Technical Requirements for Festival and EFM Media

The delivery deadline for all cinema presentation material including DKDMs is January 29, 2025. This deadline applies to all festival participants and EFM clients. All material has to arrive at the Berlinale Film Office by that date.

Meeting this deadline is especially important since all media – for festival and EFM alike – must pass a comprehensive and time-consuming quality management process before their first screening.

The Berlinale prefers to receive DCPs and ProRes via data transfer uploaded to the festival’s own Digital Cinema Portal. DKDMs must also be delivered via the Digital Cinema Portal. The Berlinale  will provide festival and EFM participants with access to its Digital Cinema Portal upon request. Further details on digital data transfer can be found in the File Upload section below.

Express Handling Fee
For European Film Market screenings only, the festival offers an Express Handling service (for a fee) for presentation material delivered after the aforementioned deadline. Please note that this is associated with an Express Handling Fee which is always charged if the EFM presentation material arrives after the deadline, or if presentation material that has already been delivered is exchanged for a different version of the film after January 29, 2025.

Please notify the early on if you know that your material cannot be delivered by January 29, 2025, in order to arrange for Express Handling of your film at the EFM. In that case, the latest possible date for delivery is 5 days before the first screening of the film.

The approved media formats for the festival and EFM are DCP and Quicktime ProRes. 35mm or other formats only upon request.

DCP

*Please note: All Stereo (2.0) DCPs will be upmixed to 5.1 during playback unless you explicitly request stereo playback. Please inform the in due time if you explicitly wish to have your film screened with a stereo mix. The Film Office advises against stereo playback in larger venues due to the missing center channel.

DKDMs

he Berlinale accepts both encrypted and unencrypted DCPs. 

If you are going to provide an encrypted DCP, please note that the Berlinale requests Distribution KDMs (DKDMs) for all encrypted DCPs. The DKDMs must be valid from the instant the DCP arrives in Berlin until February 24, 2025 and must be delivered via web upload to the Berlinale's Digital Cinema Portal where they are automatically verified upon entry. DKDMs sent by email cannot be accepted. More details on digital data transfer via the Berlinale's Digital Cinema Portal can be found below in the File Upload section.

All DKDMs must be SMPTE ST 430-1 compliant and in the “Modified Transitional 1“ formulation as per ISDCF guidelines, PDF.

ProRes

All ProRes files delivered for presentation at the festival/EFM will be converted to encrypted DCPs by the festival's film office, and screened as such. This conversion process is free of charge. The resulting DCPs will be destroyed after the end of the festival and can not be handed out to the participants/customers.

*Please note: All Stereo (2.0) files will be upmixed to 5.1 during playback unless you explicitly request stereo playback. Please inform the  in due time if you explicitly wish to have your film screened with a stereo mix. The Film Office advises against stereo playback in larger venues due to the missing center channel.

If you would like your film to be screened using an analog film print, please contact the as soon as possible to discuss details.

The festival offers different methods to deliver films to the festival and EFM:

The Berlinale provides a securely encrypted and efficient file upload system to receive DCP or ProRes files via digital transfer. The upload process is browser-based and integrated into the festival's Digital Cinema Portal which also provides the DKDM upload functionality.

Credentials for the Digital Cinema Portal

Upon request by email to the you will receive personalised login information to the festival’s Digital Cinema Portal where you can transmit DKDMs as well as DCPs and ProRes files. Please do not pass your individual login information on to any third parties (postproduction companies, labs, service providers), but instead contact the  to have a separate account created for your contractors.

Prerequisites
An internet connection with an upload speed of at least 50 Mbit/s is required to use the system. Uploading a 150 GB DCP will take about eight to ten hours at 50 Mbit/s. You can test your upload bandwidth by using the speedtest in the Digital Cinema Portal.

Supported Browsers
The festival's Digital Cinema Portal at https://dcinema.berlinale.de/ requires a modern internet browser.

