Successful First Part of the 74th Berlinale, the market ended to high notes

Honorary Golden Bear for Martin Scorsese – The 74th Berlinale awards the Honorary Golden Bear for lifetime achievement to Martin Scorsese. F. l. t .r.: Mariëtte Rissenbeek, Martin Scorsese, laudator Wim Wenders and Carlo Chatrian © Richard Hübner / Berlinale 2024

After the moving opening gala, numerous filmmakers presented their works at the festival over the last few days. The first half of the festival was marked by glamorous, but also political appearances on the Red Carpet and packed cinemas. Yesterday evening saw a special highlight with the Award Ceremony of the Honorary Golden Bear to US director Martin Scorsese. In front of a standing ovation in the sold-out Berlinale Palast, the director accepted the award, the laudation was held by Wim Wenders. 

Another honour will take place tomorrow: The awarding of the Berlinale Camera to Edgar Reitz at 3.00 pm in the Haus der Berliner Festspiele. The world premiere of Edgar Reitz’ latest work, Filmstunde_23 (Subject: Filmmaking), will afterwards be shown as part of the Berlinale Special.

“We are delighted that the audience is showing such great interest in the festival programme, even in times of so many shattering events around us, and is accepting our invitation to discover new films and engage in dialogue with one another. Numerous filmmakers stand for democracy on the Red Carpet, which not only reflects the festival's values but also shows that the debate on current trends is omnipresent and must be conducted in society as a whole,” commented the festival directors Mariëtte Rissenbeek and Carlo Chatrian.

As of this morning (February 21), 271.500 tickets have been sold. Screening attendance by trade visitors and the press is also very high – sometimes at 100 percent and 90 percent on average.

The Award Ceremony will take place on February 24 in the Berlinale Palast, where the prizes of Berlinale Shorts, the GWFF Best First Feature Award, the Berlinale Documentary Award, the prizes of the Encounters section as well as the Golden and Silver Bears in the Competition will be awarded.

On the Berlinale Publikumstag, Sunday February 25, 2024, there will be an encore for audiences: Numerous festival films from various sections will be repeated at the Berlinale venues. Tickets for the Berlinale Publikumstag have been available since February 12.