Are you looking for alternatives to the Berlinale?

by Marina Brafa

The Berlinale Film Festival kicks off on Thursday (Feb. 7th through 17th, 2019). It is Germany’s most prestigious and glamorous film festival and mentioned in the same breath as other renowned European film festivals like the ones in Cannes and Venice. As is the case with most of those festivals, its film(makers) selection (and whole set-up, for that matter) has been criticized for not including enough female, LGBTQ and minority filmmakers.

Although the festival organizers are trying to change this  - one sign being the festival director Dieter Kosslick leaving after 18 years as head of the Berlinale - the festival is not representing the film industry’s diversity yet (which, admittedly, is no easy task). Especially in an open-minded city like Berlin that embraces and prides itself on accepting all kinds of lifestyles, there are many people who despise the Berlinale for being too much a part of the glittery glamour circus that is the film establishment and who are looking for alternative film festivals. 

Take these five as a start!

Boddinale
The 7th edition will take place from February 7th to 17th, 2019 at Flutgraben. Movies will be selected in five categories: Feature, Short, Documentary, Animation, Music Video. As the festival makers state, there is “no limit in production year, no limit on styles, genres, topic, technique. As you know we dare to go at the edge of aesthetics and storytelling, as long as we get to watch it all together.” So if you are into discovering films and seeing film as a means of bringing people together you should come by.

Female Filmmakers Festival Berlin: Berlinale Timeout (pre-event)
Mark your calendars for the Berlinale Timeout on February 12th, 2019 starting at 8pm at Z-Bar Berlin, organized by the FFFB crew and London-based “Shorts on Tap”. This one-day-screening of short films gives you the chance to escape the Berlinale craze and get in touch with fellow (female) filmmakers. And that’s just the beginning. The actual festival will happen from June 13-17, 2019 in Berlin’s oldest cinema, the Moviemento. Berlin-based filmmaker Natalie MacMahon and her friends and colleagues set up this women-focused festival together (read our interview with her here). Their aim is “to support up and coming female talents from different ethnic backgrounds and nationalities, who have a unique story to tell.” So go for it!

Berlin Independent Film Festival
Kicking off on Feb. 7th at the Babylon Cinema (Rosa-Luxemburg-Straße 30), the festival exclusively screens low-budget European films  (runs until Feb 11th, 2019)..

Genrenale
The festival founders believe that German genre films are underrepresented in German TV and cinema. Therefore, they set up a festival taking place from May 2 to 5, 2019 to offer a platform for genre film screenings, debates about the films and networking event.

Prenzlauer Berginale
The name of this festival references the Berlinale whose programme stretches over two weeks in February. The Berginale however, screens only one film on every Tuesday in March 2019. The program includes only films that feature or were shot in or are related to the eastern district of Berlin called “Prenzlauer Berg”. It used to be a working-class district and underwent a massive gentrification process after the Berlin Wall fell in 1989. The tiny festival will show pre- and post-reunification films.