Though the Berlin Film Festival’s European Film Market has been forced by the omicron variant to go online, the fact that the fest itself will instead be held in person means that, as anticipated by Variety, some industry players are planning to make the trek to Germany.
This has prompted the Berlinale –- after some deliberation with local health authorities –- to set up separate industry screenings for films launching in the Berlinale’s 2022 official selection.
“Even with the EFM going online, a number of industry delegates confirmed their intention to come to Berlin to visit the festival in person and the Berlinale offers industry accreditation even in its revised format,” EFM director Dennis Ruh (pictured) tells Variety.
All festival accreditation holders will have access to tickets allocated for all public screenings. But “with a bigger number of professionals coming to the festival, there might be some pressure” on...
This has prompted the Berlinale –- after some deliberation with local health authorities –- to set up separate industry screenings for films launching in the Berlinale’s 2022 official selection.
“Even with the EFM going online, a number of industry delegates confirmed their intention to come to Berlin to visit the festival in person and the Berlinale offers industry accreditation even in its revised format,” EFM director Dennis Ruh (pictured) tells Variety.
All festival accreditation holders will have access to tickets allocated for all public screenings. But “with a bigger number of professionals coming to the festival, there might be some pressure” on...
- 1/24/2022
- by Nick Vivarelli
- Variety Film + TV
The 72nd Berlin Film Festival is boldly forging ahead with what it calls a “new concept” in-person edition despite concerns about the spread of the Omicron variant that has forced other top fests, such as Sundance, to go entirely online.
Variety spoke to Berlinale executive director Mariette Rissenbeek and artistic director Carlo Chatrian about the logic behind their decision to move Berlin’s EFM market online but maintain the physical fest, albeit in truncated form — a decision that’s raising questions about how many people can and will fly into Berlin for the event.
What was the determining factor in your decision to cancel the physical EFM?
Rissenbeek: At a market, a lot of different people have different meetings all day long. There is very intense talk. It is very difficult to control how many meetings take place and how may people from different countries come together. Other markets here in Berlin had been canceled,...
Variety spoke to Berlinale executive director Mariette Rissenbeek and artistic director Carlo Chatrian about the logic behind their decision to move Berlin’s EFM market online but maintain the physical fest, albeit in truncated form — a decision that’s raising questions about how many people can and will fly into Berlin for the event.
What was the determining factor in your decision to cancel the physical EFM?
Rissenbeek: At a market, a lot of different people have different meetings all day long. There is very intense talk. It is very difficult to control how many meetings take place and how may people from different countries come together. Other markets here in Berlin had been canceled,...
- 1/13/2022
- by Nick Vivarelli
- Variety Film + TV
A slew of industry events in January have been cancelled in Germany.
The Berlinale and European Film Market (EFM) have confirmed they are on course to hold the 2022 editions in February as physical events in line with Germany’s so-called 2G rule, despite rising Covid cases in the city that have forced the European Film Awards to drastically downscale its event to be held in Berlin on December 11.
Access to screening venues and industry events at the Berlinale and EFM will be restricted to attendees who are vaccinated or have recovered from Covid-19, organisers explained. The 2G rule has already...
The Berlinale and European Film Market (EFM) have confirmed they are on course to hold the 2022 editions in February as physical events in line with Germany’s so-called 2G rule, despite rising Covid cases in the city that have forced the European Film Awards to drastically downscale its event to be held in Berlin on December 11.
Access to screening venues and industry events at the Berlinale and EFM will be restricted to attendees who are vaccinated or have recovered from Covid-19, organisers explained. The 2G rule has already...
- 11/19/2021
- by Martin Blaney
- ScreenDaily
Move throws Berlinale’s Summer Special into doubt.
Updated April 23 with comment from the Berlin Film Festival
Germany’s cinemas are to stay closed until at least June 30 as part of an extension of existing lockdown measures to fight Covid-19, the government announced today.
Cultural venues including theatres, cinemas, and opera houses have now been closed since November 2020.
Further restrictions will kick in if cities or districts exceed a seven-day incidence rate of 100 new infections per 100,000 inhabitants over three consecutive days.
They include a curfew from 10pm to 5am, except for walking or jogging alone until midnight, while non-essential shops...
Updated April 23 with comment from the Berlin Film Festival
Germany’s cinemas are to stay closed until at least June 30 as part of an extension of existing lockdown measures to fight Covid-19, the government announced today.
Cultural venues including theatres, cinemas, and opera houses have now been closed since November 2020.
Further restrictions will kick in if cities or districts exceed a seven-day incidence rate of 100 new infections per 100,000 inhabitants over three consecutive days.
They include a curfew from 10pm to 5am, except for walking or jogging alone until midnight, while non-essential shops...
