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Berlin Film festival
Europe dominates the programme – and the awards
INTRIGUING: A Cop Movie

THIS YEAR’S Berlin film festival, with a competition line-up including just three films made outside Europe and a jury consisting entirely of white people, all previous winners of the Golden Bear, offered no representation from Latin America or Africa. It was a markedly Eurocentric, if not incestuous, affair.

The Golden Bear prize went to Bad Luck Banging or Loony Porn by Romanian director Radu Jude, a clumsy and chaotic social satire shot during the pandemic with actors wearing anti-viral masks.

In it, a schoolteacher finds her career and reputation on the line after a personal sex tape is leaked online and while this take on her plight might resonate nationally, it lacks universal appeal.

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