The German culture ministry has unveiled the new head of the Berlin International Film Festival, who will take over from co-directors Carlo Chatrian and Mariëtte Rissenbeek, who are stepping down after next year’s Berlinale. Tricia Tuttle, formerly director of the BFI London Film Festival, will take over as the sole director of the Berlinale from after next year’s event.
The Berlinale announced the replacement on Tuesday, following months of speculation and media chatter surrounding Germany’s number-one film festival. Chatrian and Rissenbeek have announced they will be leaving when their contracts expire next year. The German Ministry for Culture and Media, the main financier of the Berlinale, had previously said it would scrap the dual director set-up and revert to a single festival director from 2025 on.
Tuttle, who was BFI festivals director from October 2018 to April of this year, is currently Head of Directing Fiction at the UK’s National Film and TV School. She will take over as Berlinale director in April 2024.
Claudia Roth, German Minister of State for Culture and the Media said Tuttle “brings 25 years of film and film festival experience with her” to her new job. “Under her leadership, the BFI London Film Festival has not only seen an increase in audience numbers but has also gained in international profile and significance.”
“I have attended the Berlinale for many years as a professional and have really come to appreciate it very much,” said Tuttle in a statement. “The Berlinale is a leader amongst A-list film festivals – welcoming and inclusive, and brimming with a breath-taking diversity of films. It’s a festival that shows cinema as a most vibrant, often magical art form, one which can transform how we see the world and how we understand each other. What an immense thrill and privilege it is to have this opportunity to lead this important festival. I look forward to a very successful Berlinale in 2024, and to joining the team afterwards.”
The culture ministry said the appointment followed the recommendation of a selection committee consisting of Claudia Roth, Oscar-winning director Edward Berger (All Quiet on the Western Front), actress Sara Fazilat (Nico, Holy Spider), producer Roman Paul (One Fine Morning, Paradise Now), Anne Leppin, the managing director of the German Film Academy, and the head of the Senate Chancellery Berlin Florian Graf.
The ministry previously confirmed there will be major cuts to the festival’s operating budget, starting next year, belt-tightening that has forced the Berlinale to chop entire sections from its program to avoid a financial crisis. The city of Berlin has pledged an additional $2.2 million for the festival over the next two years, which should go some way to filling the budget hole.
More problematic for any incoming Berlinale director will be the political influence the culture ministry expects to have over the festival and its official selection. Chatrian has said he quit the artistic director job because the culture minister demanded to have veto power over the Berlinale film selection.
“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,” Chatrian wrote in the official statement announcing his departure.
Chatrian and Rissenbeek took over as the first dual heads of the Berlinale in 2019, replacing long-term solo director Dieter Kosslick. Under Kosslick’s reign, the Berlinale, and its industry component, the European Film Market, grew in size and importance. Chatrian and Rissenbeek successfully weathered the COVID-19 pandemic — holding an online-only Berlinale in 2021 and a truncated version of the festival last year — but have struggled to attract big-ticket Hollywood films and their accompanying stars, making Berlin a less attractive platform for studio releases.
The new boss will be faced not only with budget challenges but with the question of what role the Berlinale will play in the future.
The 7th Berlin International Film Festival runs Feb. 15-25, 2024. Oscar-winner Lupita Nyong’o (12 Years a Slave, Black Panther) will be President of the International Jury for the 2024 Berlinale.
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