- 4/22/2021
- by Martin Blaney
- ScreenDaily
Berlin 2021 is still being planned as a physical event.
Preparations are underway to hold the 71st Berlinale on-site as a physical event in the German capital from February 11-21 despite an acknowledgment from the organisations the event might have to be cancelled due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
The decision is dependent on whether infection rates in Germany and elsewhere continue to rise and more restrictions will need to be introduced by the German authorities to curb the spread of the virus.
“It is difficult at the moment to determine a time [when a decision would be made on staging the Berlinale in February] because the situation with the coronavirus is constantly changing,...
Preparations are underway to hold the 71st Berlinale on-site as a physical event in the German capital from February 11-21 despite an acknowledgment from the organisations the event might have to be cancelled due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
The decision is dependent on whether infection rates in Germany and elsewhere continue to rise and more restrictions will need to be introduced by the German authorities to curb the spread of the virus.
“It is difficult at the moment to determine a time [when a decision would be made on staging the Berlinale in February] because the situation with the coronavirus is constantly changing,...
- 11/13/2020
- by Martin Blaney
- ScreenDaily
It took me years to accept Berlinale press chief Frauke Greiner’s invitation to attend this world-class gatekeeper film festival, now under the new leadership of executive director Mariette Rissenbeek and artistic director Carlo Chatrian. Here’s what I’ve learned so far.
Germans don’t like it when you are late.
Thursday night’s Berlinale opening ceremony was held at the grand Palast, but I had to watch it on another latecomer’s iPhone. Because the ceremony was live, the ushers wouldn’t let anyone in the theatre until after the lengthy introductory remarks. I eventually recovered my seat, after a stern lecture from a young usher. Later, I found out that Rissenbeek and Chatrian — newcomers to the spotlight — were overshadowed by Prof. Monika Grutters Mdb, the Minister of State for Culture, who is in charge of this festival. She used her time to make a political statement, saying...
Germans don’t like it when you are late.
Thursday night’s Berlinale opening ceremony was held at the grand Palast, but I had to watch it on another latecomer’s iPhone. Because the ceremony was live, the ushers wouldn’t let anyone in the theatre until after the lengthy introductory remarks. I eventually recovered my seat, after a stern lecture from a young usher. Later, I found out that Rissenbeek and Chatrian — newcomers to the spotlight — were overshadowed by Prof. Monika Grutters Mdb, the Minister of State for Culture, who is in charge of this festival. She used her time to make a political statement, saying...
- 2/21/2020
- by Anne Thompson
- Thompson on Hollywood
It took me years to accept Berlinale press chief Frauke Greiner’s invitation to attend this world-class gatekeeper film festival, now under the new leadership of executive director Mariette Rissenbeek and artistic director Carlo Chatrian. Here’s what I’ve learned so far.
Germans don’t like it when you are late.
Thursday night’s Berlinale opening ceremony was held at the grand Palast, but I had to watch it on another latecomer’s iPhone. Because the ceremony was live, the ushers wouldn’t let anyone in the theatre until after the lengthy introductory remarks. I eventually recovered my seat, after a stern lecture from a young usher. Later, I found out that Rissenbeek and Chatrian — newcomers to the spotlight — were overshadowed by Prof. Monika Grutters Mdb, the Minister of State for Culture, who is in charge of this festival. She used her time to make a political statement, saying...
Germans don’t like it when you are late.
Thursday night’s Berlinale opening ceremony was held at the grand Palast, but I had to watch it on another latecomer’s iPhone. Because the ceremony was live, the ushers wouldn’t let anyone in the theatre until after the lengthy introductory remarks. I eventually recovered my seat, after a stern lecture from a young usher. Later, I found out that Rissenbeek and Chatrian — newcomers to the spotlight — were overshadowed by Prof. Monika Grutters Mdb, the Minister of State for Culture, who is in charge of this festival. She used her time to make a political statement, saying...
- 2/21/2020
- by Anne Thompson
- Indiewire
The Berlin Film Festival has suspended its Alfred Bauer Prize following revelations that the award’s namesake and the Berlinale’s first director was much more closely affiliated with the Nazi Party than previously known.
Bauer, a film historian, was appointed to head the festival in 1951 following its inception by Oscar Martay, a film officer in the U.S. Army who worked in the Information Service Branch of the U.S. High Commissioner for Germany. Bauer oversaw the Berlinale until 1976. The festival introduced the Alfred Bauer Prize in his honor following his death in 1986.
While it was known that Bauer worked for the Nazi government’s Reich Film Office in the 1940s and also advised the British military government on film issues after the end of the war, a new report by German newspaper Die Zeit has uncovered evidence that his association with the Nazis went far deeper.
Working with amateur film researcher Ulrich Hähnel,...
