Berlin Film Festival 2020: Tom Holland's Onward, Willem Dafoe's Siberia part of line-up; see full list

The lineup for this year’s Berlin Film Festival was unveiled by new artistic director Carlo Chatrian on Wednesday. The festival, which will run from 20 February to 1 March, has a slimmer lime-up than in previous years, notes The Associated Press.

It appears the new leadership under Chatrian and executive director Mariette Rissenbeek is seeking to rein in the expansive festivals orchestrated by predecessor Dieter Kosslick, who directed the event for 18 years.

Chatrian said that while the 70th Berlinale will feature some comedies, “a good number of films in the competition decided to look at the dark side of the human being.”

“They are not without hope, but at the same time they want to really face what’s happening around us,” he said. “Sometimes talking about the inner fear. Sometimes talking about the fear that’s in the world outside us.”

Among the 18 movies competing for the Golden Bear award are The Roads Not Taken, a father-daughter drama directed by Sally Potter and featuring Javier Bardem, Elle Fanning, Salma Hayek, Laura Linney; a remake of Berlin Alexanderplatz that moves the Weimar-era setting to the present; and Abel Ferrara’s experimental Siberia featuring Willem Dafoe and Dounia Sichov.

The biggest film attached to the festival is the Disney/Pixar tentpole Onward , starring Tom Holland, Chris Pratt, Olivia Spencer, Ali Wong and, Julia Louis-Dreyfus. Around 18 films will be screened in the competition category including works by(who will be unable to attend due to a travel ban), and Eliza Hittman.

The Guardian writes that the proportion of female directors competing this year has dropped to 33 percent as compared to 41 percent in 2019. However, it is still a better figure over other European festivals like Cannes (19 percent) and Venice (9 percent).

While British actor Jeremy Irons will head the jury, Chatrian said the other judges won’t be announced for a while yet.

Here is the full list

Competition

Berlin Alexanderplatz (Germany/Netherlands)

Director: Burhan Qurbani

DAU. Natasha (Germany/Ukraine/United Kingdom/Russia)

Directors: Ilya Khrzhanovskiy and Jekaterina Oertel

The Woman Who Ran (South Korea)

Director: Hong Sangsoo

Delete History (France/Belgium)

Directors: Benoît Delépine and Gustave Kervern

The Intruder (Argentina/Mexico)

Director: Natalia Meta

Bad Tales (Italy/Switzerland)

Directors: Damiano and Fabio D’Innocenzo

First Cow (USA)

Director: Kelly Reichardt

Irradiated (France/Cambodia)

Director: Rithy Panh

The Salt Of Tears (France/Switzerland)

Director: Philippe Garrel

Never Rarely Sometimes Always (USA)

Director: Eliza Hittman

Days (Taiwan)

Director: Ming-Liang Tsai

The Roads Not Taken (UK)

Director: Sally Potter

My Little Sister (Switzerland)

Directors: Stéphanie Chuat and Véronique Reymond

There Is No Evil (Germany/Czech Republic/Iran)

Director: Mohammad Rasoulof

Siberia (Italy/Germany/Mexico)

Director: Abel Ferrara

All the Dead Ones (Brazil/France)

Directors: Caetano Gotardo and Marco Dutra

Undine (Germany/France)

Director: Christian Petzold

Hidden Away (Italy)

Director: Giorgio Diritti

Berlinale Special Gala

Onward (USA)

Director: Dan Scanlon

Curveball (Germany)

Director: Johannes Naber

DAU. Degeneration (Germany/Ukraine/UK/Russia)

Director: Ilya Khrzhanovskiy, Ilya Permyakov (series)

Speer Goes to Hollywood (Israel)

Director: Vanessa Lapa (documentary)

(With inputs from The Associated Press)