Retrospective & Berlinale Classics

Since its foundation in 1951, the Berlinale has been the only A-festival in the world to screen a comprehensive filmhistorical retrospective. In 1977, this special commitment to the heritage of international film led to a partnership with the Deutsche Kinemathek – Museum für Film und Fernsehen which, since then, has been responsible for shaping the content and has curated and organised the Retrospective in close cooperation with the festival. Directors previously honoured in the Retrospective include Fritz Lang, Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau, Luis Buñuel, Ernst Lubitsch and Ingmar Bergman. Other topics have been periods significant to film history such as Weimar Cinema and New Hollywood, as well as innovations which played a decisive role in the aesthetic and technical development of cinema (Aesthetics of Shadow, Glorious Technicolor).

Since 2013, the Retrospective has been expanded by Berlinale Classics. In view of the increasing number of high-quality restorations and reconstructions offered by the new possibilities of digital processing, this section provides a forum for premieres of restored film classics and rediscoveries screened in brilliant picture and sound quality.

From 1977 up to and including 2023, the Deutsche Kinemathek curated the films for the Homage section, which was discontinued in 2025. The Homage celebrated the works of the outstanding personalities of international cinema who were awarded the Honorary Golden Bear in the respective year. Between 1977 and 2008, the Honorary Bear went to directing greats such as Hal Roach, Fred Zinneman, Arthur Penn and Francesco Rosi and to acting stars like James Stewart, Gregory Peck, Sophia Loren, Catherine Deneuve and Jeanne Moreau. Since 2009, other film disciplines have also come into the spotlight with presentations to the French film composer Maurice Jarre (2009), cinematographer Michael Ballhaus (2016) and costume designer Milena Canonero (2017).

The Retrospective has been managed by the Deutsche Kinemathek since 1977 that has organised the following Retrospectives:

• Wild, Weird, Bloody. German Genre Films of the 70s (2025)
• An Alternate Cinema – From the Deutsche Kinemathek Archives (2024)
• Young at Heart – Coming of Age at the Movies (2023)
• No Angels – Mae West, Rosalind Russell & Carole Lombard (2022)
• King Vidor (2020)
• Self-determined. Perspectives of women filmmakers (2019)
• Weimar Cinema Revisited (2018)
• Future Imperfect. Science · Fiction · Film (2017)
• Germany 1966 – Redefining Cinema (2016)
• Glorious Technicolor. From George Eastman House and Beyond (2015)
• Aesthetics of Shadow. Lighting Styles 1915–1950 (2014)
• The Weimar Touch. The International Influence of Weimar Cinema after 1933 (2013)
• The Red Dream Factory. Mezhrabpom-Film and Prometheus 1921–1936 (2012)
• Ingmar Bergman. Film as life and life as film (2011)
• PLAY IT AGAIN…! 60 Years Berlinale (2010)
• 70 mm - Bigger than Life (2009)
• Luis Buñuel (2008)
• City Girls. Images of Women in Silent Film (2007)
• Dream Girls. Film Stars in the 1950s (2006)
• Production Design + Film. Locations, Settings, Spaces (2005)
• New Hollywood 1967-1976. Trouble in Wonderland (2004)
• F. W. Murnau (2003)
• European 60’s (2002)
• Fritz Lang (2001)
• Artificial People (2000)
• Otto Preminger (1999)
• Siodmak Bros. Berlin – London – Paris – Hollywood (1998)
• G. W. Pabst (1997)
• William Wyler (1996)
• Happy Birthday, Cinema! (1995)
• Buster Keaton 100
• Slapstick & Co.
• Erich von Stroheim (1994)
• CinemaScope (1993)
• Babelsberg. A film studio (1992)
• Cold War (1991)
• The Year 1945 (1990)
• 40 Years Berlinale
• Europe 1939 (1989)
• Erich Pommer
• Colour. The History of Colour Film (1988)
• Rouben Mamoulian (1987)
• Henny Porten (1986)
• Special Effects (1985)
• Ernst Lubitsch 1914-1933 (1984)
• Exile. Six Actors from Germany (1983)
• Insurrection of Emotions: Curtis Bernhardt (1982)
• East German Children’s Films
• The Producer: The Films of Michael Balcon (1981)
• Billy Wilder (1980)
• 3D Films
• Rudolph Valentino (1979)
• We Danced Around the World. Revue Films
• Marlene Dietrich, Part 2 (1978)
• Censorship – Banned German Films 1933-1945
• Marlene Dietrich, Part 1 (1977)
• Love, Death and Technology. Cinema of the Fantastical 1933-1945

