Important Information about Day 3 of the Berlin Film Festival

Day 3 at the Berlin Film Festival was chilly and very pretty in pink.

Timothée Chalamet fired up the Berlinale on Friday by donning a cotton candy-colored hoodie and matching tank top. The “A Complete Unknown” star thoroughly charmed festival attendees. Variety‘s Ramin Setoodeth writes about the Chalamet effect and what it means as film awards season heads into the final stretch. Where Chalamet goes, “the entire scene is electric, and it caps off one of the most gonzo best actor campaigns in Oscar history,” Setoodeh observes.

Variety‘s Nick Vivarelli writes about the poignant moment that the festival represents for Israeli director Tom Shoval. His documentary “A Letter to David” is his way of processing the fact that his friend David Cunio –- who starred in his first feature “Youth” –- is one of the more than 250 hostages who were kidnapped by Hamas on Oct. 7, 2023. As for why the film doesn’t include footage of graphic violence, Shoval says, “I wanted to go beyond it and try to show the people that were dealing with that and what happened to them as human beings. And try to convey this emotional moment in their life.”

Variety will be on the ground in Berlin through the duration of the festival, which began Feb. 13. Follow our coverage and film reviews via Variety.com — all of our news coverage can be found here and reviews found here — and through our five show daily print editions published at the festival from Feb. 13-17. Each festival daily issue is available online for Variety subscribers. And please click here to subscribe to Variety‘s free Markets and Festivals newsletter.

Here are highlights from Day 3 at the Berlinale:

Timothée Chalamet explains how playing Bob Dylan influenced his personal views on politics and activism.

Rebecca Lenkiewicz explains why she moved from writing to directing with her latest feature film “Hot Milk.”

Isaac Hernández has fancy feet and a sense of obligation about the ballet dancer character he plays opposite Jessica Chastain in “Dreams.”

After a lull, the Czech Republic is seeing film and TV production activity rebound.

Catalan filmmakers strut their stuff at the Berlinale with documentaries and features.

Why genre fare and rom-coms are hot at the Hungarian box office.

Dominican filmmaker Nayibe Tavares-Abel tells a personal story in the documentary “Colossal” that also reflects the nation’s electoral unrest.

Review: “After Dreaming”

Review: “Hot Milk”

Review: “Living the Land”

Review: “Little Trouble Girls”

More coverage can be found here: Variety at Berlin Film Festival

(Pictured top: Timothée Chalamet)