Movies to be shown outdoors after virtual Berlin Film Festival

Paula Beer holds her Silver Bear for Best Actress for “Undine” after the award ceremony of the 70th Berlinale International Film Festival in Berlin, Germany, Feb. 29, 2020. Image: Reuters/Michele Tantussi

BERLIN — The Berlin Film Festival, which took place online earlier this year, will show most of the movies that were part of the competition at outdoor cinemas across the German capital next month, taking advantage of falling COVID-19 infection numbers.

The summer special offered by the festival, also known as the Berlinale, will take place from June 9 to 20 at 16 venues including a specially created open-air cinema at Museum Island in the heart of the city, organizers said on Monday.

“Audiences will be getting a very special, collective festival experience – something we’ve all been missing for such a long time,” directors Mariette Rissenbeek and Carlo Chatrian said in a joint statement.

They said they were looking forward to welcoming filmmakers and jury members from across the world who could hopefully make the journey to Berlin next month despite ongoing travel restrictions.

The program will be available online from May 20 (www.berlinale.de) and tickets will go on sale from May 27.

During the online version of the festival, which took place in March, the Golden Bear was awarded to “Bad Luck Banging or Loony Porn” by the Romanian director Radu Jude. The sexually explicit dark comedy depicts the everyday aggressions experienced by a teacher in contemporary Bucharest.

Other prizewinners at this year’s online event included German actress Maren Eggert, who played a woman resisting a perfect android’s charms in “I’m Your Man,” and Hungary’s Denes Nagy, awarded best director for the war movie “Natural Light.” JB

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