Berlinale will be held online in March, but there will be a summer special

Berlinale will be held in a presumably COVID proof format in 2021. According to the organizers the physical encounters are still very important and valuable in this harsh situation as well, so it is not an option to cut all festival feelings and buzzes. There are Hungarian nominees to support.

So, the compromised form will be a separate Industry Event from the 1st to the 5th of March in which all Sections Jury will announce the winners online, conferences, workshops, announcements will also take place online.

From the 9th until the 20th of June the Summer Special format will be responsible to satisfy the general public’s hunger for award ceremonies and getting together with the Jury and the film creators. Also public screenings will be available for the Berlinale audience with a strong hope that the pandemic regulations allow them to happen. Until further notice the current schedule is the valid one.

There are ten Sections this year: Competition, Berlinale Special & Berlinale Series, Encounters, Berlinale Shorts, Panorama, Forum & Forum Expanded, Generation and Perspektive Deutsches Kino.

Also exists the entourage festival phenomenon where all the special themes are gathering around the Mother Bear: European Film Market, Berlinale Co-Production Market, Berlinale Talents and World Cinema Funds.

The content of the International Jury will also be different this year: there won’t be primus inter pares among them, meaning: no President this year. All the six members will practice equal votes which is a very forward – looking thinking and statues democracy which is the core of each wise decision. The preliminary skill to be chosen to the most important Jury is simple: win a Golden Bear anytime in Berlinale history and be an extraordinary and remarkable filmmaker.

They are: director Mohammad Rasulof (Iran), director Nadav Lapid (Israel), director Adina Pintilie (Romania), Gianfranco Rosi (Italy) who won the Golden Bear first time in history for a documentary in 2016, director Jasmila Žbanić (Bosnia and Herzegovina) and last but not least for the very proud Hungarian art lover’s heart Ildikó Enyedi Oscar nominated, Berlinale Golden Bear awardee director.

The awards which honor the best: Golden Bear for Best Film (awarded to the film’s producers), Silver Bear Grand Jury Prize, Silver Bear for Best Director, Silver Bear Jury Prize, Silver Bear for Best Leading Performance, Silver Bear for Best Supporting Performance, Silver Bear for Best Screenplay and Silver Bear for Outstanding Artistic Contribution.

In the Competition Section –as the Budapestreporter posted about among the firsts -took their well-deserved places as the Hungarian filmmakers as well:
“Rengeteg – Mindenhol látlak” (“Forest – I see you everywhere”) by Bence Fliegauf and “Természetes fény” (“Natural lights”) by Dénes Nagy. Double chance of winning for Hungary.

If the audience thinks not to have more Hungarians in one of the most prestigious festivals on Earth, they neglect the very fact to always watch out for the Young. Since 2003 the more and more developing -festival within the festival – Berlinale Talents invited three inspiring and thought- provoking artists: three women, among them one is a cinematographer and the others are directors.

Firstly, Noémi Varga who gained international attention with her ongoing project about the “Eastern Jean-Paul Gaultier” aka Tamás Király late designer. The next is Dorottya Zurbó, whose documentary depicts the closed world of monasteries in Bhutan. Boróka Bíró is an aspiring cinematographer from Transylvania who has a quite unique sensitive eye for social injustices and human rights.