this is bbc news. we'll have headlines for you at the top of the hour, straight after this programme. hello from berlin, i'm tom brook and welcome to talking movies.

in today's programme, highlights of the berlin film festival which, despite numerous challenges posed by covid—19... you've got to stand behind the red line. that's far away! ..forged ahead as a full in—person event. among the stars who made it to the german capital, britain's emma thompson, a new film portraying an older woman's sexual awakening. we sat down to talk to her. lovely to meet you. also the festival movies that were creating a buzz including the catalan language drama that won the top prize. it's so shiny! and bollywood came to berlin with a compelling tale of a mumbai brothel madame fighting for the rights of prostitutes. also an experimental film showed inside a berlin planetarium and how the city's decommissioned airport became home to a very popular pop—up cinema. all that and more in this

special berlin film festival edition of talking movies. this year, the berlin film festival was a film institution with a mission, leading us out of the darkness, determined that the festival should take place despite calls from some critics who said it was a foolhardy undertaking in the midst of an omicron wave. one of the biggest american names at berlin this year was film—maker m night shyamalan, president of the jury, who was a steadfast supporter of the festival organisers and their desire to forge ahead with an in—person event. when i was talking to them about it they were expressing the importance of culture and the importance of art and what it means for us, that it gives us hope and inspires us to go forward in a responsible way, i think is a great way to go. berlin is one of europe's top film festivals and despite this year's constraints, its reduced line—up was populated by the kinds of films that have, over the decades, defined this festival.

berlin certainly has a programme which is quite political and which touches a lot of issues which nowadays society are thinking about and i think that that is a bit different from the other festivals. plenty to screen in berlin but there weren't many films provoking an ecstatic response. however almost everyone agreed that the movie that won top prize, alcarras, was justly awarded. the golden bear went to spanish director carla simon's drama alcarras, centred on a family of catalan peach farmers engaged in their last harvest before their farm is taken over by developers. it's a political story. there's more families of farmers that cultivate the land every day.

the director believes her triumph in berlin now means herfilm will gain an international profile. this is really amazing because it is a smaller story about farmers and my family are farmers in a small village and it's so local. all in all it was a good year for women in berlin. two of the three best film prizes went to movies directed by women while both gender neutral acting awards went to women. thank you so much. i'm so overwhelmed and honoured. as did the prize for best director. berlin was a festival that seemed to please. despite the challenges, it came through as a vibrant forum for international cinema. i mean look at this, this is crazy. it's such an international festival with all people unite with their passion for movies and for cinema, i think there is nothing

better than that. if you have so many different cultural backgrounds but all the same heartbeat, so i think it is a wonderful thing. i would like to live here. as a journalist covering berlin this year, i can say all credit to the festival for staging the event. i certainly savoured some inspiring cinema but i do now look forward to a full throttle berlin film festival next year. one of the big delights for me being here at the berlin film festival this year was to see the film good luck to you, leo grande. why? because it starred emma thompson who gave an outstanding performance that really showed off her immense skills as an actress and her bravery. she was the very best thing about this picture which deals with many, quite compelling issues as emma jones reports. she lit up the winter berlinale in a blaze of colour and emma thompson's new film good luck to you, leo grande is also predicted to dazzle

audiences with critics delighting in her performance. the movie has been kept carefully under wraps and this is the only image available, showing nancy, a woman of thomson's age who, having never experienced sexual pleasure hires a male sex worker, leo grande, played by irish actor daryl mccormack. nearly all the film is shot in one room. created by british writer katie brand and directed by sophie hyde, this film is something new. these are characters we don't see much of. we have never seen this story, we have never seen these characters. it's not much of, we've never seen them. can you not be honest to yourself for once i in your life and say - to yourself what helen has done, i have done. the actress is already a double oscar winner, for acting in howard's end and for writing, for sense and sensibility.

