The Berlin Film Festival will take place in two stages, with first the competition in March, then public screenings in June if the health situation permits.
After a mixed 2020 edition, the Berlinale, usually held at the beginning of February, is postponed to March 2021. For the first time, the official competition of the Berlin Cinema Film Festival, including the Golden Bear award , will be held online, due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
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This 71st event will take place in “two stroke“Screenings open to the public are scheduled for the month of June, explained the two directors of the festival in a press release.
“This division into two parts will maintain the two pillars: the film market and the festival», Explain Mariette Rissenbek and Carlo Chatrian. “There is a great need for physical encounters. But the current situation does not allow it in February. At the same time, it is important to offer the film industry a market in the first quarter», They add.
The official selection of films will be unveiled in February. The winning films will then be screened to the public in June indoors or in open-air cinemas. Germany is, like France, hit hard by the second wave of the pandemic. Cultural venues have been closed since early November and should not reopen for several weeks.
Created in 1951, the Berlinale is with Cannes and Venice one of the three main film festivals in Europe. Chaired during the last edition in February 2020 by British actor Jeremy Irons, the jury awarded the film the Golden Bear. There is no Evil, directed by Iranian Mohammad Rasoulof.
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