Radu Jude returned to the Berlin Film Festival on Wednesday with “Kontinental ’25,” a film about a bailiff’s moral crisis that marks the Romanian director’s bid for a second Golden Bear after winning the top prize four years ago, Reuters reports.
“Kontinental ’25” is based on a newspaper article Jude read about a female bailiff who feels guilty after evicting a person who later commits suicide, the director told journalists at the premiere at the Berlinale Palast on Wednesday.
The bailiff’s reaction “struck me as both extremely moving and extremely questionable,” because feeling that way after the fact could be considered hypocritical, he said. The film focuses on the moral crisis felt by the bailiff, played by actress Eszter Tompa, following the incident. “I actually hate films about moral crises. I’m more interested in the material aspect of cinema, but here it’s interesting because it’s out of place,” the director said.
Jude won the festival’s top prize in 2021 with the black comedy “Bad Luck Banging or Loony Porn.” Only Taiwanese-born Oscar-winning director Ang Lee has won two Golden Bears, for “The Wedding Banquet” in 1993 and “Sense and Sensibility” in 1996, Reuters notes. “Kontinental ’25” is one of 19 films competing for the festival’s top prize this year, with other films competing include “Blue Moon” by American director Richard Linklater and “What Does that Nature Say to You” by South Korean filmmaker Hong Sangsoo.