Since 1978, the Berlinale has dedicated a special section to films that look at the world from the viewpoint of children and youths: Generation. Extraordinary short and feature-length films are presented in two competitions, Kplus and 14plus. The best films are awarded the Berlinale’s Crystal Bears.

 

Every year, the Berlinale awards four Crystal Bears to the best films in the section: An 11-person Children’s Jury votes on which films receive the Bears for the best long and short film in the Generation Kplus competition.

The seven jurors of the Youth Jury present the Crystal Bears to the best long and short films in the Generation 14plus Competition. An international expert jury awards the 7,500-euro “Grand Prix of the Deutsche Kinderhilfswerk (German Child Support Organisation)” to the best feature-length film in Generation Kplus. The “Special Prize of the Deutsches Hilfwerk,“ worth 2,500 euros, goes to the best short film in this competition.

Generation is not just a festival platform for filmmakers and their productions, but also home to a one-of-kind audience. Every year, around 50,000 moviegoers attend the premieres in the Zoo Palast cinema as well as the screenings in CinemaxX Potsdamer Platz, in the Colosseum Filmtheater in the Prenzlauer Berg district and in the Cubix cinema on Alexanderplatz. Directors and actors meet industry guests as well as children and youths of every age group. These encounters give the section its unique appeal. Sympathy and criticism are expressed about the films in the discussions directly in the cinema, making the screenings in this section a special experience for members of every generation.

 

Generation stands for an expanded understanding of films for children and youths. The section takes a clear approach to its audience, but doesn’t let that hinder its selection of films. Alongside extraordinary children’s and youth films, Generation also shows films that are suitable for young viewers because of a specific point of view or theme, without having to be exclusively conceived for this target audience or targeted towards them the entire time. With this additional platform, which naturally and passionately communicates the quality standards of the Berlinale to children and youths, the festival encourages the industry to shed its fears of young audiences. This conviction is bolstered by additional “cross-section” screenings, in which children and young people can watch selected films from the other Berlinale sections outside of competition and under the umbrella of the Generation section.

The section has been directed by Maryanne Redpath since May 2008.

For groups of five people and more, tickets for Generation films are available at a reduced price. Group tickets (2.00 Euros per person) can be reserved over the phone in the week before the festival.

 

Representatives of school classes, kindergartens and other institutions can sign up to the section’s newsletter at any time. They will receive future programme information well in time for the festival. To sign up, please send an e-mail with the name of your institution, contact person and contact information to .

On November 11, 2007 the first five DVDs of the new “Berlinale Edition” series of films from the Generation section have been released. The series of four feature films and a collection of short films will be expanded each year by another six to eight highlights from the section’s program.

 

For the festival 2008 the DVD edition Berlinale Generation released two new titles: Schickt mehr Süßes (Send More Candy) and Der Italiener (An Italian) were past audience favourites. They went on sale in February 2008.

 

Actor Peter Lohmeyer, who loves going to see Generation movies with his kids, is the patron of the "Berlinale Edition". Section director Maryanne Redpath is thrilled about the release of the series: “The DVD edition resurrects a number of highlights from previous festivals and makes them available to past fans and future generations of viewers. These films stand for what we aspire to achieve with the Berlinale: to present intelligent entertainment and new ways of looking at young people’s lives.”

 

The following DVDs - with a detailed booklet by the “Young Journalists” (see link below) - are on sale in shops as well as in the Berlinale Shop (incl. online shop):

Maryanne Redpath

The Generation audience also boasts its own Internet presence:
 www.jungejournalisten.berlinale.de is an online webzine about film run by a group of film-loving kids and youths. The young journalists attend the festival, write reviews, interview actors and directors and publish their reports online in both German and English the same day.