Tomorrow the 60th Berlin International Film Festival will open its doors to the public. Film fans, movie enthusiasts and business insiders are welcomed to choose from a broad variety of films from all over the world – this year almost 400 works from 18 different countries will be presented. Also this year the areas Retrospektive and Hommage will host many classics of movie history, but of course there’ll be also quite some world premiere to watch: 17 of 20 movies running in Berlinale Competition are shown for the very first time.
I won’t go further into details – but still I’d like to point out one highlight of this year’s Berlinale: on Friday 12th Fritz Langs movie “Metropolis” will be presented to the public in a freshly restored original version, which is 30 minutes longer than the version we have seen for the past 87 years. Best part of this screening: it’s a public and free of charge screening, also known as ‘public viewing’, at Brandenburg Gate.
If you’re not in Berlin, or if the current weather conditions are not really your cup of tea, but you do have access to the french-german TV-channel ARTE, you can still witness this world premiere: ARTE will broadcast the screening of the restored original live from 20:15 on.
Please feel free to visit the ofiicial Berlinale website at www.berlinale.de. You can browse the complete Berlinale programme either directly on the Berlinale’s website, or download the programme in one handy PDF. Also handy: at www.berlinale.de you’ll also find a map of Potsdamer Platz area with all Berlinale venues, and if you want to purchase tickets in advance, you can also try your luck online – tickets for all films are available three days in advance – although it actually might be a bit difficult to find a screening that’s not sold out. But even if there’s no more tickets available online, that does not automatically mean the film is sold out – there will always be also tickets available through theticket counters at Potsdamer Platz and also from the movie theaters’ box offices…
…well – good luck!
…and have a jolly good time in Berlin anyways!
Greetz, t..