After close to two decades as the director of the Berlin Film Festival, the Berlinale, Dieter Kosslick, who had expressed some desire to extend his contract, was replaced by Carlo Chatrian, former artistic director of the Locarno Film Festival.  Chatrian will have the same position at the Berlinale and Mariette Risssenbeek, former managing director of German Films. will be the new executive director.  Kosslick combined both positions during his service but expressed already...

(Nora Fingscheidt, Helena Zengel and Albrecht Schuch with their Silver Bear for System Crasher, © Antonio Castello 2019)     By LINDSAY R. BELLINGER   The man with the golden camera. I first noticed photographer Antonio Castello during a press conference, due to his old-timey looking camera with a golden vintage lens. He captured over two thousand photos over the course of the massive eleven-day film festival. Looking through his snaps of festival director Di...

Claus Mueller: What surprised you about the 2014 selection? DK: This year’s selection is completely different from what we offered last year. You really cannot compare it from the product ion angle, but you can compare it from the subject matters. Some films have the same focus such as sex, kids, violence... otherwise the films are entirely different, we have the kind of diversity we never had before CM: Thus you have a supermarket of different approaches and themes? DK:  M...

Dieter Kosslick continues to imprint his signature on the Berlinale. He has transformed the Berlin Festival into the largest audience oriented international film festival. Through the European Film Market and the main competition,  the Berlinale has met commercial interests while satisfying cinematic ones through the Panorama, Forum and other Berlinale components. Unlike Cannes and Venice, the Berlinale features the Talent Campus, permits large testing of new productions and presents a balanced...