The Berlin International Film Festival, usually called the Berlinale, is an annual film festival held in Berlin, Germany. Founded in 1951 and originally run in June, the festival has been held every February since 1978 and is one of Europe's "Big Three" film festivals alongside the Venice Film Festival held in Italy and the Cannes Film Festival held in France. Furthermore, it is one of the "Big Five", the most prestigious film festivals in the world. The festival regularly draws tens of thousands of visitors each year.
The 59th Berlin International Film Festival was held from 5 February to 15 February 2009. The opening film of the festival was Tom Tykwer’s The International, screened out of competition. Costa-Gavras's Eden Is West served as the closing night film at the festival. The festival's jury president was the British actress Tilda Swinton.
The 2nd annual Berlin International Film Festival was held from 12 to 25 June 1952.
The 4th annual Berlin International Film Festival was held from 18 to 29 June 1954. This year's festival did not give any official jury prizes, instead awards were given by audience voting. This continued until the FIAPF granted Berlin "A-Status" in 1956.
The 5th annual Berlin International Film Festival was held from 24 June to 5 July 1955. This year's festival did not give any official jury prizes, instead awards were given by audience voting. This continued until the FIAPF granted Berlin "A-Status" in 1956.
The 58th annual Berlin International Film Festival was held from February 7 to February 17, 2008. The festival opened with Martin Scorsese's documentary film Shine a Light. Be Kind Rewind by Michel Gondry served as the closing film. Greek filmmaker Costa Gavras, was selected to serve as the Jury President for the main competition.
The 27th annual Berlin International Film Festival was held from 24 June to 5 July 1977. The festival opened with Nickelodeon by Peter Bogdanovich.
The 30th annual Berlin International Film Festival was held from 18–29 February 1980. The Golden Bear was jointly awarded to Heartland, directed by Richard Pearce, and Palermo or Wolfsburg, directed by Werner Schroeter.
The 31st annual Berlin International Film Festival was held from 13 to 24 February 1981. The Golden Bear was awarded to Deprisa, deprisa directed by Carlos Saura.
The 32nd annual Berlin International Film Festival was held from 12–23 February 1982. The Golden Bear was awarded to Veronika Voss directed by Rainer Werner Fassbinder.
The 37th annual Berlin International Film Festival was held from 20 February to 3 March 1987. The Golden Bear was awarded to the Soviet film Tema, directed by Gleb Panfilov.
The 40th annual Berlin International Film Festival was held from 9 to 20 February 1990. The festival opened with Steel Magnolias by Herbert Ross, which was shown out of competition.
The 41st annual Berlin International Film Festival was held from 15 to 26 February 1991. The festival opened with Uranus by Claude Berri.
The 42nd annual Berlin International Film Festival was held from 13 to 24 February 1992. The festival opened with The Inner Circle by Andrei Konchalovsky.
The 45th annual Berlin International Film Festival was held from 9 to 22 February 1995. Israeli film programmer Lia van Leer was the Jury President for the main competition.
The 51st annual Berlin International Film Festival was held from February 7 to 18, 2001. The festival opened with war-drama film Enemy at the Gates by Jean-Jacques Annaud. 70 mm restored version of Stanley Kubrick's 1968 Sci-fi film 2001: A Space Odyssey was the closing film of the festival.
The 52nd annual Berlin International Film Festival was held from February 6 to 17, 2002. The festival opened with Heaven by Tom Tykwer. The new print of Charlie Chaplin's 1940 American satirical dramedy film The Great Dictator was the closing film of the festival.
The 53rd annual Berlin International Film Festival was held from February 6–16, 2003. The festival opened with musical film Chicago by Rob Marshall and closed with Martin Scorsese's Gangs of New York, both films played out of competition at the festival.
The 57th Berlin International Film Festival was held from 8 to 18 February 2007. The opening film of this year's festival was Olivier Dahan’s La Vie En Rose. Angel by François Ozon served as the closing night film. American director Paul Schrader was the jury president of the main competition.
The 70th annual Berlin International Film Festival took place from 20 February to 1 March 2020. It was the first under the leadership of new Berlin Film Festival board: business administration director Mariette Rissenbeek and artistic director Carlo Chatrian.