Bauer, a film historian, was appointed to head the festival in 1951 following its inception by Oscar Martay, a film officer in the U.S. Army who worked in the Information Service Branch of the U.S. High Commissioner for Germany. Bauer oversaw the Berlinale until 1976. The festival introduced the Alfred Bauer Prize in his honor following his death in 1986.
While it was known that Bauer worked for the Nazi government’s Reich Film Office in the 1940s and also advised the British military government on film issues after the end of the war, a new report by German newspaper Die Zeit has uncovered evidence that his association with the Nazis went far deeper.
Working with amateur film researcher Ulrich Hähnel,...
- 1/30/2020
- by Ed Meza
- Variety Film + TV
It is looking at “alternative scenarios” following the loss of the CineStar multiplex.
Incoming Berlinale chiefs Carlo Chatrian and Mariette Rissenbeek are dealing with a set of unexpected organisational challenges as they attempt to tie down structural details of their inaugural edition at the helm.
Local German media is reporting that with just three and a half months to go before the landmark 70th edition of the Berlinale unfolds February 20 to March 3, 2020, the management team has yet to confirm the configuration of the festival’s screening venues.
It is now resigned to losing the eight screens of the CineStar multiplex...
Incoming Berlinale chiefs Carlo Chatrian and Mariette Rissenbeek are dealing with a set of unexpected organisational challenges as they attempt to tie down structural details of their inaugural edition at the helm.
Local German media is reporting that with just three and a half months to go before the landmark 70th edition of the Berlinale unfolds February 20 to March 3, 2020, the management team has yet to confirm the configuration of the festival’s screening venues.
It is now resigned to losing the eight screens of the CineStar multiplex...
- 11/7/2019
- by 158¦Martin Blaney¦40¦
- ScreenDaily
In an open letter to Berlinale director Dieter Kosslick and German culture and media commissioner Monika Grütters, 160 independent exhibitors are calling for Isabel Coixet’s competition film “Elisa y Marcela” to be shown out of competition.
“We, the independent arthouse cinema operators in Germany, do not agree with the fact that ‘Elisa y Marcela,’ by Isabel Coixet, a film that will not have normal theatrical distribution but will only be seen on Netflix, is being shown,” the exhibitors wrote. “We therefore demand that the film be shown out of competition.”
The cinema operators said they had taken the step to protest the fact that Netflix was using “the big festivals and film awards as a marketing platform and diminishing the position of cinema as a place of culture. The Berlinale stands for the big screen, Netflix the small screen.”
The demand was echoed by the International Confederation of Art Cinemas...
“We, the independent arthouse cinema operators in Germany, do not agree with the fact that ‘Elisa y Marcela,’ by Isabel Coixet, a film that will not have normal theatrical distribution but will only be seen on Netflix, is being shown,” the exhibitors wrote. “We therefore demand that the film be shown out of competition.”
The cinema operators said they had taken the step to protest the fact that Netflix was using “the big festivals and film awards as a marketing platform and diminishing the position of cinema as a place of culture. The Berlinale stands for the big screen, Netflix the small screen.”
The demand was echoed by the International Confederation of Art Cinemas...
- 2/11/2019
- by Ed Meza
- Variety Film + TV
Veteran American publicist and producer Richard Lormand, a well-loved fixture on the international festival circuit, where he was instrumental in launching and championing scores of auteurs such as Fatih Akin, Amos Gitai, Lav Diaz and Alice Rohrwacher, has died.
Lormand, who was based in Paris, was 56. The cause of death was complications from cancer. Lormand, a tireless promoter with a genuine passion for film, had been fighting the disease for the past year while working almost nonstop at the Berlin, Locarno, Venice and San Sebastian festivals, among other events, his assistant, Federico Mancini, said in a statement.
Lormand’s FilmPressPlus slate announcements, which generated genuine buzz among many critics and journalists, always opened with an affectionate “Bonjour Film Lovers!” Over the past 25 years, he handled several Palme d’Or, Golden Lion and Golden Bear winners, such as the Taviani Brothers’ “Caesar Must Die,” which took the top prize in Berlin...
Lormand, who was based in Paris, was 56. The cause of death was complications from cancer. Lormand, a tireless promoter with a genuine passion for film, had been fighting the disease for the past year while working almost nonstop at the Berlin, Locarno, Venice and San Sebastian festivals, among other events, his assistant, Federico Mancini, said in a statement.
Lormand’s FilmPressPlus slate announcements, which generated genuine buzz among many critics and journalists, always opened with an affectionate “Bonjour Film Lovers!” Over the past 25 years, he handled several Palme d’Or, Golden Lion and Golden Bear winners, such as the Taviani Brothers’ “Caesar Must Die,” which took the top prize in Berlin...
- 11/16/2018
- by Nick Vivarelli
- Variety Film + TV
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