Charli xcx gets real at the Berlinale

But Charli xcx, who made her breakthrough as a world-famous pop star in the summer of 2024 with her sixth album “Brat”, provides the glamor and coolness factor. This sudden fame is exactly what her film, the mockumentary “The Moment”, is about, which she is presenting at the Berlinale together with her close friend, the director Aidan Zamiri.

“I went through an extreme change in my professional life,” said the 33-year-old Briton at the press conference for the film on Saturday. For years she was more of a fringe pop artist, with an exclusively gay fan base, she jokes. With “Brat” she suddenly reached a much larger audience.

It wasn’t always easy that everyone suddenly had an opinion about “Brat”. “I felt like I was losing control,” she says; about how their music and their persona are perceived. Like many artists, she was very emotional and moody and sometimes suffered while the world celebrated “Brat”.

The film was a way to process these feelings. And while the characters in the mockumentary are fictional – such as the unscrupulous label boss or the pseudo-hippiesque concert film director who wants to turn Charli xcx’s tour into a family-friendly spectacle – she has encountered similar people several times during her long time in the music business.

The fictional film version of herself also shows parallels to her real life: “Have I had a nervous breakdown in the back of a van and smoked a million cigarettes?” says Charli xcx. “Absolutely.”

The film was the definitive conclusion to their “Brat” era. And “The Moment” is just the first step into the film business. The Brit is starring in several projects coming this year, including Pete Oh’s indie drama Erupcja and Gregg Araki’s erotic thriller I Want Your Sex. She just wrote the soundtrack for Emeral Fennell’s Wuthering Heights adaptation.

The pop star said at the press conference that she likes films by visionary directors who also have something to say on a political or social level. That’s why she feels so honored to be able to show “The Moment” at the Berlinale. “This festival is particularly known for not shying away from political films,” says Charli xcx – perhaps also commenting on the ongoing debates about what role politics should play at the Berlinale.