Martial arts epic “The Grandmaster” kicked off the Berlin Film Festival on Thursday, introducing an international audience to Yip Man, the man who mentored Bruce Lee and brought kung fu to the masses.
The movie by Wong Kar-Wai is running out of competition because the director also heads this year’s jury.
Shanghai-born Wong and his fellow jurors — among them American actor-director Tim Robbins — will have to choose from 19 movies competing for prizes at the 63rd Berlinale.
These include the Steven Soderbergh thriller “Side Effects” with Jude Law and Catherine Zeta-Jones, and Gus Van Sant’s film “Promised Land” about the shale gas industry starring Matt Damon.
Juliette Binoche portrays a troubled French sculptor in “Camille Claudel 1915,” while “Gold” tells a tale of German immigrants seeking their luck in late 19th-century North America.
Competing also are romantic thriller “The Necessary Death of Charlie Countryman” with Shia LaBeouf and Evan Rachel Wood, and “Closed Curtain” by Iranian film maker Jafar Panahi, who was barred from leaving Iran to attend the festival.
The winner of one award has already been announced. French filmmaker Claude Lanzmann will be honored for his life’s work. Lanzmann’s nine-and-a-half hour documentary “Shoah” about the horrors of the genocide of European Jews was screened at the festival in 1986.
In total more than 400 films will be shown at the Feb. 7-17 event known for its focus on social and political works.
Jury president Wong said ahead of the festival that Berlin was about the “experience of a true pleasure of sharing ideas” in the cinema.
Speaking Thursday about his own work, Wong told reporters that the biggest challenge while making “The Grandmaster” was the fact that he doesn’t practice martial arts himself.
Wong said he was nevertheless drawn to the figure of Yip Man, Bruce Lee’s mentor, because of his fortitude in the face of a lifetime of hardship, beginning with his childhood in Imperial China through the revolutionary years and ending in Hong Kong under British colonial rule.
“His life basically is like the modern history of the early days of our republic,” said Wong. “During all these periods you can see how a martial artist stands up for his principles and his honor in front of all this hardship”
The international cut of “The Grandmaster” premiering in Berlin has been shortened from the version released in China last year. The film stars Tony Leung (“In the Mood for Love”) and Zhang Ziyi, best known internationally for “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.”
Trump Asks Supreme Court To Delay TikTok Ban
President-elect Donald Trump asked the Supreme Court on Friday to pause the potential TikTok ban from going into effect until his administration can pursue a "political resolution" to the issue.
The request came as TikTok and the Biden administration filed opposing briefs to the court, in which the company argued the court should strike down a law that could ban the platform by Jan. 19 while the government emphasized its position that the statute is needed to eliminate a national security risk.
"President Trump takes no position on the underlying merits of this dispute. Instead, he respectfully requests that the Court consider staying the Act's deadline for divestment of January 19, 2025, while it considers the merits of this case," said Trump's amicus brief, which supported neither party in the case and was written by D. John Sauer, Trump's choice for solicitor general.
The argument submitted to the court is the latest example of Trump inserting himself in national issues before he takes office. The Republican president-elect has already begun negotiating with other countries over his plans to impose tariffs, and he intervened earlier this month in a plan to fund the federal government, calling for a bipartisan plan to be rejected and sending Republicans back to the negotiating table.
He has been holding meetings with foreign leaders and business officials at his Mar-a-Lago club in Florida while he assembles his administration, including a meeting last week with TikTok CEO Shou Chew.
Trump has reversed his position on the popular app, having tried to ban it during his first term in office over national security concerns. He joined the TikTok during his 2024 presidential campaign and his team used it to connect with younger... Read More