THE CINEMA CHANGES GEOGRAPHY

There is a whiff of intrigue about the Berlinale (Berlin Film Festival), and it always comes as a surprise. It is not that everyone gets excited about who the Golden Bear [best film award] will go to; after all, whoever receives it, it doesn't mean that things will dramatically change in the film industry of that country. Here, at the world's first major film forum and film market of the year, people from the world of the cinema will be able to seek out and pre-empt new trends. The Berlinale is where the big films of the coming season start from.

The facts, as they say, are there for all to see. Wes Anderson's "Grand Budapest Hotel" kicked off last year's Berlinale, and the Silver Bear for best director went to Richard Linklater for "Boyhood".  Today both films were in the running for an Oscar. This means that audiences the world over have seen them and are still discussing them. This year, the Golden Bear at the 65th Berlin International Film Festival went to the Iranian Azeri Jafar Panahi's film "Taxi", which means that "Taxi" will be off on a round-the-world tour.

Changing the poles of the film world

Clearly, if you want to make a film today, all you really need is a camera and a car and, as it turns out, you don't always need freedom, not in the direct sense. The award was presented to Panahi's little niece, Hana, who also played one of the parts in the film, because the director himself has been under house arrest in Iran for over a year and banned from professional activities for 20 years. He was punished by the authorities for making a documentary of a protest demonstration. During his forced detention - although here we mean only physical and not creative detention - Panahi has been making a third film, shooting it himself on a home video. In "Taxi" the action takes place inside a car, apparently travelling through the streets of Tehran. There is a hand-held camera on the instrument panel with the director behind the wheel and in the passenger seat various people who the maker of the film draws into the conversation change places and this gives the audience a colourful picture of Iranian society. One of the passengers is 11-year old Hana, who regularly travels with the driver. She is making her own, children's film. Hana was in tears when she received the award.

"Cinema is my means of self-expression and the purpose of life. Nothing can force me to stop making films. If I am chased into a corner, I turn within myself and the need to create only becomes stronger," Jafar Panahi said in a written statement for the film festival.

Many critics were of the opinion that Jafar Panahi received the Golden Bear not for his film, but for the torture he has endured. But others feel that the decision of the jury presided over by the American Darren Aronofsky to present the award to the director with the unbroken spirit was dictated not by political reasons but by the fact that his film was a good one in the true human sense.

The Silver Bear went to Chile and the director Pablo Larrain for his picture "The Club", a sharp critique of the Catholic Church for its abuses of the law. The jury awarded Best Actor and Best Actress awards to Tom Courtenay and Charlotte Rampling, the stars of the film "45 Years", a personal drama about an elderly couple. The husband receives a letter saying that the body of his first love has been found on the eve of their 45th wedding anniversary, and from then on the couple's lives face a series of trials.

Russia had reason to be proud, too. Aleksey German, junior's film "Under Electric Clouds" about war and peace, but more about the life of the heroes of several novels, received the Silver Bear for best camera work by Yevgeniy Privin and Sergey Mikhalchuk.

Generally speaking, the list of prizes of the 65th Berlin Film Festival is further testimony to the fact that the image of the world of cinema is changing. The power of the cinema is shifting from the traditional centres (France, Italy, Spain, etc) to previously less important cinema territories, especially Asia and Latin America. In Berlin this year it was the Latin American cinema that was in the forefront. It put up three films for the competition - two Chilean and one Guatemalan - and all three received prizes. 

What about our cinema?

It comes as no surprise that one of the world's most important cinema forums is held in Berlin, where the wall between East and West was first built and then pulled down. This background restricts the number of films about conflict and topical issues included in the programme. Unlike other film forums, the Berlin festival is geared towards the progressive, geopolitical cinema. The jury focuses particular attention on films from all over the world, including the former eastern bloc, being featured in the festival programme. The festival, which is held in February, traditionally combines glamour and politics. With the Oscars about to be dished out, several Hollywood stars arrive in Berlin "to be seen".

The Berlinale is unique in that it focuses, first and foremost, on the ordinary filmgoer. Some 250-300,000 tickets are sold for the ten days of the festival. During that time competitions for full-length, short-feature and documentary films are held. In the main programme and the concurrent ones - "Panorama", "Forum", "Generation" (films for children and young people) - as well as retrospective shows, a total of up to 400 pictures are shown. 

During the Berlin festival there is also a European cine-market, a film production forum and a "Young Talents Campus", in which young people from Azerbaijan who are interested in the cinema could also take part. Unfortunately, Azerbaijan was not present at any of these events, unless you count a film by one of our compatriots living in Finland, the producer Tahir Aliyev, "Woman On Hold", which took part in the 62nd International Film Festival in Berlin.

Replying to a question by R+ about what is needed for Azerbaijan to take part in this prestigious film forum, film director Ilqar Safat said that anyone may submit an application. All you have to do is fill in a form and send a DVD of the film for the selectors to view it. However, you have to bear in mind that the Berlin Film Festival is one of the most prestigious - category A - and there are not many of them. It receives a vast number of films from all over the world. So competition is very high, "but you must never lose hope". "Participation in prestigious film forums like the Berlinale is very important for a country, and especially for Azerbaijan. Either you are on the cultural map, or you aren't," Safat believes.

According to the director, the Berlin festival is traditionally noted for its social orientation, because special priority is given to films about social problems. Film makers are given an opportunity to decide for themselves what social problems most interest them. The list in all countries is roughly the same; the only differences are in specific features, length of film and ethnic colour. As for Ilqar Safat, he believes that his films are not suitable for the Berlinale format. "There is less about social matters and more about philosophy and metaphysics in my films. They are not in fashion these days. There is too much about politics and the social community in the arts today, but as an artist it is other questions that interest me," said the director, whose works have often been awarded prizes at international film festivals.

This year the Berlin International Film Festival has once again shown that it is a political platform. In 2012, for example, films were shown here about the "Arab spring", the disaster at the Japanese nuclear power station, hostages captured by the Islamists, inter-ethnic and inter-religious conflicts and the persecution of minorities. Azerbaijan also has things to say and things to show. And I think that our film directors should not stand aside from world cinema trends. After all, making one's voice known at the Berlin film festival means speaking from the highest rostrum in world cinema. It means the whole world has heard you and, basically, it's not about the Golden Bear at all!