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The French documentary On the Adamant (Sur l’Adamant) directed by Nicolas Philibert was named best film Saturday at this year’s Berlin International Film Festival.

The film takes viewers onto a Seine barge in Paris that serves as a floating day care center for adults suffering from mental disorders.

“That a documentary is awarded and celebrated, that a documentary can be considered to be cinema in its own right touches me deeply,” said a visibly moved Philibert after the prize was announced by the seven-member jury headed by American actor, screenwriter and director Kristen Stewart.

Philibert said that in the film he had tried to “reverse the image” that people have of those with mental illness and allow viewers to see “what unites us beyond our differences.”

“As we all know, the craziest people are not those we think they are,” he added.

The award for best director went to fellow French filmmaker Philippe Garrel for The Plough (Le grand chariot) about three siblings who are trying to keep alive the family puppeteering business.

Best leading performance was awarded to Spanish actor Sofía Ortero, who plays an 8-year-old child searching for identity and acceptance in 20,000 Species of Bees.

The award for best supporting performance went to Austrian actor Thea Ehre for her role in Till the End of the Night, while the best screenplay went to Music by German filmmaker Angela Schanelec.

French cinematographer Hélène Louvart received the Silver Bear for outstanding artistic contribution for her work on Disco Boy.

The 73rd Berlinale kicked off with an address by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who asked artists and filmmakers to unequivocally declare their support for his country in its effort to fend off Russia’s invasion forces.

Zelenskyy, a former comedian and actor, featured prominently in Sean Penn’s film about the war in Ukraine, Superpower, which had its world premiere in Berlin.
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Most film festivals can be counted on to provide entertainment, laced with some introspection.

The weeklong FESPACO that opened Saturday in violence-torn Burkina Faso’s capital goes beyond that to also offer hope, and a symbol of endurance: In years of political strife and Islamic extremist attacks, which killed thousands and displaced nearly 2 million in the West African country, it’s never been canceled.

“We only have FESPACO left to prevent us from thinking about what’s going on,” said Maimouna Ndiaye, a Burkinabe actress who has four submissions in this year’s competition. “This is the event that must not be canceled no matter the situation.”

Since the last edition of the biennial festival in Ouagadougou, the country’s troubles have increased. Successive governments’ failures to stop the extremist violence triggered two military coups last year, with each junta leader promising security — but delivering few results.

At least 70 soldiers were killed in two attacks earlier this month in Burkina Faso’s Sahel region. The fighting also has sowed discord among a once-peaceful population, pitting communities and ethnicities against each other.

Nevertheless, more than 15,000 people, including cinema celebrities from Nigeria, Senegal and Ivory Coast are expected in Ouagadougou for FESPACO, Africa’s biggest film festival that was launched in 1969.

Some 1,300 films were submitted for consideration and 100 have been selected to compete from 35 African countries and the diaspora, including movies from the Dominican Republic and Haiti. Nearly half of those in the fiction competition this year are directed by women.

Among them is Burkinabe director and producer Apolline Traore, whose film “Sira” — considered a front-runner in this year’s competition — is emblematic of many Burkinabes’ suffering. It tells the tale of a woman’s struggle for survival after being kidnapped by jihadis in the Sahel, as her fiance tries to find her.

Still, Traore is upbeat about her country’s prospects.

“The world has painted Burkina Faso as a red country. It’s dangerous to come to my country, as they say,” she told The Associated Press. “We’re probably a little crumbled but we’re not down.”

Government officials say they have ramped up security and will ensure the safety of festival attendees.

Many hope FESPACO will help boost domestic unity and strengthen ties with other countries, at a time when anti-French sentiment is on the rise in Burkina Faso.

Wolfram Vetter, the European Union ambassador in Burkina Faso, called the film festival “an important contribution to peace and reconciliation in Burkina Faso and beyond.”

The EU is the event’s largest funder after the Burkinabe government. It has contributed approximately 250,000 euros ($265,000).
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Sixty Ukrainian ballet dancers fled Ukraine to escape Russia’s invasion over the past year. They ended up in the Netherlands, where they continue to dance together. Mariia Ulianovska has the story, narrated by Anna Rice. Camera: Kostiantyn Golubchyk 
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Ukrainians living in South Africa are marking one year since Russia’s invasion with a dance production titled ‘We Stand for Freedom.’ The performance, supported by the Desmond and Leah Tutu Legacy Foundation, draws parallels between racial oppression under apartheid and Moscow’s war on Ukraine. Vicky Stark meets some Ukrainians who fled the war in this report from Cape Town, South Africa.
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A federal judge on Thursday handed singer R. Kelly a 20-year prison sentence for his convictions of child pornography and the enticement of minors for sex but said he will serve nearly all of the sentence simultaneously with a 30-year sentence imposed last year on racketeering charges. 

