“Sweet Thing” Photo
Professor Alexandre Rockwell, third year student Rachel Gordon and alum Chuko Esiri have all been selected for the 2020 Berlin Film Festival.
Both Gordon and Rockwell's films will have their world premieres in Generations Kplus, a program that screens “state-of-the art international cinema...films that, in their narratives and cinematic languages, take young people seriously.”
Gordon’s Broken Bird follows a girl named Birdie; Birdie, growing up as the daughter of a Black American and a white woman, is Jewish, has unruly hair and must deal with the different identity offers that surround her. Highlighting the challenges of lived intersectionality, empowering and original.
Professor Rockwell’s Sweet Thing features a dysfunctional family portrayed in all shades of black-and-white: For the siblings Billie and Nico, living together with their father means enduring an emotional roller coaster ride instead of enjoying a peaceful coexistence. The adults are constantly getting out of control and overstepping their bounds. In an act of liberation, the children set off on their own adventure.
Esiri's Eyimofe, a Nigerian movie meaning "this is my desire," will have its world premiere in the Forum section, the films in which "are characterized by how they look for ways to meditate between past and present." Eyimofe addresses migrants’ endless pursuit for greener pastures in Europe and the reality they often meet at the end. It tells the story of two people’s quest for what they believe will be a better life in Europe. Read more about the film here.
The festival will run from Feb 20th through March 1st.
Read more here.