The Start of the Berlinale in 2019 : The audience remains the Star

Adieu, red scarf! In the next ten days, the fashionable accessory that belonged to 18 years as part of the inventory of the Berlinale is coming, for the last Time on the red carpet. After that, it will go together with its owner, Festival Director Dieter Kosslick, in his well-deserved retirement. His successor, Carlo Chatrian and Mariette Rissenbeek are available, from 2020 onwards, the film will be directed games of a double-top. It is a necessary step. Events of the size of the Berlinale today require a different organizational structure than it was even twenty years ago.

the artistic Director and the Board of management to be decoupled, was long overdue. Because of the Berlin film festival is to pay despite the high level of audience and a year a half a Million cinema visits is not a self-runner. Almost 18 million euros, to achieve the Festival itself. The search for sponsors has not become easier, the increase in the ticket prices this year suggests. As Kosslick took over the Berlinale in 2002 by his predecessor, Moritz de Hadeln, slumbered still in a gentle guardian of sleep. Since then, the city has changed, has become even more international. And the competition with the other great Festivals of Cannes and Venice to Stars and big movies, has worsened.

Chatrian and Rissenbeek are facing challenges that have shaped kosslick's last years. The industry is in a radical change. The large streaming providers to put pressure on the Studios, at the same time, they offer young film-makers and film-makers more freedom. Festivals are at the forefront of the cinema. In the case of the question, as with Netflix and Amazon, has Kosslick taken a moderate Position, between Cannes and Venice. Cannes sees itself as the last Bastion of classic cinema, Venice operates Laissez-faire. This year will be a Netflix production in the competition, without a murmur, and Controversies "Elisa y Marcela". A blind condemnation of new actors leads to nothing. Even if a film festival for two weeks in the year, the island of the cinema culture, it is not advisable to ignore the reality of changes in viewing habits and thus the changes in the market and against new developments to foreclose. Otherwise, the danger is that film festivals are soon to museums.

women

That film festivals can create facts, represents shows on the MeToo debate. It has stressed that women are under-represented in the film industry. In the last year, there was at the Berlinale in different Panels on the topic of Gender parity, this year, seven films from the Director is run in the competition, which is almost half. The proportion of female Directors in the main sections is even higher than in the case of the submissions. This tact features a good curator. One of the most prolific actors in front sitting with Juliette Binoche in France of the Jury, the retrospective is the Director of the interior in East and West Germany dedicated to. That's a big statement. Of course, the rate alone is not meaningful, but the increased visibility of female filmmakers is a first step.

film festivals act as driving forces for them to take on this role, must not understand exclusively, as a place of movie art. Kosslick has recognized early on that a Festival also fulfills a social function that is as important as the glamour factor and the care of the author cinema. This claim is required.

the special feature of The Berlinale is that it is unlike Cannes and Venice, an exclusive event for the professional audience. The queues at the ticket booth are as much as the Fans on the red carpet. Carlo Chatrian succeeded in this bridge already on his last Station as a Festival Director in Locarno. The signs are good: The Berlinale seems to be prepared for the future.

the New festival Director Carlo Chatrian wants to pull to Berlin soon

Twelve of the Newsletter, twelve districts: Our people-the Newsletter from all districts of Berlin you can order for free here: leute.tagesspiegel.de