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Berlin film festival 2023: 10 of the best movies, from Celine Song’s award-worthy Past Lives to Reality, true-life drama starring Sydney Sweeney
- Past Lives marks a stunning debut by Canadian-Korean director Celine Song; Sydney Sweeney’s star turn in the title role helps true-life drama Reality stand out
- Hollywood veterans Helen Mirren and Willem Dafoe shine in Golda and Inside respectively; Matt Johnson’s BlackBerry charts the smartphone firm’s rise and fall
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The 2022 Berlin International Film Festival was pared down because of the pandemic, but this year saw a return to business as usual.
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The festival’s packed schedule featured a diverse selection of films. There was even an appearance by Steven Spielberg, who collected an honorary Golden Bear for lifetime achievement while attending the screening of his new film, The Fabelmans.
Below is our pick of 10 of the best movies from the festival, all of which are to be released in the coming months.
1. BlackBerry
Matt Johnson’s BlackBerry was the most dynamic film in the festival’s Competition section. Think Wall Street meets Glengarry Glen Ross meets The Social Network, as Johnson unpacks the rise and fall of Research in Motion (RIM), the Canadian company behind the BlackBerry smartphone brand.
Johnson co-stars as Doug, one of the nerds who came up with the devices that, in the early 2000s, were the must-have accessories for company executives. A grey-wigged Jay Baruchel features as RIM’s CEO Mike Lazaridis, but it is Glenn Howerton who steals the show as the ambitious corporate ballbuster brought in to market BlackBerry to the telecoms networks.
Distributor Paramount Global Content Distribution snapped up the rights to the film on the back of its well-received premiere.
2. Femme
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