Berlinale 2024
What we loved at Berlinale Shorts this year
By Curation Hour
This year's Berlinale Shorts selection distinguishes itself with a significant departure towards abstraction, potentially reflecting contemporary concerns such as climate breakdown and urban alienation. Unlike the previous year, where a palpable shift towards surrealism was evident, this year's selection feels more experimental, not only in terms of themes but also in the incorporation of cinematic techniques that often result in works reminiscent of fashion film and video art.
Here’s a selection of short films that have stayed with us and whose directors we would recommend following and supporting.
Kawauso. Directed by Akihito Izuhara
A girl walks through the tall grass. An otter catches up with her and joins her on her walk. The two try in vain to communicate with each other. Humanity’s junk is slowly raining down from the sky and threatens to bury everything beneath it. The otter leaves the scene. A farewell song, drawn in delicate black and white. The Japanese otter has been considered extinct since 2012. Kawauso, which is Japanese for otter, is a popular character in Japanese folklore.
Oiseau de Passage. Directed by Victor Dupuis
A body is floating in the water. A strange bird is calling and memories come alive again. “Where were you when I was in despair?”, asks the friend. A film about hearing and listening, about speaking out, forgiving and saying farewell.
Al sol, lejos del centro. Directed by Luciana Merino & Pascal Viveros
Santiago in the shimmering heat of summer. High-resolution images undergo a digital zoom process which transforms spaces into surfaces and houses into textures. In between, there are the small gestures of everyday urban life. And two women who are searching for a place for their love.
Kaalkapje. Directed by Marthe Peters
“Nowadays, the hospital welcomes me as a medical miracle. It feels ungrateful to admit I’m not very keen on living to doctors who’ve done everything to save me. I’ve been cured, but not without being physically and mentally damaged during the treatment. Through the lens of my father’s camera, I look back at a period of my life of which I remember nothing. Twenty years after surviving cancer as a child, I search for traces of illness between scars and desires.”
CIRCLE. Directed by Joung Yumi
A girl draws a circle on the ground. Passers-by step into it, one by one. Soon the circle is full of people struggling to make room for each other. Once the girl returns and erases the circle, people start heading on their way.
Adieu Tortue. Directed by Selin Öksüzoğlu
Inci’s mother died during the night. The five-year-old wanders alone through the vast hilly landscape by the Black Sea. She meets a young woman in a red sweater and is fascinated by her. Zeynep, who grew up here as well, has returned after many years away. Her luggage is heavy and the journey is long. Together, they walk through the sunshine and the clouds, from one father to another, from dawn until darkness.
Shi ri fang gu. Directed by Lin Yihan
An elaborate fashion shoot is planned on the beach, but the backdrop built in advance has been swallowed by the sea overnight. The young assistant is the only one who tries to save the situation. She sends out a camera drone to search for the backdrop and the film slowly slips into the magical.
City of Poets. Directed by Sara Rajaei
Photos from a family album reveal a city that perhaps used to exist. It was built for refinery workers and university employees; its streets were named after poets. When war broke out, new neighbourhoods emerged to accommodate refugees. The streets were renamed and now bear the names of fallen soldiers. The mother’s house was on one of these streets. She was the one who planted the mulberry tree in the garden.
Pacific Vein. Directed by Ulu Braun
An endless tracking shot through a picturesque panorama of the American West. Among fake classical buildings, there is Julian Assange as a soda salesman pondering the digitalisation of our world. Around him, hippies, artists and homeless people struggle to express themselves, their messages captured by surveillance cameras. Fictional scenes merge with documentary footage. The empire is busy (with fitness and self-optimisation) and nervous (with the military and weapons) as the American Dream slides into a ghostly auto-suggestion. Where, actually, is the enemy and who has the image rights? A big glug of revitalising energy drink might help to make heavy thoughts seem light.