Charli XCX ‘honoured’ to be at ‘political’ Berlin Film Festival

BERLIN: Pop superstar Charli XCX said Saturday she was “honoured” to be at this year’s Berlin Film Festival and hailed the event’s tradition of scheduling politically aware films.

Aidan Zamiri’s mockumentary “The Moment”, starring Charli XCX playing a fictionalised version of herself dealing with the fallout of her own “brat summer” phenomenon, is being shown in the festival’s Panorama section after premiering at Sundance last month.

At a press conference, Charli XCX was asked why she felt it was important to launch the film this way, at a time when many prominent new film releases are not coming from the festival circuit.

“I think we all collectively feel so honoured to have been invited to show our film at both Sundance and here at the Berlinale,” she said, adding that “both festivals really do champion a wide variety of filmmakers with really important voices”.

She went on to emphasise that the Berlinale “in particular is known for not shying away from political films, from films that have a real social angle”.

“I’m only just starting out in this industry, but I feel passionate about working within those spaces,” she said.

The comment came after the Berlinale was swept up in controversy when jury president Wim Wenders said Thursday in response to a question about the situation in Gaza that cinema should “stay out of politics”.

Two films were withdrawn from the festival in protest, and Booker Prize-winning author Arundhati Roy cancelled her appearance, calling Wenders’s stance “unconscionable”.

‘Cathartic’

Charli XCX co-produced “The Moment”, and also has two smaller acting roles in films that screened at Sundance, Gregg Araki’s “I Want Your Sex” and “The Gallerist”, by Cathy Yan.

“The Moment” satirises the consequences of her hit 2024 album “brat”, as rapacious record company executives and a film director played by Alexander Skarsgard seek to jump on the juggernaut.

Charli XCX said the film deals with “the lifespan of art, the idea of… overstaying your welcome in a cultural space”.

“Making this film was quite cathartic in a way, because I was also able to channel a lot of my frustration that I may have felt in the real world into these sort of heightened scenarios that I was experiencing within the film,” she said.

She drew liberally on her own experiences in the music industry to portray the fictional Charli’s reactions.

“Have I had a breakdown in the back of a Viano whilst smoking a million cigarettes? Yes.”

Several celebrities make cameo appearances as ironicised versions of themselves, including Kylie Jenner.

Director Zamiri admitted that he “couldn’t believe that Kylie was down to do this”.

“There’s a lot of crossover in this film between, you know, the real world and fiction,” he said.

“Maybe the hope is that in 20 years people might look back at this and sort of not quite know what was true and what wasn’t, and sort of confuse archaeologists of the future, ideally.”