Berlinale 2013 – 63rd Berlin Film Festival

The 63rd Berlin International Film Festival – Berlinale – opens on February 9th with the traditional gala evening at the Berlinale Palace. The lucky individuals attending this gala evening can expect to see a whole host of movie stars on the red carpet.

With 300,000 visitors, 400 films and a roll-call of stars, the Berlin Film Festival has a global reputation for combining cinematic art and glamour.  Berlinale is one of the major European film festivals and this Berlin Festival brings many international celebrities to Berlin. Films of all genres, lengths and formats will be playing at the 14 festival cinemas across Germany’s capital city.

The festival is divided into a variety of categories:

• Major international movies will feature in the ‘Competition‘ category
• Independent and arthouse films in the ‘Panorama‘ category
• German films will be shown in the ‘German Cinema Perspective‘ category
• Experimental films will be in the ‘Forum‘ and ‘Berlinale Shorts‘ categories

Image from Flickr user Solar icon

The ‘Retrospective‘ category is dedicated to an important director or a film history theme. For Berlinale 2012 Retrospective is dedicated to the German-Russian film venture Mezhrabpom-Film studio.

The competition for the coveted Golden Bear Award is undoubtedly the focal point of the Berlin Film Festival, so check the Festival website to see who’s in the running. The festival ends on 17 February.

Event : Internationale Filmfestspiele Berlin
Date   : Feb.13 – 17, 2013
Place  : Potsdamer Strasse 5, 10785 Berlin
Website: www.berlinale.de

Hotels in Berlin

There is a huge range of Berlin hotels that are closed to Potsdamer Platz, but if you particularly want to be within walking distance, The Ritz-Carlton is on Potsdamer Platz and the Berlin Marriott Hotel, The Mandala Hotel and the Grand Hyatt Berlin are all within 100 to 300km away.