Serena Seghedoni – ALLIANCE OF WOMEN FILM JOURNALISTS

Berlin Film Festival 2023: Female Filmmaker Wrap – Serena Seghedoni reports

February 22, 2023February 22, 2023 Serena Seghedoni Berlin International Film Festival, berlinale 2023, female directors, Korean films, past lives

The Berlinale has been publishing a gender evaluation since 2004, and though the festival hasn’t reached gender parity yet, their inclusivity has significantly improved since 2019. If from 2002 to 2018 their percentage of female-directed films in competition amounted to 5-22%, in 2019 they almost reached gender parity with 41%, and the percentage has exceeded 30% every year since then. Their internal organization also reflects their desire to be inclusive, as they have achieved gender parity in almost all of their committees, juries, and even festival directors.

Festivals Reviews

PAST LIVES (Berlinale 2023) – Review by Serena Seghedoni

February 22, 2023February 23, 2023 Serena Seghedoni Berlin International Film Festival, berlinale 2023, celine song, Greta Lee, john magaro, Korean films, past lives, Seung Ah Moon

A favorite amongst audiences and critics and a strong contender for the Golden Bear is without a doubt Celine Song’s Past Lives, screened in competition after its World Premiere at Sundance and about to be distributed theatrically in the summer by A24. We first meet the film’s protagonist, her name is Na Young (Seung Ah Moon), she’s 12 years old and she lives in South Korea. But her family soon has to emigrate from the country, which means that Nora has to leave her childhood sweetheart/best friend Hae Sung behind and take on not only a new name, but also a new identity.

Reviews

CLOSE – Review by Serena Seghedoni

October 10, 2022December 30, 2022 Serena Seghedoni Belgian, Close, Eden Dambrine, Émilie Dequenne, Frank van den Eeden, Gustav De Waele, International Oscar, Lukas Dhont

In Lukas Dhont’s tender and tragic coming of age story, it’s best if you go into the movie knowing very little about it, letting each new development sink in until the film reaches its resolution, and you’re left with an experience that spoke to your very core. Suffice it to say that when the two central characters — best friend teenage boys — stop talking to each other, Close> immediately evolves into a completely different kind of movie

Reviews

TAR – Review by Serena Seghedoni

September 2, 2022December 30, 2022 Serena Seghedoni cate blanchett, nina hoss, Noémie Merlant, TÁR, Todd Field

In TÁR, writer, director and producer Todd Field (In The Bedroom) provides us with the character study of a brilliant, pretentious, cruel genius who gets no redemption by the time the credits roll. Is the filmmaker making a point about the nature of art, talent and creativity? Is he showing us a successful woman who just so happens to be a horrible person and asking us if we’d judge her as harshly if she were a man? Or is he turning the tables on us, showing us that a sexual predator – which is arguably who Lydia Tár eventually turns out to be – doesn’t always look like what we’d expect them to be?