Berlinale Bloggers 2019
On embargoes and mistaken identity
"The Kindness of Strangers" | Photo (Detail): © Per Arnesen
Berlinale blogger Gerasimos Bekas has a problem. He’s not allowed to say a word yet about the world premieres. Plus he got caught up in a case of mistaken identity – and thwarted expectations.
The first films have been screened, but I'm not allowed to say a word about them yet. The embargo rule on world premieres provides that reviews may not be published until half an hour after the start of their first public screening. So what do I do in the meantime? I head out to sleuth out the Big Question on everyone’s mind at the Berlinale.
Business or wellness?
What are the Berlinale parties like? Do they feel like you’re at Pablo Escobar’s villa – or Berlusconi’s? Do people mill about the whole time with their business cards trying to snatch up the next role or clinch the next deal?There are two kinds of people at the Berlinale. Some are dying to go to the parties but aren’t invited. The others are invited but don’t go. Which makes my investigation harder than I’d expected. Though I do learn how to spot young German directors at the parties: they wear baseball caps, scarves and oversized spectacles and use the word “amazing” in conversations way too often and way too loudly.