For the 75th Anniversary of the Berlinale
75 years of the Berlinale – that’s 75 years full of stories, minor and major scandals, unforgettable moments and, above all, a long and passionate tale of unwavering love for the cinema. For 75 years, the festival has been bringing images and narratives from all over the world to Berlin, opening up new horizons, drawing the unfamiliar closer, moving the focus onto the repressed and forgotten, prompting both laughter and tears.
The galleries 75 Years – 75 Moments invite you to explore the history of the festival in selected photographs. The HUB75 offers the audience place for encounters and exchange. The film programme Berlinale Shorts Revisited celebrates the diversity of short film. The Historic Berlinale Debuts text series is bringing together a series of sensational first films which premiered in Berlin. And last but not least, a special stamp and coin have been created to mark the anniversary.
75 Years- 75 Moments
"75 Years - 75 Moments" shows some special moments, turning points and highlights from the festival's history. From the beginnings in post-war Berlin to the memorable scenes of recent years.
The early years: the divided city, the arrival of the stars, the euphoria of the fans, the opening of the Zoo Palast, film art from all over the world, Nouvelle Vague and much more
The Entrance to the Waldbühne
For the first Berlinale in 1951, the festivities took place in the open air at the Charlottenburg Waldbühne, which had been used as an open-air cinema since 1950. The closing evening was crowned by a spectacular firework.
75 Years - 75 Moments
Landesarchiv Berlin, F Rep. 290 Nr. 0012082 / Fotograf: Bert Sass
Festival Office at Tauentzienstrasse 14
To see how much has changed in 75 years, one has to look no further than at snapshots like this one of the festival's engine room in 1953.
75 Years - 75 Moments
Deutsche Kinemathek - © Heinz Köster
Berlinale Posters on the Border to East Berlin
1954, scenes of a divided city: until 1962 and the construction of the Berlin Wall in August 1961, the festival openly advertised to visitors from the eastern part of the city.
75 Years - 75 Moments
Quelle: Deutsche Kinemathek
Gina Lollobrigida
The Italian actor, star of Luigi Comencini's Pane, amore e fantasia, arriving at the Tempelhof Airport in 1954.
75 Years - 75 Moments
Deutsche Kinemathek - © Heinz Köster
Sophia Loren, Yvonne de Carlo, Gina Lollobrigida
Sophia Loren, Yvonne de Carlo and Gina Lollobrigida (Pane, amore e fantasia) at the Filmball in 1954.
75 Years - 75 Moments
Deutsche Kinemathek - © Heinz Köster
John Wayne
As early as 1955, Hollywood stars - always also as ambassadors of the West - flocked to the city, which was then divided into sectors.
75 Years - 75 Moments
© Stiftung Stadtmuseum Berlin / Harry Croner
City Tour 1955
75 Years - 75 Moments
Deutsche Kinemathek - © Heinz Köster
Waldbühne
Visitors waiting to enter the venue in 1955. Over the past 75 years, the festival has been built on people's enthusiasm and hunger for film.
75 Years - 75 Moments
Deutsche Kinemathek - © Heinz Köster
Filmball
In 1956, the Berlinale was recognised as an A-festival.
75 Years - 75 Moments
Deutsche Kinemathek - © Heinz Köster
Romy Schneider
With the Sissi films (1955-1957), the Austrian actor became world-famous and caused endless euphoria whenever she presented herself to her fans - as here in 1957.
75 Years - 75 Moments
Deutsche Kinemathek - © Heinz Köster
Zoo Palast
Completed in 1957, the Zoo Palast has been a venue for the Berlinale from the very beginning. And remains so - with interruptions - to this day.
75 Years - 75 Moments
Deutsche Kinemathek - © Heinz Köster
Delphi Filmpalast
The Delphi Filmpalast, which opened in 1949 in the aftermath of the war, was already part of the Berlinale in the 1950s. In 1981, the festival returned to the cinema in the Kantstraße and the Delphi became the venue of the Forum. In 1958, it was festively decorated with the flags of the participating nations.
75 Years - 75 Moments
© Stiftung Stadtmuseum Berlin / Harry Croner
Autograph Hunters
The arrival of stars caused chaos in the streets of Berlin as early as 1958.
75 Years - 75 Moments
© Stiftung Stadtmuseum Berlin / Harry Croner
Street Impression 1959
75 Years - 75 Moments
© Stiftung Stadtmuseum Berlin / Harry Croner
Special Post Office 1959
75 Years - 75 Moments
© Stiftung Stadtmuseum Berlin / Harry Croner
Sophia Loren, Willy Brandt
The Italian actor, in Competition with Sidney Lumet's That Kind of Woman, and the Governing Mayor of Berlin and later Federal Chancellor, 1959.
