Berlinale & EFM Participation Guidelines

The Berlin International Film Festival (Berlinale) is a division of Kulturveranstaltungen des Bundes in Berlin GmbH (KBB). The Berlinale is funded by the Minister of State for Culture and Media, in accordance with a resolution of the German Federal Parliament. The European Film Market (EFM) is part of the Berlinale.

To qualify for a festival or EFM accreditation, the festival visitor must agree to the participation guidelines. Organisations or people applying for accreditation for third parties must confirm and ensure that the third party has noted, accepted and will comply with the conditions of participation.

Any violation of these guidelines, as well as any disregard of the KBB House Rules and safety regulations, may lead to the withdrawal of the accreditation and a permanent exclusion from the event by the organiser. The Berlinale can assert further rights as necessary.

The Berlinale is part of a globally connected film and media community that advocates for a pluralistic, inclusive, equal and fair cultural industry.

In order to meet this responsibility, the festival is committed to providing its participants with the greatest possible protection against discrimination as defined in the German General Equal Treatment Act (AGG). The Berlinale reserves the right to enforce its house rules in cases of discrimination or harassment and to prevent those involved in such abuses from participating in our events. For further details, please refer to the KBB House Rules. For further information, please see the Notes on Anti-Discrimination.

Accreditation applications are only processed during the official registration period. The deadlines are published on the respective Berlinale and EFM websites.

Proof of professional activity in the media or film industry is a requirement for press, festival or EFM accreditation.

Applicants for the Generation Badge – 14plus must be aged 25 or younger. Applicants for the Generation Badge – 14plus who are under the age of 18 must provide written proof of consent from a parent or legal guardian.

The submission of an application does not guarantee accreditation. The festival organisers reserve the right to accept or reject an application.

Company administrators can purchase and pay for accreditations for company employees without prior verification and approval of the accreditation. However, such sales agreements only become valid if these registered employee(s) can then prove themselves to meet the accreditation requirements. This includes the (subsequent) submission of proof of employment with the company which will be checked and validated by the Berlinale. Should the submitted data not correspond to the individual seeking accreditation and/or the accreditation requirements are not met, the Berlinale reserves the right to retroactively invalidate the accreditation. In such an eventuality, any provisionally granted accreditation and all related legal transactions are rendered void and invalid and any payments already made to the Berlinale will be immediately refunded. If the accreditation is successfully authorised, the sales agreement continues to remain valid.

Further information can be found on the respective web pages: Professionals/EFM, Press and Students.

The online rights acquired with the accreditation are personal and non-transferable. It grants access to Online Services of the Berlin International Film Festival in accordance with the guidelines provided by the organisers.

Accredited visitors are not entitled to make any content (especially Online Screenings) public or screen it privately and / or make it publicly accessible. In the case of a presentation and / or making available to the public and / or commercial use of the offers, the accredited person does not only violate the participation guidelines of the Berlin International Film Festival, but also violates the rights to the content of the rights holders and may accordingly be subject to claims made by the Berlin International Film Festival and the rights holders.

The Festival / EFM Accreditation is granted to a specific person and is non-transferable. It grants access to locations and screenings at the Berlin International Film Festival and / or the European Film Market in accordance with the guidelines provided by the organisers.

For the entire duration of the festival and the European Film Market, a Festival / EFM badge is compulsory to access the festival and market locations. Individuals without a Festival / EFM Accreditation badge can be refused entry by security personnel. Festival / EFM Accreditation badges used by individuals other than the accreditation holder will be confiscated.

The loss or theft of a Festival / EFM badge must be reported immediately to the respective accreditation counter. The issuing of a new Festival / EFM badge will incur additional costs. The organisers reserve the right to refuse to issue a replacement Festival / EFM badge.

About one week before the start of the festival, a personalised collection slip will be sent out. Accreditation and EFM badges will be issued at the respective accreditation counter(s) upon presentation of the collection slip and a valid photo ID. If the accreditation is to be collected by someone else, the collection slip must be presented as authorisation.

Persons under the age of 18 are not eligible for Festival / EFM Accreditation.

