Rosebush Pruning brings Karim Aïnouz back to Berlinale

ROSEBUSH PRUNING lands in the 76th Berlinale Competition, sending Karim Aïnouz back to Berlin with a star cast and razor-sharp satire.

Karim Aïnouz’s latest feature has been selected for the Official Competition at the Berlin International Film Festival. The announcement places ROSEBUSH PRUNING among the titles vying for the event’s top honors at the 76th edition.

The selection is especially meaningful for Aïnouz. “I’m over the moon to return to the Berlin Festival, a visionary festival. The last film of mine that competed here was Futuro Beach, in 2014. It’s an honor to premiere here again,” he said, also pointing to Berlin’s appetite for bold, inventive cinema.

A star cast and an international package

The film features an ensemble cast led by Callum Turner, Riley Keough, Jamie Bell, Lukas Gage, and Elena Anaya, alongside Tracy Letts, Elle Fanning, and Pamela Anderson. The project continues Aïnouz’s international run through a collaboration involving MUBI, The Match Factory, Kavac Film, The Apartment (a Fremantle company), SurFilm, Crybaby, and Gold Rush Pictures.

Producers include Viola Fügen and Michael Weber (The Match Factory, Germany), who are also handling international sales, Simone Gattoni (Kavac Film, Italy), Annamaria Morelli (The Apartment, Italy, a Fremantle company), and Vladimir Zemtsov (Gold Rush Pictures, UK). Co-producers are Andreas Wentz and Juan Cano “Nono” (SurFilm, Spain) and Rachel Dargavel (Crybaby, UK).

A contemporary satire of privilege

ROSEBUSH PRUNING is billed as a bold contemporary satire about the contradictions of the traditional family. Set in a mansion in Catalonia, it follows a wealthy, eccentric American family trapped in absurd conflicts and cut off from the outside world.

Siblings Jack, Ed, Anna, and Robert live on inherited money, ignore the needs of their blind father, and search for love and shelter in each other while revolving around luxury and designer clothing. The family’s fragile balance shatters when Jack—the oldest and the household’s emotional axis—announces he will leave to live with his girlfriend, Martha.

From there, blood ties implode: Ed starts uncovering the truth behind their mother’s mysterious death, lies surface, and the family spirals into violence. Aïnouz frames the film’s humor, transgression, and audacity as values closely associated with Berlin and the Berlinale itself.

Screenwriter, craft team, and rights

The screenplay is by Efthimis Filippou, an Academy Award® nominee for The Lobster and a writer behind titles such as Kinds of Kindness and The Killing of a Sacred Deer. The creative team includes makeup artist Barbara Kreuzer, Academy Award®-nominated costume designer Bina Daigeler, production designer Rodrigo Martirena, and editors Heike Parplies, David Jancso, and Ilka Janka Nagy.

Following multiple collaborations with Aïnouz, cinematography is once again by Hélène Louvart (Invisible Life, Firebrand, Motel Destino). Financing came from MUBI alongside The Apartment, Gold Rush Pictures and partners, with support including the Spanish Tax Incentive, the German Federal Film Board, Film- und Medienstiftung NRW, Medienboard, and the UK Global Screen Fund (administered by the BFI).

MUBI holds rights to ROSEBUSH PRUNING in the UK, Ireland, Germany, Austria, Latin America, Benelux, Turkey, Cyprus, India, and South Asian territories.

Photo: Felix Dickenson