It's not the most urgent subject matter (Dahmer was killed in prison in 1994), and 2002's «Dahmer,» featuring a breakout performance by Jeremy Renner, already offered
a powerful cinematic portrait.
A great mix of old and new
cinematic gold, this year's lineup includes Ildikó Enyedi's Berlinale Golden Bear - winner On Body and Soul; Mrs. Fang, Wang Bing's unflinching document of an elderly woman in her final days, which won the Golden Leopard at Locarno; the North American premiere of Katharina Wyss's
powerful debut feature Sarah Plays a Werewolf, about a woman who channels her fears into theater; Govinda Van Maele's fiction feature debut Gutland, featuring Phantom Thread's Vicky Krieps; the U.S. premiere of Slovenian director Rok Biček «s The Family, a compassionate
portrait of a young man's life over the course of 10 years; and experimental artist Bertrand Mandico's exhilarating, gender - bending Wild Boys.
Other highlights in this strand include: Miguel Gomes» mixes fantasy, documentary, docu - fiction, Brechtian pantomime and echoes of MGM musical in the epic ARABIAN NIGHTS; the World Premiere of William Fairman and Max Gogarty's CHEMSEX, an unflinching,
powerful documentary about the pleasures and perils associated with the «chemsex» scene that's far more than a sensationalist exposé; the European Premiere of CLOSET MONSTER, Stephen Dunn's remarkable debut feature about an artistic, sexually confused teen who has conversations with his pet hamster, voiced by Isabella Rossellini; THE ENDLESS RIVER a devasting new film set in small - town South Africa from Oliver Hermanus, Diep Hoang Nguyen's beautiful debut, FLAPPING IN THE MIDDLE OF NOWHERE, a wry, weird socially probing take on the teen pregnancy scenario that focuses on a girl whose escape from village life to pursue an urban education has her frozen in mid-flight; LUCIFER, Gust Van den Berghe's thrillingly
cinematic tale of Lucifer as an angel who visits a Mexican village, filmed in «Tondoscope» — a circular frame in the centre of the screen; the European premiere of KOTHANODI a compelling, unsettling fairytale from India; veteran Algerian director Merzak Allouache's gritty and delicate
portrait of a drug addicted petty thief in MADAME COURAGE; Radu Muntean's excellent ONE FLOOR BELOW, which combines taut, low - key realism with incisive psychological and ethical insights in a drama centering on a man, his wife and a neighbor; and QUEEN OF EARTH, Alex Ross Perry's devilish study of mental breakdown and dysfunctional power dynamics between female best friends, starring Elisabeth Moss.