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The Berlinale has developed a new concept to fly the flag for culture emphatically. The focus this year is on cinema screenings in the Berlinale venues, with the health and safety of the audience at all events and strict compliance with the current hygiene regulations remaining the top priority.

The festival opens today with the ceremonial opening at the Berlinale Palast. Until February 16, film teams will present their films personally to the public and accredited audiences at the premieres in the various Berlinale cinemas. The award ceremony for the Golden and Silver Bears, as well as the GWFF Best First Feature Award and the Berlinale Documentary Award, will take place on the evening of February 16. The “Publikumstag” event, which has been very popular for some years now, will be extended to four days in 2022: from February 17-20, there will be repeat screenings in all the Berlinale cinemas (at the regular standard price of 10 Euros).

Following recent decisions by the Federal Government and the Berlin Senate, The Berlinale changed its format and concept. The previously developed hygiene and security measures were reviewed so that the 2022 festival is organised as an in-person 2G-plus event (additional masking and testing requirement).

According to the two directors of the Berlinale, Mariette Rissenbeek and Carlo Chatrian : “We are aware of the challenges posed by the unpredictable course of the pandemic. At the same time, we believe that culture plays such a fundamental role in society that we do not want to lose sight of this aspect. We would like to enable festival screenings for our audiences and filmmakers even in these times of pandemic. With our new concept, we are focusing fully on the cinematic experience and reducing the formation of groups. The key thing is to give audiences and film teams a collective experience of cinema with this changed concept, while reducing the number of face-to-face encounters in compliance with the corona regulations. Our international guests are keen to present their work on site.”