Berlinale Sections

Each year Berlinale presents more than 400 films of every genre, length and format. Thus, the festival is divided into nine distinct sections, all of which have their own specific criteria: whilst ‘Competition’ presents the world premieres, ‘Panorama’ focuses on building bridges and ‘Forum’ presents the most daring of movies. ‘Generation’ is devoted to young people; ‘Perspektive Deutsches Kino’ showcases new German directors and ‘Retrospective’ celebrates the 100th anniversary of color film. ‘Berlinale Special’ honors great cinema personalities; ‘Berlinale Shorts’ showcases independent short movies and finally, ‘Homage’ will this year be dedicated to the work of German filmmaker Wim Wenders.

In addition, for Berlinale 2015 there will be three exciting special presentations: ‘Culinary Cinema’, ‘Berlinale Goes Kiez’ and ‘NATIVe’.

The ‘Culinary Cinema’ section will be focusing on twelve documentaries and short films that deal with the art of cuisine. Food, pleasure and the environment are the main ingredients at the centre of this section. Many of the showings of these films will be accompanied by a dinner from a Michelin-star chef, ensuring an evening to tantalise your taste buds.

The documentary, “Cooking Up a Tribute”, from the Roca brothers will be premiering in the ‘Culinary Cinema’ category. The film follows brothers Joan, Josep and Jordi Roca (owners of the infamous El Celler de Can Roca restaurant) as they journey through six cities preparing 50,000 dishes for almost 3,000 people. The film, according to it creators, is a tribute to American cuisine, which has offered so much to European and world gastronomy. Directed by Luis Gonzalez and Andrea Gomez, the documentary-film emphasizes the principles of commitment, responsibility and global reach as the brothers’ demonstrate their dedication to gastronomy.

The ‘Berlinale Goes Kiez’ section will showcase arthouse films introduced by a prominent personality in the filmmaking process. This year's attending cinema patrons include Senta Berger, Volker Bruch, Henry Hübchen, Hans-Christian Schmid, Miriam Stein and Michael Verhoeven, who will have the pleasure of personally discussing their movies with the audience. Director, Andreas Dresen, will introduce the highly anticipated German drama, “As We Were Dreaming” at the 65th Berlin Film Festival. The story follows five friends in Leipzig facing the realities of change after the fall of the Berlin Wall. The film tells the story of a lost youth and offers a tale of rebellion combined with Utopian dreams.

Finally, ‘NATIVe – A Journey into Indigenous Cinema’ will present 24 films focused on indigenous cinema from Latin America. The short film, “En Espera” (On Hold), is just one of the many emotionally moving entries to this category. “En Espera” focuses on a young girl, Carmen, who begins a journey from the mountains to the city. A brief stop allows her to experience an alternative path that she and many children in Ecuador are so often denied: a regular school education. Directed by Gabriela Calvache, this inspiring story will display the difficulties of growing up with few resources and to what extent young girls will miss out on basic necessities.

The Berlinale Special Presentations are sure to present a diverse series of events and movies. From Michelin star meals to talks with directors, the Special Presentations are the sections not to miss out on at this year’s Berlinale.