71st Berlin International Film Festival to kick off virtually Monday

The 71st Berlin International Film Festival will kick off on Monday,March 1, virtually due to the COVID-19 outbreak.

The festival was originally scheduled to be held as a physical event from Feb. 11-21, but rising the number of new infections in Germany has forced a rethink.

The forthcoming edition of Berlinale will witness the participation of two Egyptian films: “Souad” and “As I Want.”

Directed by Ayten Amin, “Souad” will be premiered at the festival’s Panorama selections.

The film starring including Bassant Ahmed, Basmala Elghaiesh, and Hussein Ghanem.

The film sheds light on the differences between the human’s identity in real life and social media through its main character, Souad.

Souad is 19 years old girl whose identity is shattered between real life and the virtual one; so her younger sister decides to try to look for answers with ‘Souad’ about this identity crisis.

On the other hand, “As I Want” film will participate in one of the festival’s competitions entitled “Encounters.”

The upcoming edition will be the competition’s second one and it is dedicated to filmmakers who decide to discover different sides of life that were not discussed before.

According to the festival’s website, Artistic Director Carlo Chatrian said: “These films want to take us to places where we will learn something about the world, humankind and maybe about ourselves too. In a time, where trips are almost always canceled, cinema regains its function.”

It is a documentary film directed by Samaher Al Qadi, produced by Egypt, France, Norway and Palestine.