The Berlin International Film Festival, usually called the Berlinale, is a major international film festival held annually 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 Golden Bear is the highest prize awarded for the best film at the Berlin International Film Festival. The bear is the heraldic animal of Berlin, featured on both the coat of arms and flag of Berlin.
Ildikó Enyedi is a Hungarian film director and screenwriter. She is best known for directing On Body and Soul, which won the top prize at the 67th Berlin International Film Festival among other awards, and was nominated for a Foreign Language Academy Award.
The 1st annual Berlin International Film Festival was held from 6 to 17 June 1951 at the Titiana-Palast cinema. The opening film was Alfred Hitchcock's Rebecca.
The 2nd annual Berlin International Film Festival was held from 12 to 25 June 1952.
The 3rd annual Berlin International Film Festival was held from 18 to 28 June 1953.
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 6th annual Berlin International Film Festival was held from 22 June to 3 July 1956. The FIAPF granted the festival the "A status" during this year, which was previously only reserved for Cannes and Venice. The awards for the first time, were given by an international jury.
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 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 62nd annual Berlin International Film Festival was held from 9 to 19 February 2012. British film director Mike Leigh was the president of the jury. The first five films to be screened in the competition were announced on 19 December 2011. American actress Meryl Streep was presented with the Honorary Golden Bear on 14 February. Benoît Jacquot's film Farewell, My Queen was announced as the opening film.
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 65th annual Berlin International Film Festival was held from 5 to 15 February 2015, with American film director Darren Aronofsky as the president of the jury. German film director Wim Wenders was presented with the Honorary Golden Bear. The first seven films of the festival were announced on 15 December 2014.
The 66th Berlin International Film Festival was held from 11 to 21 February 2016, with American actress Meryl Streep as the president of the jury. The Honorary Golden Bear for lifetime achievement was presented to German cinematographer Michael Ballhaus.
The 68th annual Berlin International Film Festival took place from 15 to 25 February 2018. German filmmaker Tom Tykwer served as Jury President.
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.
The 71st annual Berlin International Film Festival took place from 1 to 5 March 2021 as a virtual festival due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The 72nd annual Berlin International Film Festival, usually called the Berlinale, took place from 10 to 20 February 2022 in person. On 15 December 2021 the first film of the festival was announced.