• Eleanor Powell (1976)
  Conrad Veidt, Part 2
  Great German Films 1929-1932
  German Short Films of the 1930s, Part 2
• Greta Garbo (1975)
  Conrad Veidt, Part 1
  German Short Films of the 1930s, Part 1
• Lilian Harvey (1974)
  Jacques Feyder
  Norman McLaren
• Wilhelm / William Dieterle (1973)
  American Musicals
  Animations by Dave Fleischer
• Douglas Fairbanks (1972)
  Ludwig Berger
  American Animations 1940-1955
• Busby Berkeley (1971)
  Eddie Cantor
• Winners of the “Golden Bears” and other Berlinale films (1970)
  Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire
• Abel Gance (1969)
  Musicals 1929-1950
  Oskar Fischinger
• Ernst Lubitsch, Part 2 (1968)
  W. C. Fields
• Ernst Lubitsch, Part 1 (1967)
  Harry Langdon
• Cinema Novo (1966)
  Max Ophüls
  Mack Sennett
• Masterpieces of German Film 1895-1932 (1965)
• Louis Lumière (1964)
  Pola Negri
  Paul Leni
• Elisabeth Bergner (1963)
  E. A. Dupont
  Karl Grune
  Yasujiro Ozu
• Asta Nielsen (1962)
  G. W. Pabst
  Ingmar Bergman
• Richard Oswald (1961)
  Billy Wilder
  Akira Kurosawa
• 10 Years Golden Berlin Bear (1960)
  Musicals from 1930-1945
  Musicals from 1930-1945 (Experimental film special programme)
• International Masterpieces from the Early Years of Talkies (1959)
• Masterpieces of International Film from 1915 to 1945 (1958)
• German Artists in Foreign Film (1957)
• The Humour of Nations (1956)
• 60 Years Film (1955)
• Showcase of Famous Films (1954)
• Silent Movies (1951-1953)

• Martin Scorsese (2024)
• Steven Spielberg (2023)
• Isabelle Huppert (2022)
• Dame Helen Mirren (2020)
• Charlotte Rampling (2019)
• Willem Dafoe (2018)
• Milena Canonero (2017)
• Michael Ballhaus (2016)
• Wim Wenders (2015)
• Ken Loach (2014)
• Claude Lanzmann (2013)
• Meryl Streep (2012)
• Armin Mueller-Stahl (2011)
• Hanna Schygulla / Wolfgang Kohlhaase (2010)
• Maurice Jarre (2009)
• Francesco Rosi (2008)
• Arthur Penn (2007)
• Anouk Aimée (2003)
• Claudia Cardinale (2002)
• Kirk Douglas (2001)
• Jeanne Moreau / Robert De Niro (2000)
• Shirley MacLaine (1999)
• Catherine Deneuve (1998)
• Kim Novak (1997)
• Jack Lemmon / Elia Kazan (1996)
• Alain Delon (1995)
• Sophia Loren (1994)
• Gregory Peck (1993)
• Hal Roach (1992)
• Jane Russell / Robert Mitchum (1991)
• Renaud-Barrault au cinéma (1987)
• Fred Zinnemann (1986)
• Melina Mercouri / Jules Dassin (1984)
• James Stewart (1982)
• Peter Pewas (1981)
• Wilfried Basse (1977)