75 Years - 75 Moments
Deutsche Kinemathek - © Heinz Köster
Film Poster
Pedestrians look at the film poster of À bout de souffle in 1960, with which Jean-Luc Godard redefined the possibilities of cinema. For his debut film he was also awarded the Silver Bear for Best Director.
75 Years - 75 Moments
© Stiftung Stadtmuseum Berlin / Harry Croner
Jayne Mansfield
Others bring the stars down from the sky. Starlet Jayne Mansfield brought the grapes down from the ceiling in 1961. Large sections of the press ended up calling the 11th Berlinale the "Bosom Berlinale".
75 Years - 75 Moments
© Stiftung Stadtmuseum Berlin / Harry Croner
François Truffaut, Jean-Pierre Léaud
As two of the leading figures of the French Nouvelle Vague, the director and the actor were represented in 1962 in the Competition with L'Amour à vingt ans in 1962.
75 Years - 75 Moments
Deutsche Kinemathek - © Heinz Köster
Cinematic Art from Around the World
Film posters from 1963: From the very beginning, the Berlinale has been committed to promoting international understanding and presenting a wide spectrum of the world's cinematic art.
75 Years - 75 Moments
© Stiftung Stadtmuseum Berlin / Harry Croner
Claudia Cardinale
The Italian actor, in Competition with La Ragazza di Bube by Luigi Comencini, on Berlin's Ku’damm in 1964.
75 Years - 75 Moments
Deutsche Kinemathek - © Heinz Köster
Sidney Poitier
The two-time winner of the Silver Bear at the Berlinale in 1964. In the same year he became the first person of colour to win the Oscar for Best Actor.
75 Years - 75 Moments
Deutsche Kinemathek - © Heinz Köster
Royal Palast 1965
For many years, the cinema opposite the Memorial Church was one of the most important venues of the Berlinale. In 2004, the former flagship of West Berlin's cinema landscape closed for good.
75 Years - 75 Moments
© Stiftung Stadtmuseum Berlin / Harry Croner
Agnès Varda, André Michelin
The director, winner of the Silver Bear for Le bonheur, and the producer of the Golden Bear winning film Alphaville in 1965.
75 Years - 75 Moments
Deutsche Kinemathek - © Heinz Köster
Street Impression
Berlin is once again decorated with flags of the participating nations in 1958.
75 Years - 75 Moments
Deutsche Kinemathek - © Heinz Köster
Since the 1970s: the New German Cinema, Berlinale in winter, Panorama, Tilda Swinton's first appearance, Shoah, scandal at the Award Ceremony, the fall of the Berlin Wall and much more
Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Hanna Schygulla
The director and his muse in 1971, the year they presented Whity together in Competition.
75 Years - 75 Moments
Erika Rabau © Internationale Filmfestspiele Berlin
Jacques Tati, Shirley MacLaine, Stanley Kramer
Three of the biggest names in film history were in Berlin in 1971: the French director with the US-American actor who won the Silver Bear for Best Actress in Desperate Characters, and the US-American director who was in Competition with Bless the Beasts and Children.
75 Years - 75 Moments
Erika Rabau © Internationale Filmfestspiele Berlin
Satyajit Ray
The Indian director in 1973, the year he won the Golden Berlin Bear for Best Film with Ashani Sanket.
75 Years - 75 Moments
© Stiftung Stadtmuseum Berlin / Harry Croner
Scene from Ai no Corrida
The film by Nagisa Oshimas sparked a major censorship scandal after its premiere in 1976.
75 Years - 75 Moments
Source: Deutsche Kinemathek
Douglas Sirk, Rainer Werner Fassbinder
The German director Fassbinder (right), 1978 in Competition with Deutschland im Herbst, and his role model Douglas Sirk (left), who fled from the National Socialists in 1937 and quickly rose to become a grand master of melodrama in Hollywood.
75 Years - 75 Moments
© Stiftung Stadtmuseum Berlin / Harry Croner
Patricia Highsmith
In 1978, former festival director Wolf Donner moved the festival from June to winter, with the Berlinale starting in February. Jury president Patricia Highsmith had to deal with the cold Berlin weather.
75 Years - 75 Moments
Erika Rabau © Stiftung Deutsche Kinemathek / Internationale Filmfestspiele Berlin
Klaus Kinski
The legendary yet controversial German actor at the Press Conference for Nosferatu – Phantom der Nacht, his second collaboration with Werner Herzog, which screened in Competition in 1979.
