Berlinale co-head Carlo Chatrian has decided to step down as artistic director after the 2024 edition of the festival.
The Berlin festival made the announcement Saturday morning, confirming rumors that Chatrain would be following his co-director, executive director Mariëtte Rissenbeek out the door after their contracts expire next year. Chatrain and Rissenbeek took over as the first dual heads of the Berlinale in 2019, replacing long-term solo director Dieter Kosslick. Rissenbeek had previously announced her decision not to extend her contract past next year’s festival.
The German Ministry for Culture and Media, the main financer of the Berlinale, had previously announced it was scrapping the dual director set-up and would be reverting to a single festival director from 2025 on. The ministry has also confirmed there will be major cuts to the festival’s operating budget, starting from next year, belt-tightening that has forced the Berlinale to chop entire sections from its program to avoid a financial crisis.
Starting next year, the Berlin Festival will drop its Perspektive Deutsches Kino sidebar, which highlights up-and-coming German directors, as a separate section. In the future, films by German newcomers will be presented within the festival’s existing sections: Competition, Encounters, Panorama, Generation and Forum. Berlin is also cutting its Berlinale Series section of high-end TV series, folding series premieres into its Berlinale Special Gala section.
In a statement published on the Berlinale website, Chatrain said “thought that continuity could be facilitated if I remained part of the festival, but, in the new structure, as it has been presented, it is quite clear that the conditions for me to continue as Artistic Director no longer exist…The next edition of the festival will be therefore the end of this rewarding journey.”
The 2024 Berlin Film Festival will run February 15-25.
Read Chatrain’s full statement below.
“For the past four years at the Berlinale, I have been fortunate enough to work along with extraordinary people, as in love with movies as I am, who are totally dedicated to revitalizing one of the world’s great film festivals. Together we have helped so many talents and great stories reach out to the world. And I am grateful to all the people who have supported and believed in me.
I thought that continuity could be facilitated if I remained part of the festival, but, in the new structure, as it has been presented, it is quite clear that the conditions for me to continue as Artistic Director no longer exist. The next edition of the festival will be therefore the end of this rewarding journey.”
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