At the end of the Berlinale, Minister of State for Culture Claudia Roth thanked the directors of the International Film Festival for their work over the past few years. "Mariette Rissenbeek and Carlo Chatrian did not have an easy task," said the Green politician in a statement. "They had to guide the Berlinale through a global pandemic and they organized several editions of the festival in the shadow of worldwide crises, wars and violence."
In Roth's view, Rissenbeek and Chatrian always took the Berlinale's character as the world's largest audience festival very seriously and successfully drew people back into the festival cinemas after the pandemic. "They have continued to raise the Berlinale's profile as a political film festival and a place for dialog, different perspectives, diversity and democracy. I would like to thank them both very much for their dedicated work over the past five years and for their great passion for film."
The top management of the festival is being completely restructured. The previous management duo will be succeeded by US-American Tricia Tuttle. Roth announced last year that the Berlinale would only be directed by one person in future. Chatrian then announced that he would be leaving the festival after the 2024 edition. Rissenbeek had already announced her departure beforehand.
For the first time in the history of the film festival, they took over as dual leadership in June 2019, with Chatrian as artistic director and Rissenbeek as managing director. With the return to the directorate model, Tuttle is to take over both functions.
The Berlinale is one of the major film festivals alongside Cannes and Venice.
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