The trade fair serves distributors, film buyers, producers, financiers and co-production agents.

The Berlinale Talents, a week-long series of lectures and workshops, is a gathering of young filmmakers held in partnership with the festival.

[4] Through his efforts and influence, the American military administration was persuaded to assist and to give loans for the first years of the Berlin International Film Festival, which commenced in June 1951.

[11][1] The fifth edition in 1955 saw the first (West) German film to win the Golden Bear, Robert Siodmak's Die Ratten.

[1] In 1963, two years after the Berlin Wall had been erected, a daily show of the Berlinale was shown on television in East Germany, with five films in competition broadcast.

[12][13] Controversy arose in 1964 with the rejection by Bauer, on insistence from the church, of Vilgot Sjöman's second film, 491, from the competition.

Stevens claimed that the film, which includes a gang rape of a Vietnamese woman by American soldiers during the Vietnam War, was anti-American.

[16] One jury member, Dušan Makavejev, protested against this measure, stood up for the film and supported Verhoeven and producer Rob Houwer.

[18] Other directors taking part in the festival withdrew their films in protest, and the jury was accused of censorship and eventually disbanded, so no prizes were awarded and the competition was suspended.

The festival also saw further controversy that year when the Soviet Union and other socialist states withdrew their films and delegates in protest at the selection of The Deer Hunter and their solidarity with "the heroic people of Vietnam".

[29][12] Kosslick started making some changes to the festival, moving the emphasis from Hollywood in order to focus more on German and international cinema.

[36] The Berlinale is considered one of the five major film festivals in the world, alongside Venice, Cannes, Sundance and Toronto,[37][38] and is the largest based on attendance.

There was consideration given by the federal government to help compensate for revenue lost and additional expenditure owing to the pandemic, with funds drawn from the Neustart Kultur programme.

[44] As of 2024[update] the festival is composed of eight different sections:[45] "Perspektive Deutsches Kino" (Perspectives on German Cinema) was created in 2002 by incoming director Dieter Kosslick with Alfred Holighaus.

[66][67] It is presented to someone with an exceptional artistic career, and is given to the guest of honour of the Homage section[68] which has been run since 1977 by the Berlinale and the Deutsche Kinemathek – Museum für Film und Fernsehen.

[citation needed] EFM provides exhibition space for companies presenting their current line-up, organising screenings of new films in venues around Potsdamer Platz.

In 2010, the Astor Film Lounge showed market screenings in three dimensions using digital RealD technology.

[122] Taking place over eight days, the event is spread across several locations, including the Gropius Bau, Marriott Hotel, modern Berliner Freiheit [de] or the historic Zoo Palast.

[123][58] The event runs six days during the Berlinale and features lectures and panel discussions with well-known professionals addressing issues in filmmaking.

Workshops, excursions, personal tutoring, coaching, and training of participants from different fields of work are part of the programme.

[124] The proceedings include presentations by experts,[125] who have included Park Chan-wook, Frances McDormand, Stephen Frears, Dennis Hopper, Jia Zhangke, Walter Murch, Shah Rukh Khan, Joshua Oppenheimer, Anthony Minghella, Charlotte Rampling, Walter Salles, Ridley Scott, Raoul Peck, Tom Tykwer, Mike Leigh, Tilda Swinton, and Wim Wenders.

[47] Since 1956, the jury of the Festival has been chaired by an internationally recognised personality of cinema,[128] except in 2021, when the directors of six previous Golden-Bear-winning films determined the awards for the Competition of the 71st Berlinale.

[44][131] It was established by Dieter Kosslick[47] in 2004 to support films "that stand out with an unconventional aesthetic approach, that tell powerful stories and transmit an authentic image of their cultural roots".

[132] The WCF is a collaboration with the Federal Foundation for Culture, and awarded in cooperation with the Goethe Institute, the Foreign Ministry and German producers.

It provides funding for production and distribution of feature films and feature-length documentaries, with a focus on countries in Latin America, Central America, the Caribbean, Africa, the Middle East, Central Asia, Southeast Asia, and the Caucasus, as well as Bangladesh, Nepal, Mongolia, and Sri Lanka.