Berlin 1996

Abstract

THE CRISIS OF STORIES, THE PATHOLOGY OF LONELINESS, THE POETICS OF CHAOS THIS year saw a course change in the international film festival in Berlin. In the past, the Berlinale had cast itself mainly as an overview of artistically demanding works by significant directors, paying special attention to smaller, less traditional film industries (Central and Eastern Europe in the 1980s, Asia in the 1990s). Time was also devoted to independent film-makers and minority genres (homosexual film, for example). This year, a commercial orientation clearly predominated, and the festival's official image was formed by larger, star-studded Hollywood productions whose glitter was emphasised by personal appearances of the visiting celebrities. A crisis of themes, personalities This year's festival manifested a lack of new creative personalities and artistic impulses, such as the "independent" generation (Jarmusch and others) of recent years, or the production of the so-called "Third World," which had made...