The 25th annual Berlin International Film Festival was held from 27 June – 8 July 1975. The Golden Bear was awarded to the Hungarian film Adoption directed by Márta Mészáros. The retrospective dedicated to Greta Garbo was shown at the festival.
The 27th annual Berlin International Film Festival was held from 24 June – 5 July 1977. The festival opened with Nickelodeon by Peter Bogdanovich. The Golden Bear was awarded to the Soviet Union film The Ascent directed by Larisa Shepitko. Since this edition, the annual Retrospective and Homage events has been coordinated jointly between the festival organization and the Deutsche Kinemathek. The retrospective shown at the festival was dedicated to German actress Marlene Dietrich, which was divided into two parts, with Part 1 being shown this year along with the retrospective called Love, Death and Technology. Cinema of the Fantastical 1933–1945. The guest of the Homage was West German filmmaker Wilfried Basse.
The 28th annual Berlin International Film Festival was held from 22 February to 5 March 1978. Director Wolf Donner successfully managed to shift the festival's date from June to February, a change which has remained ever since. This was the first year the festival was held in February. The festival opened with Opening Night by John Cassavetes and closed with Steven Spielberg's out of competition film Close Encounters of the Third Kind.
The 31st annual Berlin International Film Festival was held from 13 to 24 February 1981. The Golden Bear was awarded to the Spanish film Deprisa, Deprisa directed by Carlos Saura. The retrospective was dedicated to British film producer Michael Balcon, as well a tribute to Turkish film director Yılmaz Güney who was a political prisoner at the time. The guest of the Homage was German film director Peter Pewas.
The 32nd annual Berlin International Film Festival was held from 12–23 February 1982. The Golden Bear was awarded to the West German film Veronika Voss directed by Rainer Werner Fassbinder.
The 34th annual Berlin International Film Festival was held from 17–28 February 1984. The festival opened with The Noah's Ark Principle by Roland Emmerich. The Golden Bear was awarded to the American film Love Streams directed by John Cassavetes. The retrospective was dedicated to German-American actor, screenwriter, producer and film director Ernst Lubitsch. The Honorary Golden Bear was awarded to American director Jules Dassin and Greek actress Melina Mercouri and the Homage section was dedicated to the couple.
The 35th annual Berlin International Film Festival was held from 15 to 26 February 1985. The Golden Bear was awarded to East German film Die Frau und der Fremde directed by Rainer Simon and British film Wetherby directed by David Hare. The retrospective was dedicated to Special effects.
The 36th annual Berlin International Film Festival was held 14–25 February 1986. The festival opened with Ginger and Fred by Federico Fellini, which played out of competition at the festival. The Golden Bear was awarded to West German film Stammheim directed by Reinhard Hauff. The retrospective was in honour of German actress and film producer Henny Porten and the homage was dedicated to American film director Fred Zinnemann. Claude Lanzmann's 9 hour long documentary film Shoah about The Holocaust was screened at the Young Filmmakers Forum.
The 38th annual Berlin International Film Festival was held from 12 to 23 February 1988. The festival opened with musical film Linie 1 by Reinhard Hauff. The Golden Bear was awarded to the Chinese film Red Sorghum directed by Zhang Yimou.
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 Golden Bear was awarded to American film Grand Canyon directed by Lawrence Kasdan. The retrospective dedicated to Babelsberg Studios films was shown at the festival.
The 43rd annual Berlin International Film Festival was held from 11 to 22 February 1993. The Golden Bear was awarded to American-Taiwanese film The Wedding Banquet directed by Ang Lee and Chinese film Xiāng hún nǚ directed by Xie Fei. The retrospective dedicated to CinemaScope was shown at the festival.
The 44th annual Berlin International Film Festival was held from 10 to 21 February 1994. The Golden Bear was awarded to British-Irish film In the Name of the Father directed by Jim Sheridan. The retrospective dedicated to Austrian director, actor and producer Erich von Stroheim was shown at the festival.
The 45th annual Berlin International Film Festival was held from 9 to 22 February 1995. The Golden Bear was awarded to French film The Bait directed by Bertrand Tavernier. The retrospective dedicated to American actor Buster Keaton was shown at the festival.
The 47th annual Berlin International Film Festival was held from 13 to 24 February 1997. The Golden Bear was awarded to Canadian-American film The People vs. Larry Flynt directed by Miloš Forman. The retrospective dedicated to Austrian film director G. W. Pabst was shown at the festival.
The 48th annual Berlin International Film Festival was held from 11 to 22 February 1998. The festival opened with the Irish film The Boxer by Jim Sheridan. Francis Ford Coppola's The Rainmaker was selected as the closing night film. The Golden Bear was awarded to Brazilian-French film Central Station directed by Walter Salles. The retrospective dedicated to Siodmak Bros., titled Siodmak Bros. Berlin – London – Paris – Hollywood was shown at the festival.
The 49th annual Berlin International Film Festival was held from 10 to 21 February 1999. The festival opened with Aimée & Jaguar by Max Färberböck. The Golden Bear was awarded to Canadian-American film The Thin Red Line directed by Terrence Malick.
The 50th annual Berlin International Film Festival was held from February 9 to 20, 2000. The festival opened with The Million Dollar Hotel by Wim Wenders. Bossa Nova by Bruno Barreto, screened out of competition was the closing film of the festival. The Golden Bear was awarded to American film Magnolia directed by Paul Thomas Anderson. The retrospective titled Artificial People and dedicated to artificial beings and machines in the films was shown at the festival, screening films like The Golem: How He Came into the World and The Terminator. On its 50th anniversary the premieres of the films in competition at the festival moved from Zoo Palast to Theater am Potsdamer Platz located at Potsdamer Platz.
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 Golden Bear was awarded to French-British film Intimacy directed by Patrice Chéreau. The retrospective dedicated to German-Austrian filmmaker, screenwriter Fritz Lang was shown at 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. New print of Charlie Chaplin's 1940 American satirical dramedy film The Great Dictator was the closing film of the festival. The Golden Bear was awarded to British–Irish film Bloody Sunday directed by Paul Greengrass and Japanese Animated film Spirited Away directed by Hayao Miyazaki.
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 served as the jury president at the festival.
