Berlinale 2025: the Italian locations featuring in the competing films
Italy is represented in competition at the 75th Berlin Film Festival (13 to 23 February 2025) with two minority co-productions: Reflet dans un diamant mort directed by Hélène Cattet and Bruno Forzani (with Fabio Testi in the cast) and Yunan, by Ameer Fakher Eldin.
Reflet dans un diamant mort - a co-production from Kozak Films (Belgium), Les Films Fauves (Luxembourg), Dandy Projects (Italy), Tobina Film (France) – received €220k from the Directorate-General for Cinema and Audiovisual through the Minority Productions Call (2022). It tells the story of John D, a seventy-year-old who lives in a luxury hotel on the French Riviera who becomes intrigued by a neighbor who reminds him of the 1960s, when he was a spy in a changing world full of promise. One day, the neighbor mysteriously disappears, leaving John to face his demons again: have his former adversaries returned to wreak havoc in his idyllic world? Locations included Liguria, with the towns of Sanremo, Genoa and Santa Margherita Ligure.
Yunan is a co-production from Red Balloon Film (Germany), Microclimat Films (Canada), Intramovies (Italy). It received €150k in funding from the Minority Productions Call (2024). It tells the story of an exiled Arab writer who travels to a remote island in Germany to commit suicide. There he meets an elderly lady who reawakens his desire for life. The principal location was Germany, with some days filming in Gravina in Puglia.
Also in competition is The Ice Tower by French director Lucile Hadžihalilovi?, a Franco-German co-production from 3B Productions and Davis Films, Sutor Kolonko, Arte France Cinéma and Bayerischer Rundfunk in collaboration with Arte. The work was supported by IDM Film Commission Südtirol in the production phase while filming in Alto Adige. Locations there included: Caldaro, Merano, Bolzano and the town of Magré sulla Strada del Vino. Albolina Film of Alto Adige provided services for the Italian shoot.
The “Berlinale Special” section features Lurker by Alex Russell, a US/Italy co-production; the “Perspectives” section, Come la notte, the latest work from Liryc Dela Cruz, Filipino director based in Italy and e Kaj Ti Je Deklica by Urska Djukic. In the “Forum” section Canone effimero, documentary by the De Serio brothers and The kiss of the grasshopper, feature film by Elmar Imanov, a Germany/Luxembourg/Italy co-production.