Berlin International Film Festival
The Berlin International Film Festival, usually called the Berlinale, is an annual film festival held in Berlin, Germany. Founded in 1951 and originally run in June, the festival has been held every February since 1978 and is one of Europe's "Big Three" film festivals alongside the Venice Film Festival held in Italy and the Cannes Film Festival held in France. Furthermore, it is one of the "Big Five", the most prestigious film festivals in the world. The festival regularly draws tens of thousands of visitors each year.
About 400 films are shown at multiple venues across Berlin, mostly in and around Potsdamer Platz. They are screened in nine sections across cinematic genres, with around twenty films competing for the festival's top awards in the Competition section. The major awards, called the Golden Bear and [|Silver Bears], are decided on by the international jury, chaired by an internationally recognisable cinema personality. This jury and other specialised Berlinale juries also give many other awards, and in addition there are other awards given by independent juries and organisations.
The European Film Market, a film trade fair held simultaneously to the Berlinale, is a major industry meeting for the international film circuit. The trade fair serves distributors, film buyers, producers, financiers and co-production agents. The Berlinale Talents, a week-long series of lectures and workshops, is a gathering of young filmmakers held in partnership with the festival.
History
First festival
During the peak of the Cold War in 1950, Oscar Martay, a film officer of the Information Service Branch of the American High Commissioner for Germany stationed in West Berlin, proposed the idea of a film festival in West Berlin. The proposal was put through a committee, which included members of the Senate of West Berlin and people from the West German film industry, on 9 October 1950. Through his efforts and influence, the American military administration was persuaded to assist and to give loans for the first years of the Berlin International Film Festival, which commenced in June 1951. Film historian Dr. Alfred Bauer was the festival's first director, a position he would hold until 1976.Alfred Hitchcock's Rebecca opened the first festival at the Titania-Palast in Steglitz on 6 June 1951. The festival ran from 6 to 17 June, with Waldbühne being another festival venue.
The winners of the inaugural awards in 1951 were determined by a West German panel, and there were five winners of the Golden Bear, divided by categories and genres. Cinderella, which won the Golden Bear for a Music Film, also won the audience award.
Early years and awards
The FIAPF banned the awarding of jury prizes at the festival, so between 1952 and 1955, the winners of the Golden Bear were determined by the audience members. In 1956, FIAPF formally accredited the festival and since then the Golden Bear has been awarded by an international jury.Prior to the erection of the Berlin Wall in 1961, a selection of the films were also screened in East Berlin.
The fifth edition in 1955 saw the first German film to win the Golden Bear, Robert Siodmak's Die Ratten.
In 1957, the Zoo Palast became the main venue for the festival, and remained so until the move to Potsdamer Platz in 2000.
1960s
In 1963, two years after the Berlin Wall had been erected, a daily show of the Berlinale was shown on television in East Germany, with five films in competition broadcast.Controversy arose in 1964 with the rejection by Bauer, on insistence from the church, of Vilgot Sjöman's second film, 491, from the competition.
Werner Herzog's first feature film, Lebenszeichen, premiered at the festival in 1968.
1970s
The 20th edition of the festival in 1970 was cut short and awards not issued following controversy over the showing of Michael Verhoeven's anti-war film o.k.. The jury, headed by American film director George Stevens, decided after a 7–2 vote to remove the film from the competition, justifying their decision by citing a FIAPF guideline that said: "All film festivals should contribute to better understanding between nations". Stevens claimed that the film, which includes a gang rape of a Vietnamese woman by American soldiers during the Vietnam War, was anti-American. One jury member, Dušan Makavejev, protested against this measure, stood up for the film and supported Verhoeven and producer Rob Houwer. Verhoeven defended his film by stating in these terms: "I have not made an anti-American film... The biggest part of the American people today is against the war in Vietnam". Other directors taking part in the festival withdrew their films in protest, and the jury was accused of censorship and eventually disbanded, so no prizes were awarded and the competition was suspended.This scandal had such a big effect that it was unclear if the festival would continue to take place the next year. The following year, the festival was re-formed and a new International Forum for New Cinema was created.
