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"Something strange happened some weeks ago..." Strand Releasing has debuted a new US trailer for Bad Tales, aka Favolacce in Italian, a dark drama from Italy from the filmmaking brothers Damiano & Fabio D'Innocenzo. This originally premiered at last year's Berlin Film Festival, where it won the Silver Bear for Best Screenplay. The dark & strange film is about a few families living out on a limb in the suburbs of Rome. Tensions here can explode at any time; ultimately it's the children who bring about the collapse. But it’s the desperation and repressed rage of the children that will explode and cut through this grotesque facade, with devastating consequences for the entire community. “We want to investigate the communication breakdown in these families, immersed in the stagnancy of sterile routines, where perhaps only tragedies have the capacity to shake things up," said the directors. Bad Tales cast includes Elio Germano,...

The sense of foreboding is unpalatable in the D’Innocenzos brothers Bad Tales. The wait for why there is such a festering malaise in this unnamed suburb of Rome that the film is set in is intoxicating but eventually becomes quite frustrating, as the film draws near to its 98 minute close.

We are witness to unsavoury events throughout that flag why a lot of the child characters are non-vocal around the adults, but we are also left starved of further depth as to why things continue to happen the way they do. In overplaying the subtle, unspoken card, the D’Innocenzos miss delivering some crucial conclusions and leave other sub plots dangling without consequence. On the other hand, it could be argued that what is left to the imagination is more potent than anything depicted on screen, which is why reviewing Bad Tales feels like a troubling conundrum too – it is subjective in the extreme.

"The following story was inspired by a true story. The true story was inspired by a false story. The false story was not very inspired." The Match Factory has unveiled a peculiar teaser trailer for an Italian film titled Bad Tales, also known as Favolacce in Italian, which is premiering at the Berlin Film Festival later this month. The only vague descriptions of the film so far involve referencing children and the chaos they bring. This Italian drama is set in the suburbs of Rome. "Tensions here can explode at any time; ultimately it's the children who bring about the collapse." Well, that sounds intense. The film stars Elio Germano, Barbara Chichiarelli, Lino Musella, Gabriel Montesi, and Max Malatesta. I'm not too sure what to make of this yet, but I have to admit this trailer definitely grabbed my attention. I'm curious about this one. Here's the first teaser trailer...

The Berlinale lineup already includes films from Jia Zhangke, Matías Piñeiro, and more, but now the competition slate has arrived and it’s an incredibly promising selection. Headed by Carlo Chatrian, it includes many of our most-anticipated films of the year with Christian Petzold’s Undine, Hong Sang-soo’s The Woman Who Ran, Tsai Ming-Liang’s Days, Philippe Garrel’s The Salt of Tears, Abel Ferrara’s Siberia, and Caetano Gotardo & Marco Dutra’s All the Dead Ones, plus recent festival favorites: Kelly Reichardt’s First Cow and Eliza Hittman’s Never Rarely Sometimes Always.

Check out the lineup below and return for our coverage.

Competition

Berlin Alexanderplatz

Germany / Netherlands

by Burhan Qurbani

with Welket Bungué, Jella Haase, Albrecht Schuch, Joachim Król, Annabelle Mandeng, Nils Verkooijen, Richard Fouofié Djimeli

World premiere

Dau. Natasha

Germany / Ukraine / United Kingdom / Russian Federation

by Ilya Khrzhanovskiy, Jekaterina Oertel

with Natalia Berezhnaya, Olga Shkabarnya, Vladimir Azhippo,...

The Berlin International Film Festival on Wednesday morning revealed the main competition lineup and gala selections for festival’s 70th edition.

The festival, which begins February 20, will screen 18 films in competition, including movies from Sally Potter, Kelly Reichardt, and Eliza Hittman. Six are from female directors.

Among the gala presentations is Pixar’s” Onward.” The Dan Scanlon-helmed urban fantasy includes the voices of Tom Holland, Chris Pratt, Julia-Louis Dreyfus, Octavia Spencer, Mel Rodriguez, Kyle Bornheimer, Lena Waithe, and Ali Wong.

Here is the complete list:

Competition

“Berlin Alexanderplatz” (Germany/Netherlands)

Director: Burhan Qurbani

Cast: Welket Bungué, Jella Haase, Albrecht Schuch, Joachim Król, Annabelle Mandeng, Nils Verkooijen, and Richard Fouofié Djimeli

“Dau. Natasha” (Germany/Ukraine/United Kingdom/Russia)

Directors: Ilya Khrzhanovskiy and Jekaterina Oertel

Cast: Natalia Berezhnaya, Olga Shkabarnya, Vladimir Azhippo, Alexei Blinov, and Luc Bigé

“Domangchin yeoja” (“The Woman Who Ran”) (South Korea)

Director: Hong Sangsoo

Cast: Kim Minhee,...

The Berlin International Film Festival has unveiled its 2020 line-up, with 18 films playing in competition from directors such as Abel Ferrara, Sally Potter, Christian Petzold, Hong Sangsoo, Kelly Reichardt and Eliza Hittman.

Abel Ferrara’s Willem Dafoe starrer “Siberia” is a world premiere in competition, as is Sally Potter’s “The Roads Not Taken.”

Among the U.S. films at the Berlinale, Reichardt’s “First Cow” is an international premiere, and so too is Hittman’s “Never Rarely Sometimes Always.”

Pixar’s latest animation, “Onward”, also has its international premiere out of competition in the Special Galas section.

Previous Berlin Silver Bear winner Christian Petzold’s latest, “Undine”, world premieres, while Iranian director Mohammed Rasoulof, who is not allowed to travel outside his home country, world premieres his latest, “There is No Evil.”

Six out of the 18 films in competition are helmed by female directors.

The 70th edition of the festival...

The Berlin Film Festival revealed its main competition lineup and additional galas this morning at a press conference in the German capital.

The lineup includes new films by Sally Potter, Kelly Reichardt, Abel Ferrara, Christian Petzold, Hong Sangsoo and Iranian filmmaker Mohammad Rasoulof (who is unable to leave Iran due to a travel ban). Scroll down for the lineup in full.

Artistic director Carlo Chatrian confirmed that all main cast and all directors – other than Rasoulof – are due to attend the festival. Guests are set to include Hillary Clinton, who is the subject of Nanette Burstein’s docu-series Hillary; Stateless star and producer Cate Blanchett; Willem Dafoe, star of Abel Ferrara’s Siberia; and Javier Bardem, Elle Fanning and Salma Hayek, the stars of Potter’s drama The Roads Not Taken.

The 18-strong competition lineup includes six films by women directors. Last year, 17 films were selected for the competition with seven helmed by women.

Network: SundanceTV.

Episodes: Ongoing (hour).

Seasons: Ongoing.

TV show dates: May 23, 2019 — present.

Series status: Has not been cancelled.

Performers include: John Turturro, Damian Hardung, Rupert Everett, Greta Scarano, Fabrizio Bentivoglio, Michael Emerson, Richard Sammel, Stefano Fresi, Roberto Herlitzka, Nina Fotoras, Benjamin Stender, Claudio Bigagli, Corrado Invernizzi, Max Malatesta, James Cosmo, Rinat Khismatouline, David Brandon, Peter Davison, Fausto Maria Sciarappa, and Piotr Adamczyk.

TV show description:

From creator Giacomo Battiato, The Name of the Rose TV show is a medieval detective drama, based on the 1980 Umberto Eco novel of the same name, which also inspired the 1986 film, starring Sean Connery and Christian Slater.

The series, which first debuted in Italy on March...