From Aniagboso Julieth
The Berlin Film Festival has announced plans to hold an in-person event next year.
For the 72nd Berlinale, set to run Feb. 10-22, organizers said they will focus on on-site offerings and in-person screenings.
In 2020, Berlin was one of the last major international festivals to be held in person before the outbreak of the global coronavirus pandemic. This year’s festival, however, was online-only, with Berlin holding an open-air follow-up in the summer for local audiences.
“We’re very pleased to bring the festival back to the big screen in February: with a multifaceted program, the red carpet, stars, and the amazing Berlinale audiences,” said Berlin festival co-directors Mariette Rissenbeek and Carlo Chatrian in a statement. “The need for a physical festival experience and face-to-face encounters is strongly evident in both the industry and the public. The experiences of the last months have shown that on-location events can take place safely and successfully, and how important they are for dialogue and exchange.”
Berlin said it would announce details of hygiene measures and coronavirus regulations for the 2022 festival in the first half of November. Organizers said the 2022 festival lineup would be “roughly similarly” in size to the pre-COVID-19 edition of the fest in 2020. Short films, which were struck from the Generation sidebar for this year’s festival, will return to the section in 2022.
The European Film Market (EFM), which runs Feb. 10-17, will again set up shop at Berlin’s Gropius Bau and the Marriott Hotel. The 2022 EFM will be a hybrid event, also featuring online formats and screenings for professionals unable to attend in person. Similarly, industry-focused sections, namely the Berlinale Series Market, running Feb.14-16, the Berlinale Co-Production Market (Feb. 12-16), Berlinale Talents (Feb. 12-17) and the World Cinema Fund, will combine in-person sessions with online offerings.
