With the Berlin Film Festival concluded, a number of films have emerged as possible awards contenders for the upcoming year.
The festival is regarded as one of the most important in the industry where many major films have launched, including Chile's "Gloria" and Romania's "Child's Pose," both of which went on to become the Oscar selections of their respective countries.
Other films such as "Prince Avalanche," which won Best Director last year, had critical success but hardly surfaced as one of the must-see films of 2013. Meanwhile, some films launched at the festival in order to create buzz, such as "Side Effects" and "Before Midnight."
Other films that have screened at the festival include "A Royal Affair," "Barbara," "Farewell My Queen," and "Caesar Must Die."
But where will the latest Berlin winners stand in the next year?
The big winner at the most recent festival was "Black Coal, Thin Ice" from Hong Kong, which won the Golden Bear and the Silver Bear for Best Actress. However, the film failed to garner a distributor in the U.S. The same happened with last year's winner, "Child's Pose." That film went off the radar and it has taken a year for the movie to be distributed in the U.S. As a result, this newly-minted Golden Bear winner has a long way to go before it makes it to the U.S.
However, the Silver Bear Grand Prix winner will have a different fate. "The Grand Budapest Hotel" entered the competition with a distributor in place and with a U.S. release date. Fox Searchlight is releasing the Wes Anderson picture, which has been creating buzz for a number of months already. While the film is being released in March and it may be too early for Oscar talk, the movie is expected to create the same amount of buzz as Anderson's last film, "Moonrise Kingdom."
The Best Director winner of the festival was Richard Linklater for his film "Boyhood." That film had previously premiered at the Sundance Film festival where it scored rave reviews; many called it the director's crowning achievement. The film also entered the festival with a distributor in place. IFC films had already acquired the movie long before Sundance and with hype out of Berlin, it could be a huge success when it reaches the U.S.
There were many other films that did not make the competition and that were shown as special screenings and galas. One of the most successful was the Jennifer Connelly starring film "Aloft." The movie was directed by the Peruvian filmmaker Claudia Llosa, scored rave reviews, and was acquired by Sony Classics. Given that distributor's clout in the industry and awards, "Aloft" will most likely be positioned for a late year release.
A couple of films that have been anticipated for months did not find homes at Berlin. The one film that is sure to find a distributor soon is "The Two Faces of January." The movie was produced by Working Title, which usually works with Focus Features. The film boasts an A-List cast that should easily fill U.S. theaters: Viggo Mortensen, Kirsten Dunst and Oscar Isaac.
David O. Russell's "American Hustle" screened at the festival to add more buzz for the Oscar-nominated film.
The one film that created even more word of mouth was "Nymphomaniac Part 1." Director Lars Von Trier went to the press conference with a Cannes t-shirt that said "Persona non grata" and the star of the movie Shia Labeof walked out of the press conference while it was still taking place. He later walked the red carpet with a brown paper bag over his head. The movie had already opened in Denmark and has started a viral campaign. With all these stunts, "Nymphomaniac" obtained even more traction, making it one of the most anticipated films of the year and one that Magnolia Entertainment is sure to benefit from.