Berlinale Opens with Germany Firmly in the Frame

Last year was an outstanding year for German cinema. Now, as the 54th International Film Festival Berlin kicks off, it’s time for the stars of Germany’s film industry to sit back and enjoy the attention. The Berlinale gets underway on Thursday with film fans flocking to the German capital to bask in the warm celebrity glow of the global stars and directors who will be arriving throughout the ten days of glamour and glitz. But it will not only be the heat from the bright lights that will warm Berliners attending the shows and events that make up the festival circus. Germans from all over the country can also revel in the feeling of pride that Berlin’s film gala and the German movie industry as a whole is currently enjoying a surge in international profile, popularity and profit. “It's been one of the best years ever for cinema in Germany,” said Dieter Kosslick, the festival’s director who has turned the Berlinale into a showcase for German productions and has helped it secure its place behind Cannes and alongside Venice as one of Europe's three most important film festivals. “As long as I'm the head of this festival, its backing for German films will remain high,” Kosslick said in an interview with reporters in the run-up to the festival’s opening. “I've never had to push for German films because I've always found them to be very good. It was always other people who had problems with them.”