Berlinale

Source: Berlinale

The Berlinale has received a welcome cash injection of almost €3m from the city of Berlin to supplement its overall budget of €32m for both the 2024 and 2025 editions. 

As part of its double budget for 2024 and 2025, the Berlin Senate’s CDU/SPD coalition government has approved the granting of €2m to the festival’s main budget for this year’s event.

This amount will be also be made available for the 2025 edition. This will be the first to be overseen by festival director Tricia Tuttle who succeeds Mariette Rissenbeek and Carlo Chatrian from April 1.

In addition, the German Lottery Foundation Berlin (Lotto-Stiftung Berlin) has allocated €390,000 to the Berlinale to promote greater inclusion in its activities during this year’s edition. Founded in 1974 in West Berlin, the Lottery Foundation supports projects as well as institutions engaged in social, charitable, cultural, civic as well as youth and sports activities.

Moreover, the coming weeks may see the total budget available to the Berlinale increasing even further. When announcing Tuttle’s appointment last month, Claudia Roth, state minister for culture and the media, indicated, subject to negotiations on the federal budget for 2024, her ministry intends to increase its support for the 2024 Berlinale from the current €10.9m to €12.6m.

Some €400,000 has already been allocated and the additional €1.5m is now the subject of ongoing budget talks with federal finance minister Christian Lindner and the various federal ministries.

Budget boost for Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg

Meanwhile, the Berlin Senate’s vote on its double budget for 2024 and 2025 also saw the decision to increase the German capital’s support for Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg by €700,000 for each of the next two years. The regional fund will therefore now receive a total of € 18.9m annually instead of the previous sum of €18m.

The city’s  Sinema Transtopia transnational space for film culture, art, knowledge and community has also been allocated structural funding of € 300,000 by the Berlin Sebate for each of the next two years.

Operating from a new base in the Berlin borough of Wedding, Sinema Transtopia aims to create “a bridge between urban space and film as cultural practice”.

Its programme for January includes screenings of b Asmae El Moudir’s The Mother Of All Lies, Hu Bo’s An Elephant Is Sitting Still, Zaza Urushadze’s Mandariniii, Ali Ahmadzadeh’s Critical Zoney and an introduction to the programme of the Berlinale’s Generation sidebar for 2024 .

The 2024 Berlinale will take place from February 15-25.