Illustrative photo – Preparations for the Berlinale film festival in a picture taken on February 19, 2020.
Berlin – The famous Berlinale international film festival will start tonight with a ceremony. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy will speak to the guests via video. Ukraine, which has been resisting the Russian invasion for almost a year, is one of the central themes of this year's Berlinale.
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It will be possible to watch the gala evening from 19:20 on the German stations ZDF and 3sat or online via the festival website or via YouTube. Festival guests will be introduced to the jury led by American actress Kristen Stewart at the evening event. At the end of the festival, the jury will select the winner, who will take home the main prize, i.e. the Golden Bear statuette.
This year, 19 films are competing for the Golden Bear, and Czech films are missing from them, just like last year. However, Czech production is represented in the accompanying Encounters competition section by the documentary Eastern Front by Vitalij Manský and Jevhen Titarenko. In addition to the Czech Republic, Lithuania, Ukraine and the United States also participated in the production of the film.
The film festival, which will last until February 26 in Berlin, is returning to normal after two years with pandemic restrictions. Masks are no longer mandatory and all seats in cinemas can be occupied. However, the festival has not avoided price increases, people usually pay 15 euros (355 CZK) for tickets, last year the prices started at 13 euros (308 CZK).