Exceptions are made for minors belonging to a festival film cast and crew or for those participating exclusively in the Generation 14plus or Generation Kplus sections of the programme. Film cast and crew members or festival participants in the Generation section under the age of 18 must be accompanied by an accredited adult.

Holders of the Generation Badge - 14plus who are under the age of 18 may independently participate in the public festival events of the Generation section upon presentation of written proof of consent from a parent or legal guardian.

The registration for the Berlinale and / or the European Film Market has to be done online. The date of registration determines the fee that has to be paid (excluding Press Accreditations). Accreditations / EFM badges that have not been paid in the course of the registration process must be paid online via the Berlinale account until January 23, 2026. The Early Bear and the Regular Rate for Market Badges, Online Market Badges and Festival Accreditations are only valid until January 23, 2026. As of January 24, 2026, up-to-date prices will be charged.

The payment deadline for all types of accreditations ends on January 23, 2026. Belated payments may lead to delays when collecting the accreditation badge and in gaining access to online services such as the online ticket shop for holders of Festival, Press and Student Accreditations as well as the Generation Badge - 14plus..

Upon prior arrangement with the accreditation department, selected companies and institutions have the opportunity to effect a collective payment for several accredited persons.

Online payments may be effected by credit card (Mastercard, VISA, American Express) and PayPal. Refunds for Press, Student and Festival Accreditations, as well as Hospitality Badges and Generation Badges - 14plus which have already been paid for is only possible until January 23, 2026, upon sending an email with a cancellation request to .

Market Badges and Online Market Badges cannot be cancelled once payment has been made.

Any company or individual with an outstanding debt to the festival or the EFM will be refused accreditation / registration until the debt has been paid.

The person applying for accreditation guarantees that all documents, in particular the photos submitted with their application, are free of copyright and may be used for the accreditation / EFM badge, and if applicable, the EFM Participants Guide. The applicant guarantees that they release the Berlinale from any claims by copyright holders regarding the use of the submitted material. The Berlinale reserves the right to retrospectively refuse an accreditation which makes unauthorised use of copyrighted material

Tickets granting accredited visitors access to festival events are for personal use only and can only be booked online via a personalised access to the online ticket shop for accredited visitors, subject to availability.

It is not possible to guarantee tickets for a specific screening or event, nor for a specific number of tickets.

The personalised tickets for accredited visitors are only valid in combination with their accreditation badge. The accreditation / EFM badge must be shown for inspection at the cinema entrance. The tickets will be validated upon entry.

The accredited visitors are obliged to adhere to the following booking rules: a maximum of one ticket per screening, event and (90 minutes) time slot may be booked. Tickets that have been booked but subsequently cannot be used must be cancelled online in good time before the screening begins. If tickets are repeatedly not used, the festival reserves the right to cancel tickets that have already been booked and / or to block that person’s access to the online ticket shop for accredited visitors.

Film and sound recordings of any kind are not permitted to be made by festival participants at online or on-site film screenings. Any infringement of this rule could lead to civil and / or criminal legal action and will result in the participant being asked to leave the venue or having their online access removed.

Film, digital, video or sound recordings containing any film screening content, as well as the recording device they were made on, can be confiscated. The device will be returned upon the condition that the owner agrees to delete the recordings immediately.

To prevent piracy, every festival participant confirms that they will not steal intellectual property in accordance with copyright laws and with respect to the resultant rights.

In the event of authorised persons recording images and / or sound during a public screening or event, festival attendees agree to their possible inclusion in an image and / or sound recording and permit these recordings to be potentially broadcast or transmitted to third parties for publicity purposes without any claim to remuneration.

Press screenings of Berlinale films usually take place before the public premieres. Reviews of films that celebrate their world premieres at the Berlinale may only be published after the beginning of the first public screening (start of the screening + 30 minutes). This also applies to social media channels.
The start time of the event is not always the same as the start time of the film screening. Therefore, there may be a separate embargo notice for some films.

The respective rights’ holders of festival films will be informed about the attendance of accredited journalists at individual film screenings at the festival. Only the names of the journalists and the respective media organisations will be passed on.

In addition, the general terms and conditions of Kulturveranstaltungen des Bundes in Berlin GmbH apply. If there is any contradiction between the above participation guidelines and the general terms and conditions, the former take precedence.

As of November 10, 2025