Berlin Film Festival: The competition favorites

Berlinale organizers kept the best for last with this German entry starring two of the country's most in-demand actors, Sandra Hüller ("Toni Erdmann") and Franz Rogowski ("Transit"). Set in the former GDR, director Thomas Stuber transforms a wholesale market into a world of unsuspected poetry as a romantic encounter unfolds amid waltzing forklifts. You'll be hearing more about this film soon.

Variety described this female-driven drama as "a finely-crafted, beautifully realized debut that exquisitely balances character study with shrewd commentary on class, desire, and the lingering privileges of Paraguay's elite." The jury of the international film critics association, FIPRESCI, gave its 2018 award to this work — the first Paraguayan film to enter the competition.

With her exploration of physical intimacy, Romanian filmmaker Adina Pintilie offers a timely contribution to current debates on sexual consent. Featuring sophisticated aesthetics, the docu-fiction work includes kink scenes, "abnormal" bodies, and intellectualizes sex in a way that's bound to disturb some viewers.

Depicting the unusual relationship between two siblings, this nearly three-hour work is another challenging piece. As one of the German entries, it is a title that has obtained additional attention in the country — but even though some critics gave Gröning full stars, many others found his philosophical musings on time a little tedious.

Wes Anderson's impeccable stop-motion animated feature is brimming with detail. With this story of dogs banned from society, the US indie filmmaker added a political note to the Japan-set adventure. But while the film obtained one of the best averages from Screen International magazine's film critics jury, the competition jury might prefer to reward a less "commercial" director.

Set in Leningrad in 1971, this Russian film depicting six days in the life of Soviet dissident author Sergei Dovlatov won equal praise from the Screen jury. Strong visuals accompany director German's portrait of a non-conformist in an authoritarian society. It's a timely topic, but will numerous references to 20th-century giants of literature like Steinbeck and Nabokov make it too niche?

This single-shot feature reenacts the Utoya massacre carried out by far-right terrorist Anders Behring Breivik in Norway in 2011 — from the perspective of a victim. While featuring stunning technical skills, the work's unsettling topic and unclear intentions has divided critics. It scored well with Screen International's jury, but one German critic also gave it a single star.

Portraying the gloomy mood under the Marcos dictatorship in the Philippines in the 1970s, the dialogues in this black-and-white movie are all sung — but without accompanying music. Filipino filmmaker Lav Diaz' previous 2016 Berlinale entry was eight hours long, making this four-hour work relatively short. But it remains a demanding watch and critics are divided.

While critics from different specialized press outlets including the Hollywood Reporter and Variety were impressed by Petzold's "daring modern-dress Holocaust drama," only two critics in Screen's jury, who also happened to be German, awarded the film three stars. The German director has set a World War II novel in an undefined present-day context, a device that's split film critics.

German filmmaker Emily Atef's work recreates a three-day interview given by cinema icon and "Sissi" star Romy Schneider to Stern magazine in 1981. As the film doesn't go beyond being an artist biopic, it's an unlikely candidate for the Golden Bear. Yet Marie Bäumer's portrayal of the charismatic and tortured woman makes her a contender to win the Silver Bear for best actress.

Gus Van Sant's latest film, starring Joaquin Phoenix, is a portrait of the irreverent, quadriplegic Portland cartoonist, John Callahan. The Amazon-financed feature premiered at Sundance, where it was positively received. Berlin most likely included the film in its competition line-up to add star power to the red carpet.

Haghighi tackles the serious issue of state censorship with humor: When a serial killer targets famous Iranian directors, a blacklisted filmmaker wonders why he is not considered important enough to be one of them. However, despite the buzz surrounding this year's Iranian entry prior to its screening, its grotesque narrative drags on towards the end, making it an unlikely winner.

It's based on a museum heist that took place in Mexico in the 1980s, but director Alonso Ruizpalacios decided not to let facts get in the way of this strong coming-of-age story dealing with the universal themes of identity, family and friendship. While other works are highly divisive, the Mexican entry is a crowdpleaser with arthouse style, and — extra bonus — stars Gael Garcia Bernal.