Their first Berlinale starts on February 20, 2020: Mariette Rissenbeek (62) and Carlo Chatrian (47) Photo: Siegfried Purschke
By Michael Zollner
It had already been speculated, now it’s clear: the festival will be streamlined, entire sections will be eliminated.
The Berlinale has to make savings and will cut entire sections. Some of the plans had already been leaked, now the festival is announcing concrete measures.
Accordingly, Perspektive Deutsches Kino and Berlinale Series will be cancelled. Newcomer German films would be shown in the remaining sections in future, while serial formats would be shown in the Berlinale Special section.
The total number of films is also to be reduced to around 200 (in 2023 it was 287). With the exception of the competition, all sections will show fewer films.
“Cultural institutions and festivals – like many other areas of society – are affected by significant cost increases with unchanged budgets,” said the management duo Mariette Rissenbeek and Carlo Chatrian in a statement.
“Against this background, we have to introduce structural changes in order to create a stable budgetary basis for the organization and implementation of the Berlinale in the future.”
The next Berlinale will take place from February 15th to 25th, 2024.