Sections & Special Presentations

Each year the Berlinale comprises about 400 films of every genre, length and format. The festival is divided into the following sections and a mutable number of special presentations.

Sections

© Palomar 2018

Competition

The festival's centrepiece screens the films that will be talked about.

© Tobias Datum / Courtesy of Sony Pictures Classics © Tobias Datum / Courtesy of Sony Pictures Classics

Berlinale Special & Berlinale Series

Space for the extraordinary, the glamorous and the festival's special concerns.

© Prophecy Films © Prophecy Films

Encounters

A platform aiming to foster aesthetically and structurally daring works.

© Juliette Barrat / L'Endroit © Juliette Barrat / L'Endroit

Berlinale Shorts

The films of Berlinale Shorts are cinema's unsolicitied requests to take the floor and speak.

© Silver Salt Films © Silver Salt Films

Panorama

Sexy, edgy, daring. Panorama screens extraordinary cinema and is a traditional audience favourite.

© Mick Bello © Mick Bello

Forum & Forum Expanded

Reflection on the medium of film, social and artistic discourse and aesthetic obstinacy.

© Aamu Film Company © Aamu Film Company

Generation

Films that matter. For young cineastes and everyone else.

© vajda film UG © vajda film UG

Perspektive Deutsches Kino

Talented directors screen their debut films and bring a fresh impetus to the cinema with their individual styles.

Source: Deutsche Kinemathek, courtesy of Universal Studios Licensing, LLC Source: Deutsche Kinemathek, courtesy of Universal Studios Licensing, LLC

Retrospective, Berlinale Classics & Homage

Discover film history and view it anew in screenings of the highest quality.

Special Presentations

Berlinale Goes Kiez

Brings festival films and their casts and crews to art house cinemas.