Berlinale 2016

A few months ago I found out I wouldn't be able to attend Cannes Film Festival this year. I was gutted. I'd had such amazing experiences there in 2015 and 2014. But yacht parties and red carpets aside, the Cannes Marché du film has an important role to play in the programming of Celluloid Screams, so the idea of missing it was a bit of a worry. Our team would be one person down in a market with so much ground to cover. Then it came to me - it doesn't have to be Cannes! The Berlin International Film Festival (Berlinale) also hosts the the European Film Market (EFM), one of largest film markets in the world alongside Cannes. Not only that - I love Berlin. My mind was made up.

I did feel a twinge of gloom as I was packing my suitcase; in the absence of sunglasses, sandals and sun cream I was packing boots, scarves and gloves. But any opportunity to wear cute beanies and snuggly winter scarves is a welcome one. And I certainly needed them! The tall buildings of Potsdamer Platz deflected blasts of icy wind which howled around the square; I battled through each morning on my way to the Sony Centre, armed with hot coffee. Eventually I got lazy and began to jumping into EFM shuttle cars at every opportunity, which travelled around all the major locations every few minutes (a luxury not provided in Cannes!)

All the market screenings I went to were in actual cinemas - a lot more comfortable than purpose built screening rooms. The films themselves were mostly OK. I only fell in love with one film, followed by three that I liked, and the rest were either mediocre, utter rubbish, or simply not right for us. Nevertheless, there was plenty to go at in the market itself. Housed mostly in the beautiful Martin-Gropius-Bau building, it was full to bursting with sales agents, distributors, buyers, financiers and other industry professionals. The amount of literature I came away with sent me over my baggage allowance!

I had some downtime to enjoy the city and revisit some of my favourite spots. Berlin has a great vibe. As a comparison- London has a glossy veneer of friendliness which masks the cold indifference at its heart, shielding tourists from its dark side. Berlin doesn't bother with this. It has no pretense. It's very take-it-or-leave it; immerse yourself, or be gone. If London says "welcome to this great city, we are wonderful, and by the way, fuck you", Berlin is a simple "fuck you". And I really respect that. The bleak, grey skies of winter really suit Berlin, however I did visit a gorgeous district called Prenzlauer Berg, which I imagine is lovely in the summer. I also stopped by the Deutsche Oper U-Bahn station because I'm huge fan of Rammstein (it's the station they crawl out of in the video for 'Mein Teil').

I hope to return to Berlin soon for another leisure trip, and I would definitely attend Berlinale again. Did I prefer it to Cannes? I'm leaning towards no, but it's difficult to compare two entirely different experiences. There were fewer distractions than there are in Cannes, with all its fluff and sparkle, so it was easier to focus on the task at hand. The festival staff were friendlier. And, most importantly, the mood of the city put me in the right mindset to watch horror films all day. For a horror film festival programmer, not much else matters!