75 Years - 75 Moments
Erika Rabau © Stiftung Deutsche Kinemathek / Internationale Filmfestspiele Berlin
Hanna Schygulla, Michael Ballhaus
Two guests who are closely connected with the Berlinale: The actor, who won the Silver Bear for Best Actress in 1979 with her role in Die Ehe der Maria Braun by Rainer Werner Fassbinder, with the German cinematographer, who accepted the Bear "for the entire team" of the film. Schygulla was awarded the Honorary Golden Bear in 2010, Ballhaus in 2016.
75 Years - 75 Moments
Erika Rabau © Stiftung Deutsche Kinemathek / Internationale Filmfestspiele Berlin
Renate Krößner
The actor was the acclaimed star of the 1980 Berlinale and was honoured with the Silver Bear for her role in the DEFA production Solo Sunny by Konrad Wolf - who would have turned 100 years old in 2025. In 1991 - after the fall of the Berlin Wall - Krößner became a member of the International Jury.
75 Years - 75 Moments
© Stiftung Stadtmuseum Berlin / Harry Croner
James Stewart
In 1982, the Hommage was dedicated to the popular and frequent guest of the Berlinale. That year he became the third ever winner of the Honorary Golden Bear, which was first awarded in 1977.
75 Years - 75 Moments
Erika Rabau © Internationale Filmfestspiele Berlin
Programme Board 1984
For many years, this was the only way to learn about the festival programme.
75 Years - 75 Moments
© Stiftung Stadtmuseum Berlin / Harry Croner
Horst Benzrath, Wieland Speck, Manfred Salzgeber
Former press officer Horst Benzrath in 1984 with the two long-serving heads of the Panorama. Manfred Salzgeber initially set up the section under the name Info-Schau, Wieland Speck assisted him until 1992 and then took over as the section head. In 1987, the two initiated the TEDDY AWARD, to this day the most important queer film prize in the world.
75 Years - 75 Moments
Erika Rabau © Stiftung Deutsche Kinemathek / Internationale Filmfestspiele Berlin
Helen Mirren
One of her earlier visits: the actor came to Berlin for her film 2010 in the spectacular retrospective "Special Effects". Helen Mirren received the Honorary Golden Bear in 2020.
75 Years - 75 Moments
© Stiftung Stadtmuseum Berlin / Harry Croner
Nigel Terry, Tilda Swinton, Derek Jarman
The actors and director (right) present Caravaggio in 1986. For Tilda Swinton, who is awarded the Honorary Golden Bear for her lifetime achievement in 2025, this is her first appearance at the Berlinale.
75 Years - 75 Moments
© Stiftung Stadtmuseum Berlin / Harry Croner
Sean Penn, James Foley
The actor and the director at the Press Conference of At Close Range in 1986. In the following years, Foley shot the influential music videos for the songs on the "True Blue" album by Madonna, Penn's wife at the time.
75 Years - 75 Moments
© Stiftung Stadtmuseum Berlin / Harry Croner
Claude Lanzmann
In 1986, the French director presented his epic film Shoah, which would change the perception of the Holocaust forever, at the Berlinale. The film is shown again in 2025 to honour the 80th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp. Claude Lanzmann, who died in 2018, was awarded the Honorary Golden Bear in 2013.
75 Years - 75 Moments
Erika Rabau © Stiftung Deutsche Kinemathek / Internationale Filmfestspiele Berlin
Gina Lollobrigida, Moritz de Hadeln, Reinhard Hauff, Stefan Aust
In 1986, Jury President Gina Lollobrigida caused a scandal during the Award Ceremony of the Golden Bear to Reinhard Hauff's Stammheim. She spoke of a "prefabricated opinion" and declared "I was against this film." The screenplay for Hauff's film about the RAF trials was written by the esteemed journalist Stefan Aust.
75 Years - 75 Moments
© Stiftung Stadtmuseum Berlin / Harry Croner
Daniel Schmid, Tilda Swinton
One of the early Berlinale visits of the Scottish actor, who is awarded the Honorary Golden Bear in 2025. Tilda Swinton, here with International Jury member Daniel Schmid, presented Derek Jarman's The Last of England, which went to win two Teddy Awards in 1988.
75 Years - 75 Moments
Erika Rabau © Stiftung Deutsche Kinemathek / Internationale Filmfestspiele Berlin
Julia Roberts
The US-American actor, who was a guest of the Berlinale in 1990 with Herbert Ross' Steel Magnolias, at the Berlin Wall which had just recently fallen.
