Six outstanding and globally acclaimed directorial works from Japan, China, Turkey, Australia and the USA complete the program of the 18th edition of AROUND THE WORLD IN 14 FILMS. Tickets are available from November 14, 2023. With Kitty Green and Savanah Leaf, two important voices of the new female and political directorial cinema meet four big names of world cinema: Hayao Miyazaki, Ryūsuke Hamaguchi, Wei Shujun and Nuri Bilge Ceylan. The latest works by these six fascinating artists can be experienced as part of the 18th World Cinema Festival from December 1-9, 2023 at the Kino in der KulturBrauerei in Berlin as well as the cinemas delphi LUX and Neues Off.
With 23 films - 14 films in competition and a further nine films as specials - the festival program of AROUND THE WORLD IN 14 FILMS 2023 is complete. All films and dates will be published on the website on Friday, November 10, 2023. Advance ticket sales will start on Tuesday, November 14, 2023.
For the cinema rush: masterpieces from Japan, China, Australia, the USA and Turkey
This year, the cinematic world tour of the “14 Films” also takes us back to Australia. Director Kitty Green gave her horror film “The Royal Hotel” about two female backpackers in the Australian outback “a very exciting and feminist twist” (Patrick Wellinski). The leading roles are played by Julia Garner and Jessica Henwick. To Asia: The festival unites two of Japan's currently most fascinating cinema artists in a “Japanese Night”: Hayao Miyazaki and Ryūsuke Hamaguchi. 82-year-old Hayao Miyazaki is an anime legend, revered worldwide like only Walt Disney. The latest work by Miyazaki and his Studio Ghibli, “The Boy and the Heron”, is the “most anticipated anime film of the year” (filmstarts.de) and the prelude to “Japanese Night”. Ryūsuke Hamaguchi's masterpiece “Drive My Car” (2021) won 80 film and festival awards, including the 2023 Oscar for “Best International Film”. The festival presents the highly anticipated follow-up “Evil does not exist”, which was awarded the Grand Jury Prize in Venice. We are staying in Asia: in a “Late Night Special China”, the World Cinema Festival is showing the Cannes hit “Only the River Flows” by Wei Shujun. The detective and low-budget film set in rural China in the 1990s unexpectedly became an absolute surprise hit in China's cinemas.
Alongside Lisandro Alonso (with “Eureka”), the festival is dedicating another homage to one of the great poets of contemporary world cinema: Nuri Bilge Ceylan. AROUND THE WORLD IN 14 FILMS has already presented four of his works. The festival is now showing “On Dry Grasses - About Dry Grasses”. The Turkish director's tenth feature film (“Uzak”, “Once Upon a Time in Anatolia” or “Winter Sleep”) was awarded the prize for best actress (Merve Dizdar) at the Cannes Film Festival. And finally, the festival finale is female: Savanah Leaf's Sundance hit “Earth Mama” is the second film of the “Closing Night” - alongside Andrew Haigh's “All of Us Strangers”. In her feature film debut, produced by A24, former professional volleyball player Savanah Leaf tells the story of the “daily struggle of a mother who is not allowed to be one.” (Filmfest München)
18th World Cinema Festival // In its 18th edition from December 1-9, 2023, AROUND THE WORLD IN 14 FILMS presents highlights of current world cinema that have previously been celebrated and awarded at the leading film festivals of Cannes, Venice and Sundance. The festival cinemas are Kino in der KulturBrauerei and the delphi LUX and Neues Off cinemas. The main sponsors are Audi City Berlin, ARTE, CineStar and KWK / Karl-Wilhelm Kayser.
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