17 films makes up the 51st Berlinale Forum program and the Forum Expanded film selection consists of four short film selections, one medium-length film and two feature-length films, with a total of 18 films to be shown in March at the 2021 Berlin International Film Festival. Eight installations will also be shown in June.
Berlinale Shorts 2021 program of the Berlin International Film Festival will showcase 20 short films from 16 countries featuring different languages and ranging from fictional formats to experimental films, animations, hybrid and documentary forms
Berlinale revealed the 15 films including seven world premieres and six debuts for the Generation program in the two competitions Kplus and 14plus.
For the Retrospective of the 2021 Berlin International Film Festival, the festival will showcase a program of 27 comedies featuring three different American actresses under the title “No Angels – Mae West, Rosalind Russell & Carole Lombard”. The films were chosen with a focus on the strict morality rules of the Motion Picture Production Code, which were increasingly enforced after 1934. Officially adopted in 1930 and dubbed the “Hays Code”, it was a voluntary system by which the Hollywood Studios agreed to uphold moral standards in filmmaking to avoid the censors’ knife. But the Hays Office soon became an even stricter arbiter than the actual censorship office of what could and couldn’t be shown on screen. The code prohibited explicit depictions of sex and promiscuity, as well as the use of profanity. Yet during that period, these three women succeeded in shaping their own film roles, finding their own style, and subtly subverting the Hays Code rules.
Berlin International Film Festival unveiled the official poster for the upcoming 71st edition of the festival taking place in two stages – Industry event and the Summer Special.
As part of the festival format in 2021, the directors of six Golden Bear winning films will decide on the prizes in the International Competition at the 71st Berlin International Film Festival and will view the films on the big screen in Berlin. A jury presidency is not planned for this year.
Due to the current COVID-19 situation, the 71st Berlin International Film Festival has developed a new festival format for 2021. The industry platforms European Film Market, Berlinale Co-Production Market, Berlinale Talents and the World Cinema Fund will kick off the 71st Berlinale in March with an online offer. In June, there will be a summer event with numerous film screenings for the public audiences – in cinemas as well as open air.
Berlin Film Festival today confirmed that founding director Alfred Bauer, after whom the Silver Bear – Alfred Bauer Prize award was named, did play a role in the Reichsfilmintendanz which was more significant than previously known and was systematically covered up by him after 1945. Reichsfilmintendanz was the central institution for controlling film production in the Nazi regime.
Toronto International Film Festival and the International Coalition for Filmmakers at Risk (ICFR*) and its founding institutions, the European Film Academy, International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam and International Film Festival Rotterdam have issued calls for the Sudanese authorities to release filmmaker Hajooj Kuka and the four artists imprisoned with him.
The European Film Academy and the Berlin International Film Festival issued a statement calling for the immediate and unconditional release of writer, human rights lawyer, and activist Nasrin Sotoudeh.
The Berlin International Film Festival is proceeding with plans for 2021 to host a physical festival; and a hybrid model for the European Film Market (EFM). Final implementation of the Festival and Market will take place in accordance with the then-applicable rules and regulations. Adjustments in the festival structure, the film programming and the total number of invited films will be defined by the festival management within the coming weeks.
The We Are One: A Global Film Festival, co-curated by 21 prolific festivals including Berlin International Film Festival, Cannes Film Festival, and Venice Film Festival, will feature over 100 films, in addition to talks, VR content and musical performances. The festival, produced and organized by Tribeca Enterprises and YouTube, will run exclusively May 29 – June 7 on YouTube.