HADNET TESFAI: 5 MUST-SEE’S AT BERLINALE 2024

BLACK TEA
Black tea is a Ivorian-chinese love story. Aya unexpectedly leaves her cheating fiancé at the altar and moves from Ivory Coast to China, where the country’s tea culture helps her to find new love. Since the relationship between Africa and China is tense, I am curious to see how this delicate story between Aya and Cai, who is also much older, is told by the director.

DISCO AFRICA: A MALAGASY STORY
Kwame is a young miner in Madagascar, who loses his friend Rivo in a work accident. Shaken by the loss, he returns to his hometown and starts a search of his own identity. I am very interested in the music of the film, which plays an important part in telling the stories of the different journeys to independence African countries had to go through.

CUCKOO
For his one, I will have to gather all my courage (only to probably back out at the end), that‘s how scary the trailer is. Hunter Schafer plays Gretchen who travels from the USA with her father and stepmother to the German Alps, when suddenly strange things start to happen at their hotel – mysterious noises , visions, conspiracies, etc.

THE STRANGER’S CASE
Shakespeare himself wrote the speech for a play that gives this film its title. Its main theme is escape – spanning centuries from over 400 years ago until now. The film tells the fates of five families on four continents and how they are connected to each other. Omar Sy is part of the cast.

LOVE LIES BLEEDING
Love Lies Bleeding is a story about the love of two woman, moving inbetween Bodybuilding, revenge and dysfunctional family dynamics. Kristen Stewart and Katy O’Brian stare as the main characters, wearing crazy vokuhilas. Ed Harris plays a violent father. In the trailer you can hear “Smalltown Boy” from Bronsky Beat, which immediately takes you back to the 80’s.