Every year at the Berlinale, talk turns mainly around bears – of the Gold and Silver variety. This year, however, filmgoers’ attention was drawn to a different animal. Pepe, one of Pablo Escobar’s cocaine hippos, knows only two things for certain: that he is no longer among the living and that his home is a place called Africa. But his death does not prevent him from telling his story with many playful twists and turns. A mischievously meandering fable about homesickness, colonialism, unrelenting violence, and the fear of the unknown, Pepe avoids all the temptations of conventional filmmaking. An unforgettable cinematic experience and winner of a Silver Bear for best director, the film is one of the brightest stars in this year’s festival firmament.