The 75th edition of the Berlin Film Festival promises a mix of star vehicles and fresh independent movies from around the world in its competition program and beyond.
Sprinkled throughout the Berlinale’s various strands, film buffs can also find some particularly offbeat, edgy-seeming offerings.
Below is a selection of some of the more unusual-sounding films screening in Berlin and which section of the festival they screen in, covering such topics as roller-skating dictators, merfolk culture, a submissive cleaner, and sex in public.
Sirens Call, Miri Ian Gossing and Lina Sieckmann
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Courtesy of Miri Ian Gossing/Lina Sieckmann/ filmfaust /Kochmann
Dive into the merfolk culture via this mix of documentary and sci-fi road movie!
In their feature-length debut, the German writers-directors follow performance artist and siren “Una” as she goes against the mainstream. “I’m part human, I recognize that, but I’m not full,” she says about herself.
“Una leads a nomadic existence in the post-modern reality of a drying-out planet and the film glides along with her – through performance and genre elements, through fiction and documentary,” a synopsis explains. “Una’s search for herself and kindred spirits leads her to American diners, shimmering hotel rooms and on a road trip with the young Moth. Trump’s USA looms forth from the car radio.”
Paul struggles with depression and social anxiety in the Canadian master of experimental
cinema’s documentary. “He leads a solitary and routine-bound existence spent mostly at
home,” explains a synopsis. “But, as a big fan of Alice in Wonderland, he is always thinking
up new ways to make his world brighter and more ornate. Seeking safety and security, he
embarks on an unusual job: doing housework for dominant women. As the submissive
Cleaning Simp Paul, he succeeds in breaking out of his angst-ridden routine.”
