Check out the New Rules

Berlin International Film Festival has announced how it will host its 2022 edition under the most recent rules of the German government.

As previously reported, the fest’s industry arm, the European Film Market (EFM), has moved to a virtual event this year. You can find the comments today from EFM chief Dennis Ruh down this article.

But, the festival will continue with an in person edition. ‘2G-plus’ format. Now organizers have confirmed the operation for filmmakers and attendees. These are the major decisions:

  • The main festival dates will be reduced from February 10-20 to February 10-16. Repeat screenings (theatre) will also be offered. “Publikumstag”) held 17-20. The awards ceremony will be held on February 16.
  • The cinemas will have a 50% reduction in capacity.
  • There will not be any parties or receptions.
  • Red carpets and press conferences will continue to be held in limited capacities.
  • Theaters will require masks. The audience will also have to show a Covid card indicating that they are fully vaccinated or have recovered from an illness.

In December, Berlin revealed its 2022 first wave of titles. Sundance and Rotterdam were also forced to go online this year.

Travellers to Germany at the time of writing are not subject to quarantine as long as they can show proof of their full vaccination status, a recent positive test or evidence that they have recovered from a Covid infection.

“We want to make the Berlinale possible, and according to current deliberations, we can achieve this. We want the festival to send a signal to the entire film industry, to cinemas and moviegoers, and to culture as a whole. We need cinema, we need culture. Of course, in today’s times, this can only be managed with some painful cuts and with constant vigilance,”Claudia Roth, State Minister for Culture and Media. “The pandemic situation is dynamic, and the Berlinale is adapting to the resulting challenges. We are helping wherever we can.”

“We are aware of the challenges posed by the unpredictable course of the pandemic. At the same time, we believe that culture plays such a fundamental role in society that we do not want to lose sight of this aspect. We would like to enable festival screenings for our audiences and filmmakers even in these times of pandemic. With our new concept, we are focusing fully on the cinematic experience and reducing the formation of groups. The key thing is to give audiences and film teams a collective experience of cinema with this changed concept, while reducing the number of face-to-face encounters in compliance with the corona regulations. Our international guests are keen to present their work on site,”Mariette Rissenbeek, and Carlo Chatrian, were the Berlinale’s directors.

Dennis Ruh, Chief EFM, commented on the decision of moving the industry wing online. “The decision to realise the EFM 2022 as a purely digital event was an extremely difficult one to make. The great need for the sales industry to meet physically had been reflected in the considerable number of bookings for exhibition spaces, accreditation and physical market screenings. However, the high frequency of face-to-face encounters in regular market trading is not feasible at the moment. So, we are relying on our digital offers, which already proved their worth for the trade-fair business ‘on remote’ last year.”

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