27/05/2021 - The June event will put its viewers first, featuring the 2021 Berlinale Competition Audience Award

The Berlinale continues to whet appetites for its Summer Special, now set to take place as an outdoor event from 9-20 June 2021 at 16 different venues around the city, including a specially created outdoor cinema at the historic Museum Island Berlin.

“We’re extremely pleased about the new concept, despite having planned it differently at the outset,” commented directors Mariette Rissenbeek and Carlo Chatrian. “Audiences will be getting a very special, collective festival experience – something we’ve all been missing for such a long time. The Summer Special is geared towards re-igniting the desire to go to the cinema, and to contributing to the revival of cultural activities with an audience.”

Although the winners were already announced all the way back in March, with Radu Jude’s Bad Luck Banging or Loony Porn [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Radu Jude
film profile] claiming the Golden Bear, the actual awards ceremony will take place on 13 June. There will be some new additions, however, starting with the Berlinale Documentary Award. Sponsored by Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg and endowed with €40,000, it will be given out by jurors Albertina Carri, an Argentinian director and producer, Syrian producer and head of IDFA Orwa Nyrabia, and German-American director and singer Janna Ji Wonders.

Up-and-coming filmmakers will compete for the GWFF Best First Feature Award, sponsored by the Gesellschaft zur Wahrnehmung von Film- und Fernsehrechten and coming with €50,000. The winner will be decided by journalist Carmen Gray (New Zealand and UK), director and curator Azu Nwagbogu (Nigeria), and curator and programmer Wieland Speck (Germany). But some decisions will be left in the hands of the viewers, as the Summer Special will also feature the 2021 Berlinale Competition Audience Award. Just like the Panorama Audience Award, it will be presented on 20 June, rounding off the event in style.

“Our stalwart audiences had to wait a long time for the news that they would be able to enjoy the Berlinale films this year. That’s why we wanted to give viewers an additional way to participate in the Berlinale and created the 2021 Berlinale Competition Audience Award,” added the directors. “We’re looking forward to strong participation, and we’re curious to see which film wins.”

Let’s just hope it doesn’t rain.