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Many little girls have dreamed of becoming a princess; or at least, dreamed themselves the child of royalty, thus giving them a life of leisure, parties, worship from the adoring public, and a pretty awesome wardrobe. This is certainly true of Polina (Alina Korol), a beautiful but lonely young woman, who dreams of a live better than what she has: working at a fried-fish truck next to the shipping yards. One day, a strange customer gives her a special tea. After drinking it that night, Polina wakes up the next morning to discover that she is a Tzarevna (daughter of a Tzar) - or at least she could be, if she passes the tests. Folklore expert, photographer, and filmmaker Uldus Bakhtiozina...

[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...

In the Russian artist Uldus Bakhtiozina’s retro-futurist, feminist spoof on costume dramas, Tzarevna Scaling (Doch Rybaka), a young woman, Polina (Alina Korol), who works at a fried-fish food truck, is offered a mysterious herbal tea to assuage her insomnia. Upon drinking it, Polina wakes up the next day, only to be transported to a bizarro parallel universe. In it, an outlandishly dressed royal—a kind of pissy, mean-spirited fairy-godmother—leads Polina through a test, to prove if she has what it takes to become a tzarevna. Since Polina learns about her unique chance through an old, clunky television set, it’s possible that the entire dreamworld is a trap inside the television set, and Polina’s ordeal is nothing more than a cynical beauty contest.In Bakhtiozina’s Alice-in-Wonderland meets Cinderella quest, the final showdown gets solved quickly when Polina’s asked, rather predictably, what makes her think that she’s so special,...

Day 2 of this week’s Berlinale announcements see the selections for its Forum, Forum Expanded and Shorts programs revealed.

The Forum program contains 17 movies, primarily from filmmakers at the beginning of their careers, though with some establish directors included such as Israeli documentarian Avi Mograbi and Berlin directors Chris Wright and Stefan Kolbe. In total, 14 are world premieres.

The Forum Expanded selection consists of shorts, medium-length films and features, and will screen 17 films as well as art installations. In the Shorts program, a total of 20 titles will compete for the Berlinale prizes this year. Scroll down for the full line-ups.

Yesterday, the festival unveiled its Generation and Retrospective programs.

As previously reported, buyers will get the chance to view these movies during the virtual EFM, which runs March 1-5. Juries will also be appointed to decide on the festival’s awards during this period. Audiences will hopefully have a chance...