Feb 19, 2020
A Brilliant Start for the 70th Berlinale

On February 20, the 70th Berlin International Film Festival will celebrate its glittering start in the Berlinale Palast.

Minister of State for Culture and the Media Prof. Monika Grütters, Governing Mayor of Berlin Michael Müller, as well as Festival Management Mariette Rissenbeek and Carlo Chatrian will kick off the anniversary edition of the Berlinale with a festive opening. For the first time this year, the actor Samuel Finzi will be the presenter of the evening. The event will be broadcast on ZDF/3sat from 7.20 pm and streamed live on www.berlinale.de.

During the Opening Gala, the International Jury will be introduced, which includes actor Jeremy Irons (United Kingdom), actress Bérénice Bejo (Argentina / France), Producer Bettina Brokemper (Germany), director Annemarie Jacir (Palestine), playwright and filmmaker Kenneth Lonergan (USA), actor Luca Marinelli (Italy) and the film critic, director and programmer Kleber Mendonça Filho (Brazil).

Following the Opening Gala, My Salinger Year (Berlinale Special Gala) by Philippe Falardeau will have its world premiere. The director and his film team, including Sigourney Weaver, Margaret Qualley, Douglas Booth, Yanic Truesdale, Xiao Sun, Brían F. O’Byrne, Hamza Haq, Joanna Rakoff, Luc Déry, Kim McCraw und Ruth Coady will present the film in the Berlinale Palast.

In addition to the members of the International Jury, the Encounters Jury - Shozo Ichiyama, Eva Trobisch and Dominga Sotomayor as well as the GWFF Best First Feature Award Jury, which includes Hala Lotfy, Ognjen Glavonić and Gonzalo de Pedro Amatria are expected on the Red Carpet.

The three jury members for the Berlinale Documentary Award - Alanis Obomsawin, Gerd Kroske and Marie Losier as well as the members of the International Short Film Jury, Fatma Çolakoğlu und Lemohang Jeremiah Mosese, will also be present.

A number of prominent German politicians and ambassadors have also announced their attendance.