75 Years - 75 Moments
© Wolfgang Moucha / Alamy Stock Photo
Michael Moore
In 1990 the US-American filmmaker and activist presented his debut film Roger and Me about the economic decline of his home town Flint, Michigan at the festival.
75 Years - 75 Moments
Erika Rabau © Stiftung Deutsche Kinemathek / Internationale Filmfestspiele Berlin
Moritz de Hadeln, Tim Burton, Lisa Marie
A visit from an alien planet: in 1997 the Festival Director (left) welcomed the directing mastermind and the actor for the premiere of Mars Attacks!
75 Years - 75 Moments
© Internationale Filmfestspiele Berlin
Halle Berry
The actor won the Silver Bear for Best Actress for her role in Marc Forster's Monster's Ball. Shortly after, she became the first woman of colour to win the Oscar for Best Actress.
75 Years - 75 Moments
Wieland Speck, George Michael, Klaus Wowereit
A huge crowd in front of the Kino International in 2005: the musician was a guest with Southan Morris' documentary George Michael - A Different Story. The section head of the Panorama and the Governing Mayor of Berlin welcomed him at the premiere. At the Press Conference earlier, George Michael had expressed his strong opinions and criticism when he said: "I think my genre has been killed off by corporate thinking."
75 Years - 75 Moments
Cate Blanchett, Anjelica Huston
Cate Blanchett revealed a secret to Anjelica Huston just before they entered the stage for the Press Conference of The Life Aquatic by Wes Anderson in 2005.
75 Years - 75 Moments
Amber Valletta, Will Smith, Eva Mendes
Here to be kissed: the US-American actor with his colleagues at the premiere of Andy Tennant's Hitch in 2005.
75 Years - 75 Moments
Until 2024: imaginative costumes, the Brandenburg Gate as a canvas, Berlinale Goes Kiez, bag on the head, a fantastic woman, Summer Special and much more
Demi Moore
In 2009, the American actor was in the Competition with Mitchell Lichtenstein's Happy Tears.
75 Years - 75 Moments
Sabine von Oettingen
The history of the festival is also a history of creative costumes. At the premiere of Marco Wilms' Ein Traum in Erdbeerfolie in 2009, the actor appeared in an extravagant outfit.
75 Years - 75 Moments
The Protagonists
Body Positivity in 2009: The protagonists of The Yes Men Fix The World appeared in sensational outfits at the Opening Gala.
75 Years - 75 Moments
Kate Winslet
Stephen Daldry's The Reader was screened in the Competition in 2009. Kate Winslet impressed in her role as a former guard at the Auschwitz concentration camp and shortly afterwards won the Oscar for Best Actress in a Leading Role.
75 Years - 75 Moments
Metropolis
To celebrate its 60th anniversary, the Brandenburg Gate was transformed into a cinema screen in 2010. Fritz Lang's classic Metropolis was screened on a freezing night.
75 Years - 75 Moments
Tom Tykwer
Launched in 2010, Berlinale Goes Kiez has become an all time favourite and is also an important part of the festival in 2025. In its inaugural year, the German director - whose film Das Licht opens the Berlinale in 2025 - took on the patronage of the Passage cinema in Berlin Neukölln.
75 Years - 75 Moments
Richard Linklater, Julie Delpy, Ethan Hawke
In the course of time: The director and his actors came to Berlin in 2013 to complete the trilogy with Before Midnight. They presented Before Sunrise in 1995 and Before Sunset in 2004. In 2025, Richard Linklater is represented in the Competition with Blue Moon.
75 Years - 75 Moments
Shia LaBeouf
The team of Nymphomaniac Volume I led by director Lars von Trier created a great spectacle at the 64th Berlinale in 2014. The highlight was Shia LaBeouf's unconventional appearance on the Red Carpet.
75 Years - 75 Moments
George Clooney, John Goodman, Matt Damon
Too much for sensitive ears: Clooney and Damon tormented their colleague with their whistling skills at the Press Conference for The Monuments Men in 2014.
75 Years - 75 Moments
Hana Saeidi, Darren Aronofsky, Audrey Tautou
At the end, the most emotional moment of the festival of 2015: Hanna Saedi, actor in Taxi and niece of director the Jafar Panahi, accepted the Golden Bear on behalf of her uncle who was imprisoned in Iran; Jury President Darren Aronofsky was just as moved as his colleague Audrey Tautou.
