My first Berlinale event

Yesterday, I started my Berlinale program  by going to the talk show with a hilareous Tilda Swinton, an astonishingly talented Scottish actress who was elected as the jury president for this year's Berlin International Film Festival..

And I found it a very good start. It was my first time attending the Berlinale Talent Campus, a special series of events for young talented filmmakers where they can learn from their more aged and mature counterparts. The good thing is that this campus is open for everybody, so I decided to go ahead and meet some of the big cinema stars, too.

After I looked at the program, my choice was for the In the Limelight Section with Tilda Swinton. Being not a stars' fan, I knew almost nothing about this woman. There were just a couple of images of her in my mind - one of the White Witch from the Chronicles of Narnia and one of the woman with an incredibly pale skin and red hair. My knowledge about her was, in fact, limited to two facts I already shared in the headline: she is Scottish and the Berlinale jury president of this year. 

The event was organized in the theater Hebbel am Uffer, where Tilda played once in the beginning of her career. She talked about her professional experience as an actress and filmmaker, life, viewpoints on today's cinema and plans. To me, she made an impression of a considerate person who is critical and inspired of what she does at the same time. Here are some of her phrases that I found most touching in the talk show:

"It's me pretending to be a Holywood actress, but it's still me". (about her role in Michael Clayton).

"I became an actress, because I like to dress up and act". 

"I think, I never was a young lady".

"We wanted to make an alcoholic film, and not the film about alcoholics". (about Julia) 

"We went to different important people, being dressed up in the cloth we could not afford and pretending as if all the doors were open for us, when, in fact,  they were closed and absolutely unaccessible". (Talking about how she raised funds for the first movie she directed). 

Looking at the clips made up of different movies where she played, I was truly amazed by her ability to change and perform so diverse roles and characters. From an attorney to a witch, a desperate alcoholic to a British Countess, a scientist to an angel. She is one of those rare actresses who ingnores professional education in performance and believes that , in order to make it right, a true actor should act as a character and not play it. Well, without doubt, she has reached a high degree of perfection in it. 

Photos from the event:

...............................

...............................