Cologne-based sales agent and production firm The Match Factory has unveiled its line-up of features set to world-premiere at this year’s Berlinale (16-26 February). The seven pictures, which will be presented at the European Film Market (15-22 February), include four competition films, two Encounters entries and one Panorama title.

The much-anticipated competition title being sold by the outfit is Afire, directed by Christian Petzold (Undine [+lee también:
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entrevista: Christian Petzold
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entrevista: Christian Petzold
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The second competition film is Margarethe von Trotta’s latest outing, titled Ingeborg Bachmann: Journey Into the Desert [+lee también:
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entrevista: Margarethe von Trotta
ficha de la película] (see the news). Shot in German, French and Italian, the feature follows the charismatic Ingeborg Bachmann, who has conquered the male-dominated bastion of German-language literature with her poetry. Though still young, she is at the peak of her career when she meets the famous playwright Max Frisch. Their love is passionate, but professional and personal friction begins to disrupt the harmony. When the poet is struggling, her friends are there to help, including Hans Werner Henze and the young Adolf Opel, a Viennese journalist and man of literature. They travel to the desert together. On this journey, she finds a way back to herself and – above all – to her writing. The title role is played by Vicky Krieps (Corsage [+lee también:
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entrevista: Marie Kreutzer
entrevista: Marie Kreutzer
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The third competition title, Someday We’ll Tell Each Other Everything [+lee también:
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entrevista: Emily Atef
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The last competition title on the slate is Christoph Hochhäusler’s (The Lies of the Victors [+lee también:
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entrevista: Christoph Hochhäusler
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entrevista: Christoph Hochhäusler
ficha de la película]) Till the End of the Night [+lee también:
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entrevista: Christoph Hochhäusler
ficha de la película] (see the news). The plot is as follows: in order to gain the trust of a drug dealer, undercover cop Robert has to pretend to be Leni’s lover. The police hope her ties with the felon will help them to infiltrate the organisation. But while this part of the plan works relatively smoothly, their fake relationship is rocky from the start. Leni is trans, and Robert was once in love with her former self. Ironically, it is Victor, the drug dealer, who will force Robert to confront his conflicting feelings of love. The cast is led by Timocin Ziegler, Thea Ehre and Michael Sideris.

In the Encounters section, the two titles being sold by the company are Tatiana Huezo’s documentary The Echo [+lee también:
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ficha de la película] and Tia Kuovo’s debut, Family Time [+lee también:
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entrevista: Tia Kouvo
ficha de la película]. Huezo’s doc is described as “a story about the echo of what clings to the soul, about the certainty of shelter provided by those around us, about rebellion and vertigo in the face of life”, whilst Kouvo’s first feature promises to be “bitingly humorous” and to face “a question we can all relate to: […] are we destined to remain stuck in the same patterns, or can we ever change – and at last become a happy family?”

Finally, the Panorama feature included on The Match Factory’s slate is Sisi & I [+lee también:
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entrevista: Frauke Finsterwalder
ficha de la película], directed by Frauke Finsterwalder (Finsterworld [+lee también:
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ficha de la película]). Toplined by actors Susanne Wolff, Sandra Hüller, Georg Friedrich, Stefan Kurt and Sophie Hutter, the movie is billed as “a fresh and new look at the excentric and extravagant Princess Sisi”.