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All the buzz from Berlinale

Meenakshi Shedde braves the low temperatures for movies by the Coen brothers and Michael Moore among Lav Diaz' eight-hour Lullaby to a Sorrowful Mystery and Danis Tanovic's Death in Sarajevo

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A still from Jayaraj Nair’s Ottaal, a much-feted film about a small boy’s relationship with his grandfather (left). Actor George Clooney in a still from the Coen brothers’ Hail, Caesar!, which opened at the Berlin Film Festival
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It feels great to be back at the Berlin Film Festival (this year, February 11-21). Although I have been attending the Berlinale, as it is called, for 18 years, I still feel a frisson of excitement each time I step into Potsdamer Platz, the festival hub. Despite the low temperatures, the superb film line-up would warm the heart of any lover of world cinema.

The Berlinale's highly anticipated offerings include opening film Hail, Caesar!, toplining the eminently sexy George Clooney, Josh Brolin and Scarlett Johannson. Directed by Joel and Ethan Coen, the film is a roistering tribute to the golden age of Hollywood in the 50s. It has Clooney, playing Caesar in a movie, kidnapped in mid-shoot, and captures the drama that ensues.There's Spike Lee's Chi-Raq, a creative plea to end gun violence, as 7,356 were shot dead in Chicago between 2001-2015. The film is a rap and hip-hop update of Aristophanes' classic comedy Lysistrata, in which women launch a sex strike, refusing to sleep with their men, until they give up violence and gang wars. There's also Michael Grandage's Genius, starring Nicole Kidman, Colin Firth, Jude Law and Laura Linney, Michael Moore's Where to Invade Next and Jeff Nichols' Midnight Special starring Kirsten Dunst.

There are two strong Indian films at Berlin this year. Nagraj Manjule's Sairat (Wild, Marathi) and Jayaraj Nair's Ottaal (The Trap, Malayalam). Both are in the Generation section for children and young adults. Manjule's Sairat—which follows his powerful debut Fandry—has made a compelling love story across the caste divide. Parsha, the low caste, cricket team captain, is in love with the feisty, tractor-driving Aarchi, daughter of the upper caste local kingpin; and their story is about the price paid for love in today's India.

Jayaraj's Ottaal is an exquisite gem, a haunting, poetic adaptation of Anton Chekhov's short story Vanka. It is about the tender relationship between a small boy and his ageing grandfather, a duck farmer in Kerala, who is forced to give up the boy to a job in the fireworks industry. The film has already covered itself in glory: it has won two National Awards, Kerala State Award for Best Film, Golden Gateway of India at the Mumbai Film Festival, and it swept all the major awards at the International Film Festival of Kerala—Best Film, International Federation of Film Critics (FIPRESCI) Jury Award, Network for the Promotion of Asian Cinema (NETPAC) Award for Best Malayalam Film and the Audience Award.

In addition, there is a huge posse of Indian talent participating in the festival. Nagesh Kukunoor, director of Dhanak (Rainbow), which had won the Grand Prix of Berlin's Generation's International Jury in 2015, is on the Generation KPlus International Jury (for children) this year. There is also a wide range of 10 Indian talents in the Berlinale Talents, which offers mentoring, workshops and networking in specialized film fields. The talents include directors Pankaj Kumar, Gitanjali Rao, Sange Dorjee Thongdok and Abhay Kumar; actress Niharika Singh, cinematographer Ramanuj Dutta, editor Manas Mittal, production designer Vandana Kataria, music composer Alokananda Dasgupta and distributor Tanmayee Deo.

Moreover, two Indian filmmakers' film projects have been selected in the Berlinale Co-production Market, to raise production funds for their films. These are Arati Kadav's Echo backed by Guneet Monga's Sikhya Entertainment, and Sydney-based Partho Sen-Gupta's Slam, backed by Invisible Republic, Australia, in the Rotterdam-Berlinale Express coproduction section. In the Forum Expanded section, which explores the relation between cinema and the other arts, artist N Pushpamala presents her film Hygiene/Swachh as part of a group installation called Traversing the Phantasm.

The festival's keenly awaited Asian film offerings include Mani Haghighi's A Dragon Arrives (Iran), Yang Chao's Crosscurrent (China) and Kiyoshi Kurosawa's Creepy (Japan). And yes, there's Lav Diaz' eight-hour marathon film Lullaby to a Sorrowful Mystery (Philippines). The European films we're hoping to catch include Danis Tanovic's Death in Sarajevo and Thomas Vinterberg's The Commune.

(Meenakshi Shedde is National Award-winning critic, journalist and South Asia Consultant to the Berlin and Dubai Film Festivals. She tweets @MeenakshiShedde)

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