Eventful Berlinale

The Bear was there right at the start. Now that the Berlinale Film Festival is taking place for the 75th time in 2025, the festival mascot certainly has a story or two to tell in this, the festival’s special anniversary year.deutschland.de has picked out 15 incredible things about the Berlinale. For example, did you know that ...

…the Berlinale is the world’s biggest film festival for the public?

…the festival was founded in 1951 by a member of the US military government? At that time, Oscar Martay was the film officer who monitored and promoted the Berlin film industry.

…in the early years the public decided who would be the prize winners? The first International Jury was introduced in 1956.

…the Berlinale bear statue was designed by the German sculptress Renée Sintenis? She created the original statue in 1932.

…the Noack art foundry in Berlin-Charlottenburg has manufactured the Berlinale bear awards from the very first one?

…nowadays there are only Golden and Silver Bear awards? The Bronze Bears only existed in the early years of the festival.

…the Berlinale was once cancelled midstream? In 1970 the jury was so divided over the Vietnam War film o.k. by Michael Verhoeven that the members resigned.

…during the 1986 Berlinale the prizes had to be awarded under police protection? The jury had previously received death threats for choosing Stammheim as the best film. It focuses on the trial of leading members of the Red Army Faction (Baader-Meinhof Group) and their deaths in Stuttgart-Stammheim prison.

…one seat on the jury remained empty at the 2011 Berlinale? As a critic of the Iranian regime the filmmaker Jafar Panahi had been sentenced to six years in prison and a 20-year professional work ban. In 2015 he managed to smuggle his film Taxi to Germany. It won the Golden Bear.

…the popular German crime format Tatort has also centred on the Berlinale? In an episode from 2018, Meret Becker and Marc Waschke carried out murder investigations at the film festival.

... 240 films from 74 countries will be screened in 2025? From short films to documentaries and feature films, any moviegoer will get their money’s worth here.

... the Berlinale has a reputation as the world’s most political film festival? Born in the shadow of a divided, postwar Berlin, the Berlinale has engaged with social issues from its earliest days.

... the German government issued a commemorative coin to mark the festival’s 75th anniversary jubilee? The €20 collectors’ edition went on sale online on 23 January 2025.

... visitors from over 150 countries come to Germany for the Berlinale each year? The 2024 Berlinale registered almost half a million moviegoers from 157 countries.

... 2025 marks the first time an animated key visual has been designed alongside the traditional poster? The design reflects the transition to digital channels and the significance of motion graphics in communication.