Berlin · Film
Berlinale
The only major film festival that sells most of its seats to the public
Berlin is the biggest festival in the world by public attendance because it was designed that way: while Cannes and Venice run largely for the industry, the Berlinale sells the majority of its seats to anyone who queues. Around four hundred films screen across eleven days in February, in a city at its coldest and least flattering.
The Panorama and Forum sections are more interesting than the competition most years, and the retrospectives are programmed by an archive with serious holdings.
Berlin
While you are in Berlin
MuseumIconBerlin · Mitte
Museumsinsel
Five museums on one sandbank in the Spree, built to hold an empire's idea of itself
Opera houseStanding roomBerlin · Mitte
Staatsoper Unter den Linden
Frederick the Great's opera house, rebuilt three times and still the best acoustics in the city
Concert hallIconBerlin · Tiergarten
Berliner Philharmonie
The hall that invented vineyard seating and changed concert architecture worldwide
Film
More film festivals
Jan / FebRotterdam · Film
International Film Festival Rotterdam
The counterweight to the glamour festivals: first and second features, no red carpet
MayCannes · Film
Festival de Cannes
The most important film festival in the world, and almost entirely closed to the public
Aug / SepVenice · Film
Venice Film Festival
The oldest film festival in the world, on a beach island reached by boat