Day 1 – Saturday, Feb. 13

BERLIN — I travel from Slovakia — nine hours by train, gorgeous — and check into my hostel which I’m sharing with Berlinale Talent Campus women from Peru, Turkey, Serbia and Canada. I successfully Skype my family and head to Telefilm Canada’s party at the Canadian Embassy. It’s packed! I circle the periphery and approach a man who’s standing alone.

He’s a distributor from Taiwan. He tells me, ‘Almodóvar sells, Jim Jarmusch does not.’

I ask what keeps him in his seat at screenings. ‘High-quality images and sounds, dialogue is unimportant,’ he answers. If a movie does not impress him within five to 20 minutes, he leaves. Everybody wants love at first sight.

After some speeches, all the Canadian filmmakers are introduced. Then, a fishbowl full of business cards hits the stage for a draw. The prize: a diamond ring bearing a maple leaf nestled in a gold band. A card is drawn and a name is read out, but the woman does not appear. Photographers wait. People scramble to faraway rooms shouting her name but she’s nowhere to be found. Finally, another name is drawn and some guy accepts the ring.

Beside me, director Philippe Falardeau (It’s Not Me, I Swear!) holds the first unsuccessful card and says, ‘I’m going to call this woman tomorrow — this is the beginning of a film.’

Day 2 — Sunday, Feb 14

I pour a pack of Emergen-C in my stainless steel TIFF water bottle and I head to the European Film Market. After three years of coming to Berlin, I am starting to navigate the films, press world, talent campus and markets. I attend a panel, ‘Where will independent distributors fit in the future of film financing?’

The Lionsgate U.K. panelist says, ‘We need to make the highest-quality movies that people want to buy and people want to watch, not just the movies people want to make.’

Waiting for a meeting at the Ritz Carlton, I see Catherine Keener. She’s in the new Nicole Holofcener film, Please Give. I watch her petite frame move towards the elevators, wild hair, big glasses, jeans, small coat, big scarf. Who do we have in Canada that’s like Catherine Keener? I want her for my next movie.

Day 3 – Monday, Feb. 15

In addition to the competition films, Panorama, special screenings, shorts and retrospectives there’s my favorite program: Generation. Co-director Florian Weghorn invites me to a distillery-like location for the reception. Pea soup and bratwurst are served with hearty bread.

I speak with the youngest jury member (aged 11½) about his favorite filmmaker (Hitchcock) and future ambitions to write and direct. Next, I meet with a sales agent and test my Modra poster for international feedback. I plan to see a film, but it’s sold-out so I attend the coproduction party, in an old post office built around 1850.

The first person I see is Stellan Skarsgård. I worked with Stellan a few years back but I don’t say hello. I think he’s heading to the washroom and I don’t want to interrupt. Instead, I enter a spectacular domed room, and a maze of adjacent rooms filled with karaoke, dancing, video games, foosball and quiet lounges. At 3 a.m., I say goodbye to new and old friends and on my way out, there’s Stellan Skarsgård again!

This time I blurt out, ‘I worked with you in Canada…’ He smiles and kindly says, ‘Hello. Yes. Harlan County.’ I remind him that during the shoot I gave him two DVDs of films I produced, which he actually watched and left a message on my home phone with feedback. Stellan laughs and introduces me to his wife. She’s beautiful and smiles warmly. He puts out his hand, ‘I’m Stellan.’ I know! He gives me a hug and kisses both cheeks saying, ‘Keep making movies. Keep doing what you love. I will see you again… maybe at another festival’. Yes! For sure. And we head into the crisp Berlin night.

Ingrid Veninger’s first feature Only is screening as part of the Canadian Front Series at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, March 17-22. Her second feature Modra has just been completed (www.modrathemovie.com)

Earlier this month, she reported for Playback Daily from Rotterdam.