they were classic period dramas. the character of nancy is a different kind of gift to thompson. she is in such conflict because she is rebelling, late, and everything around her goes, this is wrong, don't do this, this is wrong, don't do this, so she's being fantastically courageous, actually. those who have seen it have reported heavily on thompson stripping naked at the end of the film. the focus on that seems to tie in with society's still complicated relationship with sex. it does plumb into a deep reservoir of repression that still exists, that, you know, we think because we had a so—called sexual revolution in the 60s and cosmopolitan still talks about orgasm that everybody is enjoying marvellous sex. i don't think that is the case. i think and her heart and intellectually emma really

understood this role and the importance of it and she, like all of us, are soaked in all the shame of how we feel about our bodies and she knows that it's really important to show something different to the world, to see a character even have the slightest transformation around that, that a character could look at herself at the end of the movie in a mirror, naked, without holding herself up or holding herself in or being judgemental about it. a woman's relationship with her body and what she chooses to do with it isn't something we've seen that much of in film, but this is changing and there are several films dealing with these kind of topic that this year's berlinale. calljane, directed by phyllis nagy and starring elizabeth banks and sigourney weaver appeared out of competition and is a look at the janes, an all—female collective that offered abortions in the us in the 1960s. brainwashed: sex—camera—power by american documentarian nina menkes was in the sidebar panorama section and examines the way cinema has exploited women's bodies. but how significant are these films and thompson's? you are still dealing

with a situation where everyone goes, "oh my god, it's film about women, everything's changed! ah hah hah!" there are millions of films about men, so let's just keep calm and say this is good, it's going in the right direction, but it could so easilyjust go thwacking back. in the meantime, this film may not even need good luck to propel it forward, just the the strength of its performances. the berlin film festival has long and healthy tradition of embracing indian cinema. this year, a big bollywood production came to town, with the story of a mumbai matriarch and brothel owner. it was hoped that this hindi language film would have international appeal beyond india's borders. bollywood star alia bhatt came to berlin and made quite an impact. she plays the title role in gangubai kathiawadi. inspired by a real—life story, it tells of a vivacious, larger—than—life indian mafia woman and brothel madame in mumbai's red light

district in the 1960s. we don't really get characters written like this for women very often where they are like sort of front foot, owning the screen. there is power, there's strength, there's vulnerability, there's romance, there's drama. there is a lot ofjuice, just for the one character. at the start of the film, gangubai is betrayed by her lover and pushed into prostitution, but she rises up within that world, eventually becoming an activist fighting for the rights of prostitutes and calling for prostitution to be legalised.

the audience is now willing to see new stories, they want to see new treatments and through the covid phase they have seen a lot of world cinema and now the whole approach is changed, they are willing to see some more subtle, more delicate, something which they have not seen before. gangubai kathiawadi seemed to please berlin audiences. it has a handsome, visually distinct style in keeping with the director's previous work and it is populated by some great characters. created for the indian market in south asian diaspora, those who made it would like to reach audiences everywhere, and that is tough for bollywood films, but its star thinks that the picture has a shot because of its director's pedigree. because he has the certain colour and texture and pallet to his cinema, it is a visual delight. at the same time into the dreamily high in emotion and drama and culture and all of that. but i think at the heart of it,

it's a survival story. i believe and ifeel like that always cuts across all diasporas. there may have been a shortage of big—name stars to light up the red carpet here at the berlin film festival this year, but there were plenty of good films to see — political movies, documentaries, horror pictures, stories of romantic entanglements. my colleague emma jones has been taking a look at some of the offerings. both i and my friend, film critic kaleem aftab, attend the berlinale every year. he helped me pick out some of the better and most provoking films of the festival. one of the films, i guess, that caused quite a bit of stir is italian maestro dario argento, who has come back with another film, dark glasses. now, he's in his 80s now, still making movies.

what did you make of it? well, we all love dario argento because he made suspiria and really, he's the father of modern italian horror. and what's good about this film is it's a throwback to them. what's bad about this film is it's a throwback to them. it's kind of misogynistic. it's about a call girl who is the subject of a serial killer and it goes in a direction that we've seen before. berlin has always had a bit of a penchant for the political. it's the place, definitely, if you've made a political movie, you'd like to come to berlin and show it, and one this year, i suppose, is german director andreas dresen�*s film rabiye kurnaz vs george w bush. yeah, it's right what you say about berlin because two years ago, we had the mauritanian. i'm notjust defending him, and defending the rule of law. and both this film and the mauritanian are about a guantanamo bay

inmate who was wrongly put into jail. but this one is really interesting because it is done as a comedy and this will create those kind of arguments that we had over life is beautiful — are some subjects too touchy to be comedy? what is good about this is there's a very brilliant central performance by a german comedienne and she carries the picture. she's very fun, she's very lovable. both sing. there is another film in competition which i actually really enjoyed, and it's called aeiou. it's a love story between an older woman and a younger man. i quite liked the film as well. it's one that has a very open—ended story because it's about a woman who we first see and she's watching a line—up and we're quite sure why, and there's five people carrying the vowels of the alphabet and they're in the wrong order, and the film kind of happens in the wrong order, it plays with time as well.