The supported platforms are:

Please note: Internet Explorer / Edge and Safari are not supported!

Quicksupport
Should you encounter problems during the Upload or with the Digital Cinema Platform please contact the to help you.

If, for some reason, you cannot upload your film, you can deliver DCP and ProRes files using hard drives. However, the full cost of transport including customs fees and insurance, as well as the return freight, must be borne by the sender.

• Hard drives have to be either USB 3.0 or CRU and have to be delivered with a 230 V power-supply, where applicable. SSDs are preferred.
• For all shipments from outside of the European Union: Please use the proforma invoice template provided by your courier service and state a modest value for customs (about 20 USD) and please state as purpose of shipment “sample” (NOT “commercial”).
• Please inform the about the airway bill number of your shipment and the estimated date of arrival.

Shipping address:
Internationale Filmfestspiele Berlin
Film Office
Voxstraße 3
10785 Berlin
Germany
Tel.: +49 30 25920-888

General

We highly recommend that you have your subtitles produced by a professional subtitling provider.

Please see below for accepted file formats:

All subtitles have to be positioned in the “active area” of the image and must not be positioned on a black letterbox area.

Positioning Recommendations

The image may be cropped by up to 3 % during projection, due to the position of the projector and the venue’s architecture. The Film Office therefore recommends that you observe a safe area of at least 5 %.

From experience the Film Office recommends subtitles to have:

• a font size between 38 and 40pt
• a VAlign “bottom” with a VPosition of the lowest line between 8.0 and 10.0

Bilingual Subtitles

Please note: Bilingual subtitles are needed for feature films invited to the Competition and Berlinale Special Gala if their original version is neither English nor German. For most of the other sections generally only English subtitles are requested (for non-English dialogues). If in doubt, please consult the festival section inviting the film.

The festival’s is available for further questions regarding bilingual subtitles, if necessary.

May I get a copy of the DCP that Berlinale creates from my QuickTime file?
No. For technical as well as for legal reasons the Film Office cannot give you a copy of the DCP created from your QT-file.

Should we prepare an Interop or an SMPTE DCP?
Currently all systems used by the festival and the EFM are capable of playing both Interop and SMPTE DCPs. The Film Office highly recommends that you prepare a SMPTE DCP as it has various advantages over the older Interop format. Specifically they provide a wider range of frame rates and metadata, improved security and more robust subtitles.

May I be present while you test my DCP?
No, for logistcal and security reasons the Film Office does not allow any visitors to be present during the internal QC process.

May I schedule a test screening or rehearsal for my DCP screening?
Due to the tight screening schedule during the festival and the EFM, the Film Office generally does not offer test screenings for DCPs. Only films shown in Competition and Berlinale Special Gala are exempt from this rule: a designated test slot is available for these films in the premiere cinema the night before the first screening. 

EFM customers have the option to book an additional test screenings at current EFM rates.

In any case, please make sure that your DCP has been thoroughly tested before uploading/sending it to the Film Office.

Why is Berlinale testing my DCP?
To ensure a smooth screening, the Berlinale tests for error-free playback on the various festival systems. It is, however, the participant’s responsibility to properly test the DCP in a SMPTE compliant cinema from beginning to end before sending it to the festival.

Does the Berlinale accept unencrypted DCPs?
In principle, the Berlinale accepts both encrypted and unencrypted DCPs. It is therefore not necessary to provide an encrypted DCP for the festival. Should you decide to encrypt your DCP, it is necessary to provide a DKDM.

Why does Berlinale need a DKDM (master key) for my screenings?
There are two reasons why the Film Office asks you to supply the Berlinale with a DKDM:

1) A DKDM allows the festival to generate KDMs (keys) on very short notice for the theatres that are used during the festival and EFM. In case the festival needs to reschedule a screening or swap projectors/servers it is able to generate new keys as they are needed.

2) It enables the Film Office to test your DCP in a secure environment in advance. Without a key the Film Office cannot perform a number of critical tests.