Video interview
Films about the world we live in

The Berlinale 2020 has undergone a reshuffling at the top: Carlo Chatrian is its new artistic director, working alongside the festival’s new executive director, Mariette Rissenbeek. In this interview, Chatrian talks about films as a mirror of troubled times and about the inestimable importance of the film-going public.

The Berlinale is celebrating its 70th anniversary in 2020. But instead of looking back nostalgically on festivals past, the new artistic director has selected films that broach highly topical national issues and that show, sometimes quite grimly, upheavals and iniquities in the world today: films about civil war, the death penalty, the root causes of migration.

In Chatrian’s lineup for the Berlinale 2020, young filmmakers present a fresh look at their social and political environments – unadorned takes on the modern-day world that nonetheless convey confidence in humanity. And he explains in this interview why the city of Berlin itself is playing a leading role in this year’s film festival.