla Simón returns to the Berlinale after her success with “Summer 1993”, which was selected in 2017 in the Generation Kplus section and awarded Best First Feature Film. Starring non-professional actors, “Alcarràs” tells the story of the Solé family who, after eighty years cultivating the same land, gather to make their last harvest together. Isaki Lacuesta will compete with “One Year, One Night”, a French co-production inspired by the book written by a survivor of the 2015 Bataclan terrorist attack.

Berlinale Talents

As for the talent development programme and networking platform Berlinale Talents, it has selected five Catalan professionals: Meritxell Colell (director), Manel Raga (director), Marta Cruañas (producer), Bruna Cusí (actress) and Mariona Borrull (film critic and journalist). The programme selects 200 emerging professionals from 116 countries from more than 2,200 applications.

Catalan Films,  the entity working for the internationalisation of the Catalan audiovisual industry, will organise a varied programme of activities within the framework of the online market and the festival to accompany the selected films and projects.