My initial Berlin Film Festival intel had 19 films in competition, and I’m hearing it’ll probably be around 20-21 when all is said and done. The lineup gets revealed on Wednesday.
The main title you should look out for is Richard Linklater’s “Blue Moon” which is set to screen in competition on February 18 at the Berlinale. This will be Linklater’s first time back at the festival since 2014’s “Boyhood.”
Just to recap, we’re looking at a Berlin competition that’ll include filmmakers like Linklater, Steven Soderbergh, Radu Jude, Michel Franco, Jan Dag Haugerud, Hong Sang-soo and Lucile Hadzihalilovic. Not a bad lineup for first time fest director Tricia Tuttle.
“Blue Moon” was acquired by Sony Pictures Classics, and has a cast that includes Ethan Hawke, Margaret Qualley, Andrew Scott and Bobby Cannavale. Production on the film began last summer in Ireland and wrapped up in September. Robert Kaplow, who co-wrote Linklater’s underrated “Me and Orson Welles,” has penned the screenplay.
“Blue Moon” is said to tackle the songwriting team of Rodgers & Hart. The film is set primarily in Sardi’s Restaurant on March 31, 1943, the opening night of their musical “Oklahoma!”, which marked Rodgers’s first collaboration with Oscar Hammerstein II as Hart’s replacement.
It should be noted that Linklater’s other 2025 film, “Nouvelle Vague,” was submitted for this coming May’s Cannes Film Festival. I’m also now hearing of a fourth ‘Before’ movie, with Linklater, Hawke and Julie Delpy, being brainstormed by the trio, and I wouldn’t be surprised if it materializes in the coming year or two.
Remember when, back in August, we learned “The Further Mis-Adventures of Cliff Booth” would be playing in only around 350 U.S. theaters, "maybe fewer"? Well, it's fewer. A lot fewer.