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

© Pandora Film / Row Pictures © Palomar 2018

Competition

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

© Stefan Popescu for HBO Max © Stefan Popescu for HBO Max

Berlinale Special & Berlinale Series

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

© Salto Films, Artichoke, Proton Cinema © Salto Films, Artichoke, Proton Cinema

Encounters

A platform aiming to foster aesthetically and structurally daring works.

© ESCAC Films © ESCAC Films

Berlinale Shorts

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

© Aurora Films © Aurora Films

Panorama

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

© Activ Docs © Activ Docs

Forum & Forum Expanded

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

© Chris Lew © Chris Lew

Generation

Films that matter. For young cineastes and everyone else.

© Kleber Nascimento © Kleber Nascimento

Perspektive Deutsches Kino

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

Quelle: Park Circus © 1971, renewed 1999 Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Quelle: Park Circus © 1971, renewed 1999 Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

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 to art house cinemas.