Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Thursday asked artists and filmmakers to unequivocally declare their support for his country during a live video address at the opening of the 73rd Berlin International Film Festival.
Referring to the Berlin Wall which divided the German capital from 1961 to 1989 into the capitalist west and communist east, Zelenskyy said that now Russia, which attacked Ukraine almost one year ago, is building a new — figurative — wall in his country.
"This is a wall between freedom and slavery," Zelenskyy said adding that the art world cannot remain indifferent because amid silence the "voice of evil only becomes louder and more convincing."
Zelenskyy, a former comedian and actor, features prominently in Sean Penn's film about the war in Ukraine, "Superpower," which will have its world premiere at the Berlinale.
Before the opening ceremony, U.S. actress Anne Hathaway lauded the Ukrainian president as a "hero of our time" and thanked the festival for inviting him via video link, German news agency dpa reported.
Germany's minister of culture also stressed the importance of culture in times of war and crisis. "Whoever makes films and whoever shows films in dark times resists bondage," Claudia Roth said.
This year's film festival, which runs until Feb. 26, will see 18 films compete for the Golden and the Silver Bear awards. The winners will be chosen by a jury headed by American actor, screenwriter and director Kristen Stewart.
The festival was set to open with the premiere of Rebecca Miller's "She Came to Me," starring Hathaway, Marisa Tomei and Peter Dinklage.
Nintendo reports lower profits as demand drops for its aging Switch console
Nintendo, the Japanese video game maker behind the Super Mario franchise, said Tuesday that its profit fell 60% in the first half of the fiscal year, as demand waned for its Switch console, now in its eighth year since going on sale.
Kyoto-based Nintendo Co. reported a 108.7 billion yen ($715 million) profit for the April-September period, as sales slipped 34% from the previous year to 523 billion yen ($3.4 billion).
More than 74% of its sales revenue came from overseas, according to Nintendo, which didn't break down quarterly numbers.
Global Switch sales during the period dropped to 4.7 million machines from 6.8 million units the previous year.
But Nintendo said in a statement that Switch sales were still growing and vowed to stick to its goal of selling a Switch console to each and every individual, not just one Switch per every household.
Nintendo stuck to its earlier projection for a 300 billion yen ($2 billion) profit for the full fiscal year through March 2025, down nearly 29% from the previous fiscal year.
Annual sales were forecast to drop 23% to1.28 trillion yen ($8.4 billion).
It also lowered its Switch sales projection for the fiscal year to 12.5 million units from an earlier forecast to sell 13.5 million.
Nintendo and other game and toy makers rake in their biggest profits during the Christmas shopping season, as well as New Year's, a holiday celebrated with fanfare in Japan, when children receive cash gifts from grandparents and other relatives.
Nintendo has not yet announced details on a successor to the Switch.
Among its million-seller game software titles for the fiscal half were "Paper Mario RPG," which sold 1.95 million units since going on sale in May, and "Luigi Mansion 2... Read More