U.S. District Judge Harry Leinenweber also ordered that Kelly serve one year in prison following his New York sentence. 

The central question going into the sentencing in Kelly’s hometown of Chicago was whether Leinenweber would order that the 56-year-old serve the sentence simultaneously with or only after he completes the New York term for 2021 racketeering and sex trafficking convictions. The latter would have been tantamount to a life sentence. 

Prosecutors had acknowledged that a lengthy term served only after the New York sentence could have erased any chance of Kelly ever getting out of prison alive. It’s what they asked for, arguing his crimes against children and lack of remorse justified it. 

With Thursday’s sentence, though, Kelly will serve no more than 31 years. That means he will be eligible for release at around age 80, providing him some hope of one day leaving prison alive. 

Leinenweber said at the outset of the hearing that he did not accept the government’s contention that Kelly used fear to woo underage girls for sex. 

“The [government’s] whole theory of grooming, was sort of the opposite of fear of bodily harm,” the judge told the court. “It was the fear of lost love, lost affections [from Kelly]. … It just doesn’t seem to me that it rises to the fear of bodily harm.” 

Prosecutors say Kelly’s crimes against children and his lack of remorse justify the stiffer sentence. 

A calm Kelly spoke briefly at the start of the hearing, when the judge asked him if he had reviewed key presentencing documents for any inaccuracies. 

“Your honor, I have gone over it with my attorney,” Kelly said. “I’m just relying on my attorney for that.” 

Two of Kelly’s accusers asked the judge to punish him harshly. 

In a statement read aloud in court, a woman who testified under the pseudonym “Jane” said she had lost her early aspirations to become a singer herself and her hopes for fulfilling relationships. 

“I have lost my dreams to Robert Kelly,” the statement said. “I will never get back what I lost to Robert Kelly. … I have been permanently scarred by Robert.” 

The woman was a key witness for prosecutors during Kelly’s trial; four of his convictions are tied to her. 

“When your virginity is taken by a pedophile at 14 … your life is never your own,” Jane’s statement read. 

Another accuser, who used the pseudonym “Nia,” attended the hearing and addressed Kelly directly in court. Speaking forcefully as her voice quivered, Nia said Kelly would repeatedly pick at her supposed faults while he abused her. 

“Now you are here … because there is something wrong with you,” she said. “No longer will you be able to harm children.” 

Jurors in Chicago convicted Kelly last year on six of 13 counts: three counts of producing child porn and three of enticement of minors for sex. 

Kelly rose from poverty in Chicago to become one of the world’s biggest R&B stars. Known for his smash hit “I Believe I Can Fly” and for sex-infused songs such as “Bump n’ Grind,” he sold millions of albums even after allegations about his abuse of girls began circulating publicly in the 1990s. 

In presentencing filings, prosecutors described Kelly as “a serial sexual predator” who used his fame and wealth to reel in, sexually abuse and then discard star-struck fans. 

U.S. Assistant Attorney Jeannice Appenteng on Thursday urged the judge to set a longer sentence and keep Kelly in prison “for the rest of his life.” 

Kelly’s abuse of children was all the worse, she said, because he “memorialized” his abuse by filming victims, including Jane. She told the court Kelly “used Jane as a sex prop, a thing” for producing pornographic videos. 

In prehearing filings, Kelly’s lawyer, Jennifer Bonjean, accused prosecutors of offering an “embellished narrative” in an attempt to get the judge to join what she called the government’s “bloodthirsty campaign to make Kelly a symbol of the #MeToo movement.” 

Bonjean said Kelly has suffered enough, including financially. She said his worth once approached $1 billion, but that he “is now destitute.” 

In court Thursday, Bonjean said Kelly will be lucky to survive his 30-year New York sentence alone. To give him a consecutive 25-year sentence on top of that “is overkill, it is symbolic,” she said. “Why? Because it is R. Kelly.” 

She also argued that Kelly’s silence should not be viewed as a lack of remorse. 

She said that while she advised Kelly not to speak because he continues to appeal his convictions and could face other legal action, “He would like to, he would like to very much.” 
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