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Berlin (dpa) - The pandemic is now also forcing the Berlin film festival to reschedule.
The Berlinale will not take place in February as planned next year.
Instead, there is to be a digital industry get-together in March, and film screenings for the public are planned for June - both in cinemas and in the open air, as the film festival in Berlin on Friday confirmed.
Several media had previously reported on the plans.
"With the change in the festival format in 2021, we have the opportunity to protect the health of all guests and to support the restart of the cinema industry," said the managing director Mariette Rissenbeek.
The division in two enables the two main pillars to be retained: the film market and the festival.
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Alongside the film festivals in Cannes and Venice, the Berlinale is one of the most important in the world.
The film festival is also the festival with the most crowds, thousands of visitors come every year.
Most recently, around 330,000 tickets had been sold.
The heart of the festival is the annual competition - numerous filmmakers compete for the Golden Bear.
"We are working to ensure that there will be all sections - but of course there will be a reduced form of the rest of the Berlinale," said the artistic director Carlo Chatrian of the German Press Agency.
The ongoing selection of films will be continued.
The program is to be published in February and in March the films are to be shown online to professional representatives of the film industry.
Other events, such as the Berlinale Talents series of young talent, will also take place online.
"An international jury will view the films in Berlin and decide on the bear prizes," announced the festival.
Chatrian said that journalists would still have to discuss whether journalists could also see the films in March, including with the rights holders.
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Those who like to watch films privately have to be patient.
The competition entries and other films will then be shown to the public in June.
How big the summer version could be and which locations will be included has not yet been determined.
You are in conversation with different partners.
«So my impression is that the hunger for film is really great.
And that many cinemas will be happy to organize special events with us, ”said Rissenbeek.
Will people dare to go to the cinema again?
For the people who might have concerns in the cinema, they would also offer the open-air events, said Rissenbeek.
The Berlinale was previously planned for February 11-21, 2021.
The US trade journal “Variety” had already reported on a new concept on Thursday night - the Berlinale only officially confirmed this in a message on Friday.
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It had long been suspected that a Berlinale in February would not be possible.
The cinemas and many other facilities are currently closed nationwide.
Berlin's Senator for Culture, Klaus Lederer (Linke), had already said at the beginning of December that, given the current figures, he did not believe in full cinemas in February.
But postponing the Berlinale is not easy to organize either.
Because the film year is usually well timed.
The Cannes festival usually takes place in May, Venice is in September, with the smaller festival in Locarno in between.
At the Berlinale, a postponement to April was also discussed - but who knows what the infection numbers will look like then?
Money also plays a role.
The Berlinale is currently holding talks with sponsors as well as with Monika Grütters, Minister of State for Culture, on budget issues, explained the festival management.
The amount of possible additional costs was not mentioned.
Grütters told the dpa that she had promised the Berlinale additional financial support from the Corona aid program for culture, “to protect it in difficult times”.
She is very confident that the new concept will also convince sponsors to get involved again for culture and at the Berlinale 2021, said the CDU politician.
For a long time, you feared having to cancel the Berlinale entirely, said Rissenbeek.
So now the Berlinale is split in two.
Chatrian does not see the Berlinale as competition for Cannes.
The selection of films will be announced at the beginning of the year - and after the screening on the film market in March it will also be possible to show the films at other festivals or bring them to the cinema.
In summer there is then the celebration.
In any case, a festival lives not only from the films shown, but also from discussions and guests.
From the photos from the red carpet, the interviews, the autograph hunters.
And from going to the cinema together.
This often brings good advertising for art-house films - from which the cinemas benefit later.
That is why the cinema industry was skeptical of a purely online variant.
© dpa-infocom, dpa: 201218-99-746743 / 2
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