Image: poster for Pokot (Spoor) from Agnieszka Holland
The Berlin winners are a great list to spark our interest in the films which flow across the Australian festivals, or out to Palace and the small indy distributors.
They also tend to come from the European tradition of indy films, which are often low budget, with fabulously nuanced performances. The high naturalism can swing effortlessly into fantasy and is often based on a hand-crafted aesthetic which honours cinema while seeming artless. They also go far beyond a middle class view of the world, which is a provocation for Australian filmmakers.