75 Years - 75 Moments
Michael Ballhaus, Hanna Schygulla
In 2016, the German cinematographer was awarded the Honorary Golden Bear. The laudation was held by the German actor Hanna Schygulla, with whom Ballhaus had worked on numerous films by Rainer Werner Fassbinder.
75 Years - 75 Moments
Gianfranco Rosi, Pietro Bartolo
In 2016, a year in which the "refugee crisis" dominated European politics, the International Jury led by Meryl Streep awarded the Golden Bear to Fuocoammare. Gianfranco Rosi's film about life on the Italian island of Lampedusa, where the suffering of refugees had been intensifying for years, was the first documentary film to win the main prize at the Berlinale.
75 Years - 75 Moments
Journalist, George Clooney, Ethan Coen
Are you flirting with me? George Clooney in 2016 in a teasing conversation with a journalist at the Press Conference for Hail, Caesar!
75 Years - 75 Moments
Kirsten Dunst
Always an unmissable event: fans greet their stars as they hunt for autographs on the Red Carpet. In 2016, Kirsten Dunst caused a stir at the premiere of Jeff Nichols' Midnight Special.
75 Years - 75 Moments
Daniela Vega
Not only did the actor enchant the audience in Sebastián Lelio's Una mujer fantástica in 2017, the film also won the Silver Bear for Best Screenplay. And not only that: Una mujer fantástica received the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film in 2018.
75 Years - 75 Moments
Udo Kier, Joaquin Phoenix
The two actors at the premiere of Gus Van Sant's Don't Worry, He Won't Get Far on Foot in 2018.
75 Years - 75 Moments
Greta Gerwig
The American actor in 2018 on the occasion of the premiere of the opening film Isle of Dogs, for which Wes Anderson was awarded the Silver Bear for Best Director.
75 Years - 75 Moments
Diane Kruger
The German actor is one of the festival's most loyal guests. In 2019, she was on screen in The Operative by Yuval Adler.
75 Years - 75 Moments
Mohammad Rasoulof, Baran Rasoulof
In 2020, Iranian director Mohammad Rasoulof was unable to attend the Awards Ceremony due to a travel ban. His team accepted the Golden Bear for Sheytan vojud nadarad at the Berlinale Palast and brought him into the Press Conference by video.
75 Years - 75 Moments
Omar Sy
The actor, who was in the Berlinale Special section with Police in 2020, mingled with the photographers.
75 Years - 75 Moments
Summer Special
During the COVID era in February 2021, an in-person festival was out of the question. Instead, celebrations took place outdoors in June, as seen here on Museumsinsel.
75 Years - 75 Moments
Daniel Frigo, Elisa Amoruso, Julian Jarrold, Alessandro Saba
The team of the mafia series The Good Mothers was thrilled to receive the first Berlinale Series Award in 2023.
75 Years - 75 Moments
© Stefanie Schmid Rincon
Golshifteh Farahani, Kristen Stewart, Carla Simón
Strong female power in the International Jury 2023
75 Years - 75 Moments
Adrien Brody
The actor was in the Competition with Manodrome in 2023.
75 Years - 75 Moments
Amanda Seyfried
The leading actor of Seven Veils on the Red Carpet in 2024.
75 Years - 75 Moments
HUB75 – The Berlinale Festival Center
The 75th anniversary is also an opportunity to take a look into the future. HUB75, a festival lounge set up directly opposite the Berlinale Palast, is the first step in restoring the Potsdamer Platz area into being once again the pulsating centre of the festival after the closure and renovation of several venues – and is facilitating intensive exchanges and understanding, in keeping with the history of the Berlinale.
Film Programme: Berlinale Shorts Revisited
Berlinale Shorts is featuring six gems from the festival archive which celebrate the diversity of short film and invite you to (re)discover them in the special anniversary programme You and I Are Not Alone – Berlinale Shorts Revisited.
Series of Texts: Historic Berlinale Debuts
The new Perspectives section is launching in 2025 and is dedicated to discovering and supporting exceptional feature film debutants from around the world. In its 75-year history, the Berlinale has presented a large number of unforgettable first films which have often sparked impressive, decades-spanning careers. The texts on Berlinale Debuts offer a selection of the most striking examples.
To celebrate this year’s 75th edition of the Berlin International Film Festival, an official commemorative stamp is being issued which can be ordered from Deutsche Post’s online shop at shop.deutschepost.de from February 6, 2025.
In addition, the German Federal Government is bringing out a specially minted 20 euro coin on February 23 to mark this anniversary. These can be purchased at face value in all branches of Deutsche Bundesbank from the day of issue, or as of now via the Münze Deutschland shop at shop.muenzedeutschland.de.