American actor and director Sean Penn will premiere a documentary on the Russian invasion of Ukraine starring President Volodymyr Zelensky at the Berlin film festival, organizers announced on Monday.
, whose invasion by Russia began on February 24, 2022.
Superpower
,
billed
as “
the chronicle of a project that reality has forced into something less controllable but more meaningful
,” will be the biggest of the Ukrainian films screened at the festival.
Sean Penn was in kyiv to make a documentary at the end of February 2022 when the Russian invasion started.
Read alsoTahar Rahim and Anne Hathaway in an American romance to open the Berlinale
The Oscar-winning actor - for
Harvey Milk
and
Mystic River
- was pictured speaking at a Ukrainian government press conference in Kyiv.
We also saw him with Volodymyr Zelensky on a video posted on the Ukrainian president's Instagram account.
The services of Volodymyr Zelensky had affirmed that the American artist showed a courage “
which is lacking in many others, particularly Western politicians
”.
Sean Penn shot the documentary for Vice Studios with American director Aaron Kaufman.
The 62-year-old has in the past caused controversy due to his involvement in politics or current affairs, including after his interview with Mexican drug kingpin Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman when he was on the run.
Solidarity with Iranians
The first major film event of the year in Europe, the Berlinale will highlight several documentaries and feature films by Ukrainian directors, as well as works by dissident Iranian filmmakers, as a sign of "
solidarity
", said Italian Carlo Chatrian, co - director of the festival.
It will also provide free exhibition space to representatives of the Ukrainian film industry during the festival's extensive European Film Market, and highlight co-production opportunities with struggling Ukrainian directors.
Opening the Festival, an American romantic comedy,
She Came to Me,
carried by one of the main actors of
Games of Thrones
, Peter Dinklage, the American Marisa Tomei, the aunt of Spider-Man in the Marvel films, as well as Frenchman Tahar Rahim and American Anne Hathaway.
It will be chaired by American actress, screenwriter and director Kristen Stewart, and should welcome Steven Spielberg as guest of honor.
Of the eighteen French co-productions in the running, five were shortlisted for the Golden Bear, including
Sur l'Adamant
by Nicolas Philibert (documentarist of
Being and Having
, who this time dives into the middle of psychiatry) and
Le Grand Charriot
by Philippe Garrel.
Disco Boy
by the Italian Giacomo Abbruzzese,
Bad Living
by the Portuguese João Canijo and
Music
by the German Angela Schanelec were also co-produced by the French.