Berlin Film Festival to Axe Sections Amid Budget Cuts
The Berlinale, the world’s largest public film festival, unveiled Tuesday that it is facing major budget cuts and plans to chop entire sections from its program to avoid a financial crisis.
Starting next year, the Berlin Festival will drop its Perspektive Deutsches Kino sidebar, which highlights up-and-coming German directors, as a separate section. In the future, films by German newcomers will be presented within the festival’s existing sections: Competition, Encounters, Panorama, Generation and Forum.
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Berlin is also cutting its Berlinale Series section of high-end TV series, folding series premieres into its Berlinale Special Gala section. Berlinale artistic director Carlo Chatrian will take over programming of this selection from Julia Fidel, who had run Berlinale Series but announced her exit earlier this year.
Berlin’s television industry section, the Berlinale Series Market, which consists of industry screenings and a conference program, will continue unchanged.
The Berlinale will also further trim its overall program, with the total number of films cut to around 200 (compared to 287 films that screened across all sections this year). Every section, with the exception of the main competition, will present fewer films.
“Like many other areas of society, cultural institutions and festivals are affected by considerable cost increases but unchanged budgets. Keeping this in mind, we must introduce structural adjustments to create a stable budgetary foundation for the organization and implementation of the Berlinale going forward,” the festival said in a statement. “This process brings with it the opportunity to optimize the presentation and perception of the invited films using a more focused program.”
The cuts were precipitated by belt-tightening at the German Culture Ministry, which co-finances the Berlinale. The ministry bankrolls the Berlinale to the tune of $11.8 million (€10.7 million) annually. It topped that up by an additional $2.4 million (€2.2 million) in 2022 and 2023 to help cover rising costs, but that funding runs out this year.
The Berlinale has also seen the exodus of some of its corporate sponsors, which together contributed a third of the event’s budget. Luxury car brand Audi, a long-term Berlinale backer, dropped out after 2020, replaced this year by the more down-market transporter Uber. Telco MagentaTV and L’Oréal Paris also wrapped up their sponsorship deals. Armani Beauty came on board as the fashion sponsor this year.
Berlin’s third financial pillar, ticket sales, looks more secure. Berlin sold 320,000 tickets to screenings at this year’s fest, securing its position as the world’s top public film event.
But that’s about the only thing that looks stable at the Berlinale. Under the management of co-directors Carlo Chatrian and Mariëtte Rissenbeek, who took over from long-time festival boss Dieter Kosslick and have run the past four Berlinales, Berlin has become more culturally avant-garde and overtly political in its official selection. But frequent festival goers have complained about the lack of star power or break-out titles. Once seen as a near-equal to Cannes and Venice, Berlin has slipped down the global rankings as it has struggled to attract either the big Hollywood blockbusters or the cross-over independent films that define a top-tier festival’s status. Under the Chatrain-Rissenbeek reign, there’s been a single big studio world premiere: Pixar’s Onward, which closed the festival in 2020.
Rissenbeek has already said she is stepping down after next year’s Berlinale, when her contract expires. The German culture ministry is still in negotiations with Chatrian over a possible extension of his contract beyond 2024. But there has been speculation next year could see a major shake-up, with the ministry overhauling the festival’s management structure as well as its financing.
The global film industry will be watching closely. Berlin’s European Film Market, which runs alongside the festival, is the first major film market of the year and, for most big independent buyers and sellers, a must-attend. But disruptions at the festival and the loss of popular sections like the Berlinale Series sidebar, could impact industry attendance.
The 74th Berlin International Film Festival runs Februarey 15 to 25, 2024.
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