Since 1978, the Berlinale has dedicated a special section for children and youths: Generation. Extraordinary short and feature-length films are presented in two competitions, Kplus and 14plus. The best films are awarded the Berlinale’s Crystal Bears.
Premieres with a special audience
Generation is not just the Berlinale’s platform for the latest national and international productions, but also home to a one-of-kind audience. Every year, around 50,000 moviegoers attend the premieres in the Zoo Palast cinema and the Kino Babylon in Mitte as well as the screenings in CinemaxX Potsdamer Platz, in Filmtheater am Friedrichshain and in the Cubix on Alexanderplatz and the Colosseum Filmtheater. Directors and actors meet the Berlinale’s industry guests as well as children and youths of every age group. These encounters give the section its unique appeal. Sympathy and criticism are expressed about the films in the audience discussions directly in the cinema, making the screenings in this section a one-of-a-kind festival experience for members of every generation.
Expanded understanding
Generation stands for an expanded understanding of films for children and youths. The section takes a clear approach to its audience, but doesn’t let that hinder its selection of films. Alongside extraordinary children’s and youth films, Generation presents mostly premieres of films that are suitable for young viewers due to their point of view or theme, without having to be made exclusively for this target audience. Naturally and with great passion, the Berlinale applies its high cinematic standards to children and youths and at the same time communicates to the industry the potential offered by evaluation of a film by a young audience. Additional “cross-section” screenings, which make selected out-of-competition films from the other sections of the Berlinale accessible to viewers under 18 within in the Generation section, support this conviction.
The Crystal Bears
An 11-person Children’s Jury votes on which films receive the Bears for the best long and short film in the Generation Kplus competition. The seven jurors of the Youth Jury present the Crystal Bears to the best long and short films in the Generation 14plus competition. An international expert jury awards the 7,500-euro “Grand Prix of the Deutsches Kinderhilfswerk (German Child Support Organisation)” to the best feature-length film in Generation Kplus. The “Special Prize of the Deutsches Hilfwerk,“ worth 2,500 euros, goes to the best short film in this competition.
Group discounts
For groups of five people and more, tickets for Generation films are available at a reduced price. Starting January 27, group tickets (2.00 Euros per person) can be reserved over the phone number +49 30 25291884, daily between 11am and 5pm. From February 11, the reserved tickets are ready for pick-up in the Berlinale Service Center (Eichhornstraße 3, Potsdamer Platz), daily from 11am til 6pm.
Interested representatives of school classes, kindergartens or other institutions can sign up for the section’s newsletter at any time. They will then receive programme information in time for the festival. To sign up, please send an e-mail including the name of the institution, contact person and details to .
Generation Films on DVD in the "Berlinale Edition"
On November 11, 2007 the “Berlinale Edition” DVD series of films from the Generation section has been released. The series is being expanded each year by about four highlights from the section’s program.
Recently the new titles Mariken and 32A have been released both of which were past audience favourites.
Actor Peter Lohmeyer, who loves going to see Generation movies with his kids, is the patron of the "Berlinale Edition". Section director Maryanne Redpath is thrilled about the release of the series: “The DVD edition resurrects a number of highlights from previous festivals and makes them available to past fans and future generations of viewers. These films stand for what we aspire to achieve with the Berlinale: to present intelligent entertainment and new ways of looking at young people’s lives.”
The following DVDs - with a detailed booklet by the “Young Journalists” (see link below) - are on sale in shops as well as in the
Berlinale Online Shop:
Berlinale Online Shop:- Wallah Be (directed by: Pia Bovin, Denmark / Berlinale 2003)
- Bloody Nuisance (directed by: Andrea Katzenberger, Germany / Berlinale 2001)
- Ikíngut (directed by: Gisli Snær Erlingsson, Iceland/Norway / Berlinale 2000)
- Hop (directed by: Dominique Standaert, Belgium / Berlinale 2002)
- The Short Film Reel (a total of 14 films for children ages four and up / Berlinale 2002-2007)
- Send More Candy(directed by: Cæcilia Holbek Trier, Denmark/Sweden / Berlinale 2002)
- An Italian (directed by: Andrei Kravchuk, Russian Federation / Berlinale 2005)
- The Colour of Paradise (directed by: Majid Majidi, Iran / Berlinale 2000)
- Sweet Mud (directed by: Dror Shaul, Israel/Germany/France/Japan / Berlinale 2007)
- Elina (directed by: Klaus Häro, Sweden/Finland / Berlinale 2003)
- Miracle (directed by: Natasha Arty, Denmark / Berlinale 2001)
- Only Clouds Move The Stars (directed by: Torun Lian, Norway / Berlinale 1999)
- Mariken (directed by: André van Duren, The Netherlands/Belgium / Berlinale 2001)
- 32A (directed by: Marian Quinn, Ireland/Germany / Berlinale 2008)
Download Programme Brochure
Please click on the following links to download the Programme Brochures for Generation Kplus and 14plus.
Programme Brochure Kplus 2010, PDF (2966 KB)Contact
Director
Co-Director
Florian Weghorn
phone +49 · 30 · 259 20 · 422
fax +49 · 30 · 259 20 · 429
The Generation audience also boasts its own Internet presence:
www.jungejournalisten.berlinale.de is an online webzine about film run by a group of film-loving kids and youths. The young journalists attend the festival, write reviews, interview actors and directors and publish their reports online in both German and English the same day.
www.jungejournalisten.berlinale.de is an online webzine about film run by a group of film-loving kids and youths. The young journalists attend the festival, write reviews, interview actors and directors and publish their reports online in both German and English the same day.
