Make Some Noise: Spotlighting New Voices in Cinema
- Time
- Feb 19th 2025
- Location
- HAU1
- Guests
- Meryam Joobeur, María Zamora, Aïssa Maïga moderated by Aida Baghernejad
Freshly created as the festival’s new platform for emerging filmmakers, the competitive section Perspectives will unveil fourteen debut features from all corners of the world. Its first jury, made up of two Berlinale Talents alumnae, producer María Zamora and director Meryam Joobeur, as well as actress and director Aïssa Maïga, sit together to celebrate some of the most daring young voices working in film today, and the significance that listening to the new and the bold has played in shaping their own journeys through cinema.
Meryam Joobeur
Meryam Joobeur is an Academy Award-nominated writer, director, and producer working in both feature and documentary film. Her films have been screened worldwide including Sundance, TIFF and Clermont Ferrand, with Brotherhood (2018) winning 78 international awards. Her feature film debut, Who Do I Belong To (2024), premiered in Berlinale Competition and won major awards in Hong Kong and Taipei. Her work explores identity, love, and transformation, shaped by her multicultural roots.
© Simone Sapia
María Zamora
María Zamora has produced over 20 feature films, including "Mapa" (2012) by León Siminiani, "Libertad" (Cannes, 2021) by Clara Roquet, and Carla Simón's "Summer 1993" (Berlinale Generation 2017). With her company Elastica Films (founded in 2021), she produced the Golden Bear winner "Alcarràs" (2022), also nominated for the European Film Award. Her recent productions include "Matria" (Berlinale Panorama 2023), "Creatura" (Cannes Directors’ Fortnight 2023), "The Rye Horn" (San Sebastián winner 2023), and "Mothers Don’t" (Locarno 2024). She is currently in the post-production of Simón's new film "Romería".
Aïssa Maïga
Aïssa Maïga has worked as an actress with renowned directors like Michael Haneke ("Hidden", 2005), Cédric Klapisch ("Russian Dolls", 2005), and Michel Gondry ("Mood Indigo", 2013). Born in Dakar and based in Paris, she starred in Alain Gomis’ "Tey" (2012), which screened in Berlinale Competition, and earned a César nomination for "Bamako" (2006). She appeared in "The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind" (2019), which also screened at the Berlinale. As a director, her documentary "Above Water" premiered in Cannes (2021). She stars in "Marie & Jolie", Erige Sehiri’s follow-up to "Under the Fig Trees".
Aida Baghernejad
Aida Baghernejad is an award winning culture critic based in Berlin. Her work has been published in various national and international media outlets such as DLF Kultur or The Guardian, and focuses on popular culture and its intersections with the political. Last summer, she spent five months in the US as a Thomas Mann Fellow to investigate the intersections between pop culture and the political sphere. She usually lives in Berlin, sometimes in London, but mostly on the internet.
© Katharina Poblotzki