On this evening, other international and national guests are anticipated as well: Numan Acar, Maren Ade, Riz Ahmed, Fatih Akin, Feo Aladag, Doris Apell-Kölmel, Stefan Arndt, Thomas Arslan, Emily Atef, Benjamin Bach, Cameron Bailey, Alberto Barbera, Marc Bauder, Jasna Fritzi Bauer, Peri Baumeister, Meret Becker, Wolfgang Becker, Paula Beer, Christian Beetz, Bibiana Beglau, David Bennent, Iris Berben, Oliver Berben, Edward Berger, Christian Berkel, Hark Bohm, Sol Bondy, Alice Brauner, Fred Breinersdorfer, Dietrich Brüggemann, Daniel Brühl, Detlev Buck, Christel Buschmann, Mehmet Büyükatalay, Adriana Chiesa Di Palma, Roger Crotti, Didi Danquart, Pepe Danquart, Jonas Dassler, Anika Decker, David Dietl, Jonas Dornbach, Maria-Victoria Dragus, Andreas Dresen, Emma Drogunova, Doris Dörrie, Uli Edel, Katja Eichinger, Ildikó Enyedi, Golo Euler, Antonio Exacoustos, Veronica Ferres, Frauke Finsterwalder, Florian David Fitz, Christoph Friedel, Inka Friedrich, Jantje Friese, Kalle Friz, Hans Fromm, Thierry Frémaux, Maria Furtwängler, Benno Fürmann, Florian Gallenberger, Fabian Gasmia, Martina Gedeck, Nicole Gerhards, Jan Ole Gerster, Matti Geschonneck, Benoît Ginisty, Izeta Gradevic, Frank Griebe, Valeska Grisebach, Josefine Trini Götze, Jella Haase, Matthias Habich, Martin Hagemann, Monika Hansen-Sander, Peter Hartwig, Edin Hasanovic, Reinhard Hauff, Mohamed Hefzy, Helene Hegemann, Thomas Heinze, Thomas Heise, Benjamin Heisenberg, Veit Helmer, Annekatrin Hendel, André M. Hennicke, Benjamin Herrmann, Hannah Herzsprung, Luise Heyer, Lili Hinstin, Jerry Hoffmann, Sherry Hormann, Nina Hoss, Marcus Hu, Markus Imboden, Markus Imhoof, Ulf Israel, Janine Jackowski, Winfried Junge, Vanja Kaludjercic, Thanassis Karathanos, Jonas Katzenstein, Cüneyt Kaya, Nikolai Kinski, Burghart Klaußner, Michael Klier, Herbert Knaup, Sebastian Koch, Florian Koerner von Gustorf, Wolfgang Kohlhaase, Stefan Konarske, Oliver Koppert, Lars Kraume, Chris Kraus, Marvin Kren, Marco Kreuzpaintner, Maren Kroymann, Joachim Król, Jan Krüger, Thomas Kufus, Robert Kulzer, Michael Kölmel, Rainer Kölmel, Alexandra Maria Lara, Ursina Lardi, Jochen Laube, Trang Le Hong, Maximilian Leo, Dani Levy, Jan Josef Liefers, Zhe Liu, Peter Lohmeyer, Anna Loos-Liefers, Florian Lukas, Angelina Maccarone, Heike Makatsch, Oliver Masucci, Ulrich Matthes, Stanford McCoy, Huo Meng, Daniela Michel, Hans Petter Moland, Martin Moszkowicz, Nele Mueller-Stöfen, Murathan Muslu, Anna Maria Mühe, Johannes Naber, Jannis Niewöhner, Edward Noeltner, Baran Bo Odar, Ulrike Ottinger, Valerie Pachner, Jana Pallaske, Christiane Paul, Franziska Petri, Christian Petzold, Mirsad Purivatra, Xi Qi, Burhan Qurbani, Kida Khodr Ramadan, Anne Ratte-Polle, Noa Regev, Lutz Reitemeier, Tobias Riehl, Katja Riemann, Florian Ritter, Thorsten Ritter, Charles Rivkin, Oskar Roehler, Peter Rommel, Eva Rotter, Lars Rudolph, Ella Rumpf, Mahmoud Sabbagh, Eva Sangiorgi, Andrea Sawatzki, Angela Schanelec, Alexander Scheer, Clemens Schick, Sebastian Schipper, Frieder Schlaich, Volker Schlöndorff, Hans-Christian Schmid, Erik Schmitt, Maria Schrader, Albrecht Abraham Schuch, Karoline Schuch, Jessica Schwarz, Emilia Schüle, Jannik Schümann, Dirk Schürhoff, David Schütter, Akhtem Seitablaiev, Marie-Lou Sellem, Albert Serra, Julia Sinkevych, Carlo Sironi, Marco Solari, Tom Spieß, Robert Stadlober, Lilith Stangenberg, Claudia Steffen, Marie Steinmann-Tykwer, Paul Steinschulte, Florian Stetter, Isabelle Stever, Ula Stöckl, Karsten Stöter, Barbara Sukowa, Peter Sundarp, Zsófia Szilágyi, Maria Sødahl, Jasmin Tabatabai, Sven Taddicken, Giovanna Taviani, Aylin Tezel, Anna Thalbach, Robert Thalheim, Alexander Thies, Charles Tremblay, Ludwig Trepte, Jördis Triebel, Paul Trijbits, Montse Triola, Tom Tykwer, Christine Urspruch, Andres Veiel, Joana Vicente, Nora Waldstätten, Mark Waschke, Michael Weber, Ina Weisse, Franziska Weisz, Wim Wenders, Jakob D. Weydemann, Jonas Weydemann, Susanne Wolff, Tom Yoda, Soleen Yusef, Kim Yutani, Maryam Zaree, Jasmila Zbanic, Ronald Zehrfeld, Jia Zhangke, Weijie Zhu, Tanja Ziegler and Theresa von Eltz.

Press Office
February 19, 2020