The closing remarks of lawyer Richard Malka in the trial of the Charlie Hebdo and Hyper Cacher attacks were recently published in France. Malka, who is being compared to Emile Zola, explains why it is necessary to criticize religion
After an online-only edition in 2021, this year’s Berlin International Film Festival kicked off on February 10 and, for the first time since 1992, I chose not to attend. The first weeks of the year had seen Omicron case numbers surging wildly across Europe; exactly a month before the event began, Germany hit a daily record of 80,000 new cases. To insist on staging it as an in-person event seemed to me both reckless and tone-deaf – and to then refuse any provisions for online screenings, on top of that, just felt arrogant.
After an online-only edition in 2021, this year’s Berlin International Film Festival kicked off on February 10 and, for the first time since 1992, I chose not to attend. The first weeks of the year had seen Omicron case numbers surging wildly across Europe; exactly a month before the event began, Germany hit a daily record of 80,000 new cases. To insist on staging it as an in-person event seemed to me both reckless and tone-deaf – and to then refuse any provisions for online screenings, on top of that, just felt arrogant.
AFTER SUNDANCE CALLED OFF its physical edition just two weeks before opening, it was a comfort and a joy that the Berlinale had the good fortune to take place on a streamlined schedule. When the festival’s Golden Bear went to Carla Simón’s Alcarràs a handsome, serviceable portrayal of a Catalonian farm’s fade-out I couldn’t help but sense a “just happy to be here” feeling in the air. The Competition jury’s lineup which put M. Night Shyamalan and Ryusuke Hamaguchi in the same room was arguably more exciting than the stubbornly even-keeled Alcarras. But good films at the 2022 edition were where