ich schau es mir an! ich habe es fur augen. there has been a few in berlin which is older women with younger men and this, we get to really see the attraction and the performance by sophie rois carries the film. poom! kaleem, it's great to be back at a film festival with you. thank you so much. the berlin film festival has long been committed to celebrating the works of experimental film—makers and this year, it was a first — an adventurous experimental work became the first festival film to be shown ina planetarium. early on a berlin sunday morning, the zeiss—gross planetarium. inside, performance artist and experimentalfilm—maker liz rosenfeld is doing a tech run—through. the experimental film that's being shown later that day, white sands crystal foxes, is an ambitious undertaking from this american artist who settled in berlin 11! years ago.

the film is a kind of exploration of desire, as well as nature and climate change at the same time. woman: a sphere in a sphere in a cube. i liz rosenfeld self—identifies as a radical queer, and also as an american—german jew. those factors inform the work. rosenfeld is ultimately working on a full—length feature — a queer coming—of—age story set in the aftermath of a climate catastrophe. for rosenfeld, the planetarium was exactly the right kind of venue for white sands crystal foxes. i wanted to take an apparatus, a structure, and try to think about how to subvert it and dismantle it into something else, like a different kind of social space.

black, yeah. pitch black? pitch — as dark as possible. this potential of cinema as a sensual experiencej and heightening that. was something that we, as a curatorial team, i were very interested in. when i came here and sawi the work here in the space, i was sort of really - overwhelmed by this very visceral experience - and that was something that i thought we should definitely share with our audience. - when the viewers head out from the building inside. official berlin film festival literature describes how liz rosenfeld transforms the planetarium into "a speculative future lexicon of flesh, holes, crystals and foxes" — it's certainly a lot to get your head around, but festival—goers did enjoy seeing this experimental film inside a planetarium. so, we have this all—encompassing sensual experience. to have in the planetarium was absolutely stunning and beautiful.

berliners are quite creative when it comes to new ways of watching movies. berlin film festival—goers this year could, if they so wished, savour watching a movie inside one of the city's landmark locations at a pop—up cinema at templehof airport. templehof actually went out of the business of being a functioning airport more than a decade ago. jad salfiti reports. round the clock, plane after plane... templehof�*s greatest claim to fame was the role it played in 1948 during the berlin airlift, when it saved the city — quite literally — during a soviet blockade, enabling emergency supplies to be brought in. once one of europe's three busiest airports, it closed its doors to passengers in 2008. since then, it's had a multitude of uses. it's been a refugee centre, a public park. in recent weeks, during pandemic times, a pop—up cinema has been installed in its main passenger hall. because of this covid—i9 times, it's, of course, much better

to run a cinema in a big space where you have a lot of air around and so, we thought it could be a good idea to do it, just for a few months as a pop—up cinema. the people really loved to come inside this room and look around and feel the history and everything which is inside, and then to watch a movie together, so we really got a lot of positive response and the people are really very happy and are coming very often now. screening on the night we visited the pop—up cinema was the 1982 french team comedy la boum 2. a wide range of film has been on offer. we have shown a lot of current movies, like house of gucci... blondie: oooh, oh! ..or nomadland.... i'm not homeless — i'm just house less. ..but also movies from the �*40s, �*50s, �*605, �*705, �*805.

since opening for the first time, this pop—up cinema has been doing strong business, and that's hardly surprising because the airport is iconic and it's certainly the kind of place that i, as a berliner, would love to come to. templehof also has a long connection to the movies. the 1963 german film the endless night, directed by will tremper, was shot at the airport and tells the story of an evening where all flights are cancelled because of a dense fog, leaving all passengers stranded. it does not leave the space and it's a lot of people chained in because there was bad weather conditions, so they had to stay together for this night and this is very touching and very interesting. having the pop—up cinema in such a historic location has really appealed to berliners. the idea is somewhat crazy — why is there a cinema inside of an airport?

