Over the next two weeks, the international film world will once again be keeping a spellbound eye on Berlin. A preview of the queer programme of the 67th International Film Festival.
Even die-hard film buffs can quickly lose track of what's on: Around 400 films will be presented at this year's Berlin Film Festival from 9 to 19 February, spread across eleven sections - from the official competition to special series such as Culinary Cinema.
Traditionally, the Berlinale programme is richly stocked with feature films and documentaries on queer themes, and this year's film festival is no exception. Half a dozen films tell the story of first gay loves, albeit under very different auspices and from very different life contexts.
There is Francis Lee, for example "God's Own Country" (Panorama). Ever since his father suffered a stroke, Johnny has had sole responsibility for the run-down little farm in the barren wastelands of Yorkshire. He treats the Romanian guest worker Gheorghe, who is hired to help out, with suspicion and open rejection. But little by little, the frustrated and emotionally hardened Johnny breaks the ice. We've already had a few difficult gay love stories on farms and among farmers in recent years - think of "Brokeback Mountain" or "Upstairs is Quiet".
However, "God's Own Country" develops its very own intensity with authentic images of the arduous everyday life in this barren, beguiling landscape. A taciturn but sensual and intense festival highlight.
*****
In comparison "Bing Lang Xue" (The Taste of Betel Nut; Panorama) is downright shameful, and yet this is a surprisingly relaxed bisexual love triangle - set in the surfer's paradise of the Chinese island of Hainan between dolphin shows, beach parties and karaoke mobiles.
*****
Another beach, another love story: In "Call Me by Your Name" (Call me by your name; Panorama), based on the novel of the same name by André Aciman, the teenager Oliver meets his first great love, an American Harvard graduate, on the Italian Riviera.
*****
In this coming-of-age drama told in laconic black-and-white images "Weirdos" (Generation), 15-year-old Kit kisses his first man by the light of a bonfire at a beach party on the east coast of Canada. The turbulent weekend in the summer of 1976 thus becomes a turning point in the life of the wilful but self-confident teenager.
*****
There are some really weird birds in the Australian "EMO the Musical" (both in the Generation 14plus section). The melancholy emo boy Ethan has resigned himself to his role as an outsider at high school; only the school rock band really takes him seriously because of an upcoming competition.
And while he is being hit on by the penetratingly cheerful Trinity, head of an evangelical Christian youth group, its gay member has to admit that homosexual healing therapy doesn't really help much. Although packed with serious themes about growing up and sexuality, this musical is immense fun.
*****
Also Trudie Stylers "Freak Show" is set in a high school, and the highlight is the annual competition for homecoming queen. But why should only girls have a chance, Billy wonders, and puts himself up for election. With his eccentric outfit, he infuriates bourgeois and Bible-thumpers alike. Bette Midler also plays a supporting role in the film.
*****
Also in the semi-documentary film "Casa Roshell" (Forum) by Chilean director Camila José Donoso blurs the boundaries between genders and sexual identities. At the eponymous venue in Mexico City, men are given the opportunity to live out their feminine sides.
*****
John Trengove, on the other hand, takes us into a completely different, archaic world with his almost documentary-like feature film "The Wound" (Panorama). In a remote mountainous region of South Africa, the Xhosa people celebrate an annual circumcision ritual lasting several days.
Xolandi, who lives in Johannesburg as a warehouse worker, is forced by his father to undergo this initiation so that he can become a "real man". Xolandi is not the only participant who loves men, but how he and the others deal with these feelings and the social pressure could hardly be more different.
*****
Travis Mathews' mystery thriller is disturbing "Discreet" (Panorama). The US director became known for his explicit episodic film series "In Their Room", in which he looks into gay bedrooms. In this new feature film, too, sex takes place again and again - sometimes the main character Alex arranges strange gay group sessions, then they have sex in the cramped cubicles of straight porn cinemas. But a corpse is also wrapped up and thrown into a river, and there are cryptic conversations with the addicted mother. In order to decipher the thriller-like drama of abuse that lies behind these elliptically edited scenes, viewers will have to be patient and attentive.
*****
Chris Miera also jumps in his feature film "One way" (Perspektive Deutsches Kino) back and forth between the time periods. But here, the individual episodes almost automatically merge into an almost idyllic, perfect relationship between two men in a small Thuringian town: from their first meeting at a rock concert, to becoming fathers together, to their separation after 15 years together.
*****
Three documentaries also deserve special mention. Andrea Weiss sets out in "Bones of Contention" (Panorama) follows in the footsteps of the writer Federico Garcia Lorca, who, like over 100,000 other people, was buried in an anonymous mass grave during the Spanish Civil War. Using the example of the most famous victim of the Franco regime, the director shows how difficult it is for Spain to come to terms with these crimes and at the same time outlines the most important stages in the country's LGBTI history.
*****
After "Out in East Berlin", Jochen Hick now dedicates his new film to queer life in the western part of the city. In "My wonderful West Berlin" (Panorama), the documentary filmmaker combines interviews with contemporary witnesses with archive material to create a journey through time from the student movement of the 1960s and the beginnings of the post-war gay movement to the 1980s and the new challenges posed by the AIDS crisis.
*****
And last but not least, it's off to the boat. In Tristan Ferland Milewski's "Dream Boat" (Panorama) it's called: Alone without homos. 3000 gay men cruise the Mediterranean for a week on a cruise ship. In his feature film debut, director Milewski takes a look behind the scenes of this seemingly superficial party world and talks to the men about gay desire, relationship and life models.
HIV-positive Martin, for example, reflects on the tendency of gays towards hedonism. Dipankar from India and the Palestinian Ramzi find the freedom on the ship that does not exist in the homophobic societies of their home countries, and the Pole Marek wants to be accepted and loved as a human being, and not because of his toned body.
Will "Dream Boat" possibly be honoured with the TEDDY Award for best documentary? Around three dozen Berlinale entries have a chance of being honoured with the coveted queer film prize. One winner has already been announced: this year's Special TEDDY Award for special services to queer filmmaking goes to German director, producer and author Monika Treut ("Gendernauts", "My Father is Coming"), one of the most important pioneers of New Queer Cinema.
The gala for the 31st TEDDY AWARD will take place on 17 February at the Haus der Berliner Festspiele (Schaperstraße 24). Further information about the award ceremony can be found at www.teddyaward.tv , about the film festival on the official website www.berlinale.de.
