BERLIN: The 71st Berlin Film Festival wraps up on Friday after a pandemic-era edition unlike any before, with the awarding of its Golden Bear best picture prize and its first “gender neutral” acting gongs.
The later, shorter, all-online Berlinale which started Monday replaced the usual 11-day star-studded extravaganza normally held in February.
Critics watching the movies on their laptops said that for all the lack of red-carpet glamour, it was a vintage year for the main selection of 15 films, with few duds and a clutch of gems.
“Petite Maman”, a moving coming-of-age drama by France’s Celine Sciamma, and “Mr Bachmann and His Class”, an ambitious German school documentary,…
