The 74th Berlin International Film Festival rolls out its red carpet tonight at the Berlinale Palast. Until February 25, almost 400 films of all genres will be screened on the Berlinale stages, while twenty productions will compete for the Golden Bear in the competition section. Greece is also present this year with three participations.

The opening of the 74th Berlinale will be announced tonight by the Deputy Minister of Culture Claudia Roth and the Governor Mayor of Berlin Kai Wegner. The event will also be attended by the chair of this year’s Committee, Lupita Nyong’o, while the opening film is ‘Small Things Like These’ by Irish director Tim Millands. In the room will be, among others, its producer Matt Damon and its star Cillian Murphy. The film deals with a story about the “Magdalene laundries” in Ireland, which were run from the 18th century until 1996 by Catholic nuns and housed “degenerate young women” and is entered in the festival’s “Encounters” competition section.

The Greek-Bulgarian co-production “Arcadia” by Giorgos Zois, with Vangelis Mourikis and Angeliki Papoulias in the leading roles, also participates in the same section. In the “Special Screenings” program, the 14-hour long documentary by Dimitris Athiridis “exergue – on documenta 14” will be screened for the first time, on the subject of the documenta 14 exhibition, which took place in 2017 in Kassel and Athens, as well as the controversial artistic its director, Adam Simczyk. In addition, for the first time in the ten years of the “Berlinale Series Market” section of the Festival Market, a Greek series has been chosen to participate, “The Coroner’s Assistant” by Elina Psykou, which is based on the novel “The Coroner” by Vassilis Vassilikos.

True to its political brand, the Berlinale also took a stand in Germany’s ongoing debate on the far right, canceling challenges from five figures from the Alternative for Germany (AfD) at tonight’s opening event. “The current debate has once again made it very clear how much the commitment to a free, tolerant society and the stance against right-wing extremism is part of the Berlinale’s DNA. For decades, the Festival has been committed to democratic values ​​(…) and has repeatedly stated that it observes with concern how anti-Semitism, anti-Muslim resentment, hate speech and other anti-democratic and discriminatory attitudes are increasing in Germany,” the Festival’s announcement points out and emphasizes that “especially in the light of the revelations made in recent days about explicitly anti-democratic positions of officials of the Alternative for Germany (…), it is important for us to take a firm stand in favor of an open democracy”.

As part of a formal invitation to 100 Berlin MPs from all parties, five AfD officials were invited to the opening of the Berlinale. But after the revelations by the investigative journalism website “Correctiv” about a meeting of party officials with neo-Nazi organizations to work out a plan for group forcible deportations from Germany, there have been strong reactions, both with mass demonstrations across the country and with public statements media, companies and organizations. Last week more than 200 film professionals signed an open letter to Berlinale organizers expressing their disagreement with the invitation to AfD members, arguing it was “incompatible” with the festival’s commitment to being a place of “empathy, awareness and understanding”. .