The Berlin Today Award, supported by Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg as the short film competition of the Berlinale Talent Campus since 2003, has nominated five short film projects as finalists in the upcoming round. 176 young filmmakers from 72 countries responded to the call for project ideas related to the theme “My Wall“, conceived to mark the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin wall. For the first time not only Campus Talents but also producers from all over Germany could apply to...

At this year's Berlinale Keynotes, members of the digital media avantgarde - including top producers from the international games industry, Wikinomics pioneers and Open Movie directors - will discuss some of the most challenging questions facing the film industry. In the current entertainment industry, the internet is the new key medium and games are the most important format. In view of the rapid developments in digital technology, the film industry is facing ever growing challenges and new ...

Thursday, February 14---------When you are one of the most famous people on the planet, it is hard to go anywhere without noisy crowds assembling. And when you are premiering your film directorial debut......it is a papparazzi dream on steroids. This is the tame description of what happened last evening, when Madonna, the Material Girl herself, was in Berlin to premiere her new film FILTH AND WISDOM. As one can only imagine,  Madonna made quite a media splash. She was prominently featured o...

  Wednesday, February 13-------The new age of digital cinema, and how it will effect everything from production to distribution to exhibition, was the hot topic at this past weekend's EFM Industry Debates, sponsored by the European Film Market (EFM) and its official main partner Arts Alliance Media (AAM). Building on the success of last year’s collaboration, this year’s debates dealt with the opportunities and challenges of digital film distribution and sales. Under the heading “...

Opening of the Berlinale Talent Campus #6 with Dieter Kosslick, Dorothee Wenner, Stephen Daldry and Gustavo Santaolalla Match Factor by Maheen Zia from Pakistan winner of the Berlin Today Award 2008 Yesterday evening (Saturday, Feb 9) festival director Dieter Kosslick and Campus director Dorothee Wenner opened the Berlinale Talent Campus 2008 before a crowd of ca. 600 invited guests in the Hebbel am Ufer theatre, HAU 1. Until Feb 14, 350 Talents from about 100 countries will meet with intern...

Sunday, February 10-------For the 11th consecutive year, the Berlin Film Festival is hosting the Shooting Stars initiative, a promotion effort to kickstart the careers of some of Europe's most promising actors and actresses. The program is sponsored by European Film Promotion, a pan-European organization of the continent's film promotion offices, who work together to spread the gospel about European film and film talents at film festivals and markets around the world. This year's talent pool ...

Sunday, February 10---------The Panorama section of the Berlin Film Festival is recognized as the "cutting edge" program at the Berlinale, with films that embrace politics, sexuality and social upheaval. Longtime Panorama chief Wieland Speck has been a consistent curator at the Berlinale over the past 20 years, bringing his own sensibilities to the programming of what is, for me, the Festival's most consistent and uplifiting film showcase. To start things off this past weekend, the P...

Saturday, February 9----------As the Competition Screenings at this year's Berlinale move into high gear, it is a good moment to comment on the credentials and the international mix of jurors who must view an impressive group of awards contenders, all vying for the prestigious Golden and Silver Bear Awards. Jury President Costa-Gavras (France) is one of the most renowned figures of dedicated, political filmmaking. His international breakthrough came in 1969 with the political thriller Z, whi...

Friday, February 8----------In 1969, you were either listening to the Rolling Stones express their "sympathy for the devil" or you were listening (over and over again) to "Suite Judy Blue Eyes" as interpreted by a new group called Crosby Stills & Nash. Made up of members of such seminal rock groups as The Byrds and Buffalo Springfield, David Crosby, Stephen Stills and Graham Nash were later joined by Neil Young, to form that much loved group CSNY.  The musicians have b...

The screening of the documentary Reverse Angle: Rebellion of the Filmmakers is a great occasion to show a series of films originating from the Filmverlag der Autoren at this year’s Berlinale. Alfred Holighaus, section director of Perspektive Deutsches Kino, curated the series. How does the documentary Reverse Angle: Rebellion of the Filmmakers manage to arouse interest in a not-so-old chapter of German film history? It’s just like with the Rolling Stones. There’s a generation of arti...

Thursday, February 7----------It's got to be one of the coolest Opening Nights of any Festival ever. Just think.....Oscar winning director Martin Scorsese and legendary rock group The Rolling Stones, all making their way up the red carpet at the Marlene-Dietrich Platz to celebrate the screening of SHINE A LIGHT, the opening night gala of the Berlin Film Festival. SHINE A LIGHT is the first concert film featuring The Rolling Stones in almost 40 years, following in the legendary steps of Jean...

The Elite Squad, directed by Jose Padilha has won the Golden Bear at the 2008 Berlin Film Festival. Reza Naji won best actor for The Song of Sparrows and Sally Hawkins picked up the best actress prize for the Mike Leigh directed Happy-Go-Lucky.The 58th incarnation of the festival saw the festival assume a new direction. There were decidedly less stars than in 2007 when the likes of Matt Damon put in an appearance. And the star vehicles this year were more in line with the artistic, edgy feel tha...

A tendency to decline but not everywhere:  this sums up the 2007 trend as regards cinema audiences.  The exact opposite of 2006, where the plus sign was the general rule, although, there again, with some exceptions.This is the picture that emerges from the data collected by MEDIA Salles who, as last year, have anticipated the announcement of the 2007 figures on cinemagoing in Europe to the Berlin Festival, during the presentation of the "European Cinema Yearbook - 2007 final edition"...

With the world premiere of the Rolling Stones concert film, Shine a Light by Oscar-winner Martin Scorsese, the 58th Berlin International Film Festival will open tomorrow, February 7, 2008. Director Martin Scorsese, and Stones Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Charlie Watts and Ron Wood are all coming to Berlin to attend this big event. Berlinale Director Dieter Kosslick will open the Festival together with Minister of State and Commissioner for Cultural and Media Affairs Bernd Neumann, Governing Mayo...

The Berlinale has been even more committed to supporting the next generation of film makers since 2006, when it introduced the Best First Feature Award. This year again, a dedicated, three-person international jury will decide on the best debut film. The award is endowed with 50,000 Euros, donated by the GWFF (Gesellschaft zur Wahrnehmung von Film- und Fernsehrecht), a society dedicated to safeguarding film and television rights. In 2008 the director and producer of the winning film will be awar...