so, we were visiting a friend and she told us about that, and we figured, "ok, sounds like a cool idea!" a project like this and a pop—up cinema itself is so important because it creates a new life in this big area and in this big space and it creates a new way of use of the former airport. one silver lining of the pandemic is the emergence of unusual and enticing venues around the world, like the templehof pop—up, where people can gather and watch films together. well, that brings this special berlin addition of talking movies to a close and with me is emma jones. emma, going into the festival, the authorities here were really determined to see that there would be an in—person festival celebration in berlin.

do you think they were right? because some people thought it was a bit of a risky endeavour. well, indeed and, you know, in order to accomplish that, we have had tojump through a lot of hoops, i guess, as press — you know, masks, testing every day — but you know what? we have gone to a cinema, we have seen the films, there've been some great people on the red carpet and it's saying in 2022, cinema is still alive, so let's get on with it. and i had a good time. anyway, on from berlin to the next edition of talking movies, and emma and myself will be previewing the oscar ceremony. so we're going to leave you with one of the oscar—nominated songs from the ceremony this year, which is down tojoy from van morrison, from the movie belfast. and i think belfast might win for best picture. oh, yes! you could be right! dunno! we'll see.

hello. a frosty but sunny start to tuesday across many parts of the country. but tuesday signifies the start of things changing for the rest of the week, replacing the sunshine with a bit more cloud. often going to be quite windy at times with all that wind, slightly milder air pushing its way in, but also some wet conditions now, mainly in the west. and that shows up on our forecast rainfall chart for the week — the blue colours here a sign that atlantic is trying to push its way in. but notice how some eastern areas could stay predominantly dry. and it's all down to high pressure holding on here —

atlantic low pressure system starting to push its way in, but being kept at bay. just be wary, though, that dividing line could fluctuate a little bit through the week. but that's the scene for today, with winds picking up as those areas of high and low pressure get closer together. it'll feel particularly chilly out there — not only a widespread frost, but that added wind chill to go with it. the compensation is lots of sunshine around first thing in the morning, and most places will be dry. but the sunshine turns hazy in the west, the cloud thickens up, skies turn greyer through the morning into the early afternoon, outbreaks of rain in northern ireland, eventually to parts of wales and the southwest, maybe just i—2 showers ahead of it, that rain arriving in western scotland by the end of the day. and it's in the west where we see the strongest of the winds, could gust around 40—50 mph and, even though it's a south—to—southeasterly wind bringing in slightly milder conditions than we've seen through the past few days. factor in the wind, probably won't feel that much different. but a dry end to the day for eastern areas but, through the evening, we see the cloud, outbreaks of rain pushing its way northwards and eastwards. not a huge amount of rain on it, though, it fizzles out — it means a milder night, then, to take us into wednesday, but more weather fronts starting

to push their way in. but they will start to drag in even milderair, up from the mid—atlantic as they work closer and closer, and so temperatures should rise a little bit further. as i said, though, frost—free on wednesday, varying amounts of clouds, some sunshine around for many at times to begin, with the exception being northern ireland, western scotland. a rather wet day to come here, some of that rain will be heavy at times, strong to gale—force winds once again. much of eastern wales good parts of england stays dry with some sunny spells, highs around 12—13 celsius. those temperatures could rise a little bit further as we go through into thursday. as you can see still, the areas of low pressure gang in the way up, but fizzling out as they run into that high—pressure system. so it does look like thursday, the driest, brightest day of the week by and large. friday, a bit more rain coming ourway.

welcome to bbc news. i'm david eades. our top stories: russian attacks on ukrainian cities show no sign of letting up, civilians are trapped. the un's humanitarian chief urges all sides to ensure their safe passage. this includes allowing safe passage for civilians to leave areas of active hostilities on areas of active hostilities on a voluntary basis in the direction they choose. hundreds lining up, hoping to escape to the west. moscow suggests they can go straight to russia or belarus. ukraine called the move "completely immoral." where they can, they escape the fighting into neighbouring countries. it's now the fastest—growing refugee crisis in europe since world war ii.