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Carlo Chatrian © Locarno Festival, Michela Di Savino / Mariette Rissenbeek © German Films, Kurt Krieger

Chaired by Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media Monika Grütters, the Board of Supervisors of the Kulturveranstaltungen des Bundes in Berlin GmbH (KBB) today approved the selection committee’s proposal to appoint Carlo Chatrian as artistic director and Mariette Rissenbeek as executive director of the Berlin International Film Festival starting in 2020.

Carlo Chatrian, born in Turin in 1971, is a film journalist and has directed the Locarno Film Festival since 2013, where he has proved that he can successfully curate and lead an art house audience festival. He stands for an artistically ambitious mix of programming and for a focus on discovering new talents. He and the new executive director, Mariette Rissenbeek, will head the Berlinale starting in 2020. Mariette Rissenbeek (born in Posterholt, The Netherlands in 1956) has long headed German Films, the information and advising centre for the international distribution of German films, as managing director. Her successful career in the film industry makes her the ideal choice for this position: She has many years of experience in working with all the important film festivals around the world and has an extensive network of national and international contacts in the film industry.

Monika Grütters, Minister of State for Culture and the Media, said, “With our two new directors, we will make sure that the Berlinale will continue beyond 2019 – the last year under Dieter Kosslick’s direction – to be an audience-oriented festival with a political focus and an ambitious film programme, while continuing to evolve. With Carlo Chatrian, the leadership will be younger, more international and open to experimentation. He also brings the artistic and curatorial skills which many experts and filmmakers had hoped for.

“Mariette Rissenbeek will be the first woman to lead the festival. She also stands for continuity and film management competence. She knows all the various film festivals and the German players and has a wealth of experience and an extensive network of contacts. With its new leadership team, even in this time of change in the film industry, the Berlinale will continue to play in the Champions League of film festivals, as it has for so long under the guidance of Dieter Kosslick. Thanks to his excellent work over the past 17 years, the Berlinale today has a larger audience than ever before. And with its consciously political profile, it has successfully maintained its position in the 21st century as an A-list film festival which is highly regarded internationally. The many people we spoke with around the world during the search once again confirmed that the Berlinale has an excellent reputation abroad.”

The new directors will have several months to prepare before taking over full responsibility, so they will be able to familiarize themselves with the festival during the 2019 Berlinale.