German director Tom Tykwer said Thursday that his latest movie about a Syrian immigrant aimed to encourage people to stop "isolating" themselves, as it opened Berlin's international film festival.
"The Light", screening out of competition at the Berlinale, tells the story of a middle-class Berlin family whose lives are upended when they hire a new domestic worker from Syria.
The movie marks a return to feature filmmaking after a long hiatus for Tykwer, 59, who has been focusing on the acclaimed German television series "Babylon Berlin".
In "The Light", the Engels family -- Tim, Milena and their teenage twins -- are all immersed in their separate worlds as they navigate the complexities of modern life.
But when the enigmatic Farrah, recently arrived from Syria, is placed in their home as the new housekeeper, they find themselves slowly starting to reconnect.
"Everyone is in their own aquarium with their head stuck in it," Tykwer said.
"They are stuck with their heads under water and then some energy comes from the outside and pulls them out and enables them look at each other again."
'Extra urgency'
Tykwer said the film aimed to show that better communication can help people to relate personally but also "politically".
"We have to approach each other again and stop isolating ourselves so much," he said.
The Berlinale, which ranks with Cannes and Venice among Europe's top festivals, serves as a key launchpad for films from around the world.
US writer and director Todd Haynes will head up the jury at this year's edition, with 19 pictures vying for the festival's Golden Bear top prize.
Haynes said Thursday that the world was in a "state of particular crisis" and that filmmakers had witnessed the return of US President Donald Trump "with tremendous concern, shock".
Haynes said he hoped the Berlinale, which has a reputation as the most political of the big international film festivals, would serve as a forum for digesting global events.
"This festival has always had a strength of conviction and an openness to a challenging and political discourse and bringing that into the filmmaking, and what's happening in the world right now has put an extra urgency to all of that," he told reporters.
This year's Berlinale winds up on February 23, the same day as a snap election in Germany, called after the collapse of Chancellor Olaf Scholz's governing coalition late last year.
The campaign ahead of the election has been bitterly divisive, with the far-right AfD surging in the polls.
'Resistance'
Last year, Berlinale organizers made headlines by barring five previously invited AfD politicians and telling them they were "not welcome".
Berlinale director Tricia Tuttle said cinema could be an act of "resistance... to all of the perverse ideas that many far-right parties across the whole world and across Europe are spreading".
"This is a space where we want to come together and listen to each other and communicate through cinema... I think the very fact we're all here is a resistance," she said.
Films in competition at the Berlinale include "Dreams", from Mexican director Michel Franco, about a Mexican ballet dancer, and "What Does that Nature Say to You", from South Korean arthouse favorite Hong Sang-soo.
Hollywood director Richard Linklater will present "Blue Moon", starring Ethan Hawke, 11 years after Linklater won Berlin's Silver Bear for Best Director for "Boyhood".
Romanian director Radu Jude, who won the Golden Bear in 2021, is in the running with "Kontinental '25", a dark comedy about the rise of nationalism.
And France's Lucile Hadzihalilovic will present "The Ice Tower", a fantasy drama starring Marion Cotillard.
South Korean director Bong Joon-ho will present out of competition his new film "Mickey 17" with Robert Pattinson, and British actor Tilda Swinton will receive a lifetime achievement award.