1975 saw the first East German film to be entered into the festival, Jacob the Liar.
At the premiere of In the Realm of the Senses in 1976, the film was confiscated in the projection room by West Berlin police and the "Forum" management criminally accused of the public screening a pornographic film.
Bauer was succeeded by film journalist Wolf Donner in 1976, who gave German films higher priority. After his first Berlinale in June 1977, Donner successfully negotiated the shift of the festival from the June to February, a change which has remained ever since.
That festival, the 28th edition, saw the jury award the Golden Bear to Spain for its contribution to the festival rather than a specific film. The three Spanish films which were screened at the festival and won it were short film Ascensor directed by Tomás Muñoz and feature films La palabras de Max by Emilio Martínez Lázaro and Las truchas by José Luis García Sánchez. The 1978 festival also saw the start of the European Film Market as well as a new section, "Cinema for People Six and up".
Just before the 1979 festival, Donner announced that he was resigning. The festival also saw further controversy that year when the Soviet Union and other socialist states withdrew their films and delegates in protest at the selection of The Deer Hunter and their solidarity with "the heroic people of Vietnam".
1980–2000
Donner was followed by Moritz de Hadeln, who held the position from 1980 until director Dieter Kosslick took over in 2001.In 1981, de Hadeln only nominated one German film for the competition, Der Neger Erwin, and other West German producers and directors called for his resignation and proposed a boycott although no boycott took place.
In 1986, Gina Lollobrigida was invited to head the jury at the 36th Berlin International Film Festival, which awarded the Golden Bear to Reinhard Hauff's film Stammheim. She said the majority decision was "prefabricated", and opposed it.
21st century
Kosslick started making some changes to the festival, moving the emphasis from Hollywood in order to focus more on German and international cinema. He introduced various events to assist the development of emerging talent in German cinema.In 2010, for the 60th edition of the festival, Werner Herzog was appointed president of the jury. Also in that year, the city of Berlin unveiled its Boulevard of the Stars, with the first of 40 stars devoted to actors and filmmakers of the German-speaking film and TV industry. First to be honoured in the Boulevard was German-American actress Marlene Dietrich.
In 2012 the 100th anniversary of the historic Studio Babelsberg was celebrated at the 62nd edition of the festival, with the screening of 10 classic films made at the studios.
A new Series section, devoted to longform television series, was introduced in 2015.
In June 2018, it was announced that Mariette Rissenbeek would serve as the new executive director alongside artistic director Carlo Chatrian. They assumed their posts after Kosslick's final edition in 2019. Rissenbeek became the first woman to lead the Berlinale.
A shortened 71st festival took place virtually in March 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
73rd Berlin International Film Festival held in February 2023, was the first completely in-person Berlinale since the 70th in 2020.
Tricia Tuttle took over as the new artistic director in April 2024; the 75th Berlinale 2025 is her first festival.
Description and governance
The Berlinale is considered one of the five major film festivals in the world, alongside Venice, Cannes, Sundance and Toronto, and is the largest based on attendance. As of 2020, around 325,000 tickets were sold, and nearly 16,000 film industry professionals from 130 countries attended the festival. It is held in Berlin. It attracts tens of thousands of visitors each year. For the 2022 event, still feeling the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, 156,472 tickets were sold.About 400 films are shown in several sections across cinematic genres, with around twenty films competing for the festival's top awards, the Golden Bear and Silver Bears.
In 2022, festival was receiving €10.3 million from the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media. There was consideration given by the federal government to help compensate for revenue lost and additional expenditure owing to the pandemic, with funds drawn from the Neustart Kultur programme.
Since 2019, Mariette Rissenbeek has been the festival's executive director; Carlo Chatrian is its artistic director. In September 2023, it was reported that artistic director Carlo Chatrian will relinquish his post after 2024 Berlinale. On 12 December 2023 it was announced by the German culture ministry that Tricia Tuttle, formerly director of the BFI London Film Festival, will be the sole director of the Berlinale from April 2024.