Berlinale’s European Film Market Director Dennis Ruh Announces Departure After 2024 Edition

Melanie Goodfellow
·2 min read

Dennis Ruh, director of the Berlinale’s European Film Market (EFM), has announced his departure as head of the market after the 2024 edition.

Ruh said in a statement that Berlinale’s incoming festival director Tricia Tuttle had decided to appoint a new EFM director for 2025.

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He said that his contract had been left to expire and that he had not been offered the chance to discuss its renewal with Tuttle, whose appointment was announced this morning.

“The designated director of the Berlinale has decided to appoint a new head of the European Film Market for the 2025 edition and to let my contract as EFM Director expire in March 2024,” he said.

“This news was brought to me via official channels. There was no conversation with the new Berlinale director. Therefore, the EFM in February 2024 will be the last under my leadership.”

Looking to the 2024 edition, Ruh said the exhibition spaces were sold out, and that registration numbers already exceeded those of the previous year.

“We have utilized the past years to address strategic processes and projects for the future-proofing and further development of the European Film Market and to prepare for their implementation,” he said.

“I wish the new director and my successor luck and skill in dealing with this complex task and improving the organizational and structural conditions to fully unfold the EFM’s potential in the future.”

Ruh took up the role of EFM director in the fall of 2020, replacing Matthijs Wouter Knol who left to become the CEO of the European Film Academy.

He faced the challenging task of keeping the EFM relevant in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic. His first edition was online due to a rebound in Covid-19 cases in early 2021 and the second edition was hybrid, with the market returning to full strength in 2023.

Prior to arriving at the EFM, he was head of the department for international festival relations at promotional body German Films.

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