Three words: TV. VoD. Digital. This is one general trend festival director Dieter Kosslick is keeping a close eye on to make sure the Berlinale stays on the cutting edge (and doesn't fall over it) in a rough festival market.Not that the Berlinale hasn’t bravely ventured into this arena before, with Dominik Graf’s IN THE FACE OF CRIME –which we showed at GOETHE FILMS last year– and Graf+Petzold+Hochhäusler’s celebrated DREILEBEN trilogy –which TIFF showed in 2011.
In an interview with ScreenDaily, Kosslick explained that a new focus would be “to show those quality TV series which have caused quite a sensation internationally and have won prizes like HOMELAND at the Golden Globes.”
The European Film Market (EFM), the trade fair held during the Berlinale and a major industry meeting for the international film circuit, will host two discussions on “Arthouse on Demand” and the growing trend of “TV Series -- The New Cinema” this year: “Quality TV series are aggressively entering the market and gaining ever higher approval ratings by audiences. Their quality has improved dramatically as a result of first-class crews, previously successful with cinema. At the same time, the film industry continues to face the challenge of reaching large audiences with international films. Together with TV representatives and producers, the Oscar-winning director Jane Campion, who is also presenting her first series TOP OF THE LAKE at the Berlinale, will discuss the potential of highly regarded TV series and their effects on the development of cinema.”
Now that anything from Bollywood to sci-fi to thrillers to martial arts to costume drama to rom-coms has entered the beautiful and colourful world of global festival programming, why indeed not (Good) TV & (Bespoke) Video. Who wouldn't rather watch a well-made, engaging, smart TV show with top-notch actors than a bad arthouse film? And where are the boundaries between the genres anyway -- see outstanding shapeshifters like Cronenberg, who TIFF has commissioned to create an eagerly awaited augmented-reality game for fall 2013. At the end of the day, the platform is secondary to quality content. Digital platforms can in fact make access and distribution easier (in some parts of the world more so than others, as another EFM panel will discuss). What that means for the Future of Cinema(s) has been a hot-button topic for years.
P.S. The image shows Samsung’s call for their new Samsung Smartfilm Award in conjunction with Berlinale, which will go to one of six young filmmakers by your vote, alongside an open competition that reads: Think of an idea. Make a Smartfilm. Enter to win. "Enter to win" might take on a whole new meaning for future Berlinales and TIFFs and Cannes and Sundances.
by Jutta Brendemühl, Goethe-Institut Toronto
