LONDON — The Berlin Film Festival has added another nine titles to its competition lineup, including Thomas Vinterberg’s “The Commune,” Danis Tanovic’s “Death in Sarajevo,” Andre Techine’s “Being 17” and Mia Hansen-Love’s “Things to Come.”
Danish helmer Vinterberg is best known for “The Celebration,” which was BAFTA and Golden Globes nominated, and won Cannes’ Jury Prize, and “The Hunt,” which picked up nominations at the Globes, BAFTAs and Oscars.
“The Commune,” whose ensemble cast is lead by Trine Dyrholm and Ulrich Thomsen, centers on the clash between personal desires, solidarity and tolerance in a commune in the 70s. TrustNordisk is handling international sales.
Bosnian director Tanovic is best known for “No Man’s Land,” which won best screenplay at Cannes, and a Golden Globe and an Oscar for best foreign-language film. “Death in Sarajevo,” which is being sold by The Match Factory, is based on a play, “Hotel Europe,” by French philosopher Bernard-Henri Levy. The film is about “the existential fears, anxieties and moral dilemmas that plague modern European society,” according to the production company Pro.ba.
Techine’s “Being 17,” which was co-written by Celine Sciamma (“Tomboy”) and toplines Sandrine Kiberlain, turns on the relationship between two teenagers. The movie is produced by Fidelity Films and sold by Elle Driver.
Techine’s previous film, “In the Name of My Daughter” played out of competition at Berlin. Among the vet helmer’s early films were “Wild Reeds,” which won four Cesar Awards, and “Rendez-vous,” which won best director at Cannes, and a Cesar.
Hansen-Love’s “Things to Come,” the young helmer’s follow up to “Eden,” stars Isabelle Huppert as a 57-year-old philosophy professor who enters a new chapter in her life after her husband and children leave the house. Huppert stars opposite Andre Marcon, Edith Scob and Roman Kolinka. The film is produced by CG Cinema (“Mustang”), and is repped by Les Films du Losange.
Gianfranco Rosi’s “Fire at Sea,” which is being sold by Doc & Film Intl., has also been selected. The film is about the Sicilian island of Lampedusa, near the North African coast, which has become a symbol of Europe’s migrant crisis. Rosi’s previous docu “Sacro GRA” won the Venice Golden Lion in 2013, becoming the first doc to win the Lido’s top prize.
“Letters From War,” which is the second feature from Portugal’s Ivo Ferreira (“April, Showers”), is also in the Berlin lineup. It adapts Antonio Lobo Antunes’ epistolary novel about a young doctor in Portugal’s Angola Colonial War of 1971-73. It is produced by Luis Urbano at Lisbon-based O Som a a Furia, which also backed Miguel Gomes’ “This Month of August,” “Tabu” and ”Arabian Nights.”
Also competing in Berlin is Iranian auteur Mani Haghighi’s “A Dragon Arrives!”
Haghighi is known for 2006 absurdist comedy “Men at Work,” which was based on an idea by Abbas Kiarostami, and more recently tragicomedy “Modest Reception,” which screened in the Berlin fest’s Forum section in 2012.
Also competing will be “United States of Love” from Polish helmer Tomasz Wasilewski, whose last film “Floating Skyscrapers” won the East of West Award at the Karlovy Vary Film Festival, and “A Lullaby to the Sorrowful Mystery” from Filipino filmmaker Lav Diaz, whose film “From What Is Before” won the Golden Leopard at Locarno, and whose “Norte, the End of History” was nominated for an Independent Spirit Awards last year.
LATEST ADDITIONS TO BERLINALE COMPETITION SECTION:
“Cartas da guerra” (Letters from War)
Portugal
By Ivo M. Ferreira (“Na Escama do Dragao”)
With Miguel Nunes, Margarida Vila-Nova
World premiere
“Ejhdeha Vared Mishavad!” (A Dragon Arrives!)
Iran
By Mani Haghighi (“Modest Reception,” “Men at Work”)
With Amir Jadidi, Homayoun Ghanizadeh, Ehsan Goudarzi, Kiana Tajammol
International premiere
“Fuocoammare” (Fire at Sea) — documentary
Italy/France
By Gianfranco Rosi (“Sacro GRA,” “El Sicario – Room 164”)
World premiere
“Hele Sa Hiwagang Hapis” (A Lullaby to the Sorrowful Mystery)
Philippines/Singapore
By Lav Diaz (“Norte, the End of History,” “From What Is Before,” “Melancholia”)
With John Lloyd Cruz, Piolo Pascual, Hazel Orencio, Alessandra De Rossi, Joel Saracho, Susan Africa, Sid Lucero, Ely Buendia, Bernardo Bernardo, Angel Aquino, Cherie Gil
World premiere
“Kollektivet” (The Commune)
Denmark/Sweden/Netherlands
By Thomas Vinterberg (“The Hunt,” “Submarino,” “It’s All About Love”)
With Trine Dyrholm, Ulrich Thomsen, Helene Reingaard Neumann, Marta Sofie Wallstrøm Hansen, Lars Ranthe, Fares Fares, Magnus Millang, Anne Gry Henningsen, Julie Agnete Vang
International premiere
“L’avenir” (Things to Come)
France/Germany
By Mia Hansen-Love (“Eden,” “Goodbye First Love,” “Father of My Children”)
With Isabelle Huppert, Roman Kolinka, Edith Scob, Andre Marcon
World premiere
“Quand on a 17 ans” (Being 17)
France
By Andre Techine (“Les Temoins”)
With Sandrine Kiberlain, Kacey Mottet Klein, Corentin Fila, Alexis Loret
World premiere
“Smrt u Sarajevu” (Death in Sarajevo)
France/Bosnia and Herzegovina
By Danis Tanovic (“An Episode in the Life of an Iron Picker,” “No Man’s Land”)
With Jacques Weber, Snezana Vidovic, Izudin Bajrovic, Vedrana Seksan, Muhamed Hadzovic, Faketa Salihbegovic-Avdagic, Edin Avdagic
World premiere
“Zjednoczone Stany Milosci” (United States of Love)
Poland/Sweden
By Tomasz Wasilewski (“Floating Skyscrapers”)
With Julia Kijowska, Magdalena Cielecka, Dorota Kolak, Marta Nieradkiewicz, Łukasz Simlat, Andrzej Chyra, Tomek Tyndyk
World premiere
