Directors Lounge (abbreviation: DL) is an ongoing Berlin-based film and media-art platform with year-round screenings and exhibitions in Berlin and various other cities.

In contrast to most such festivals, the surroundings were to be free of the “black box” atmosphere of standard cinemas and screening spaces, but rather selected to cultivate dialogue.

The artistic direction of the most recent event (stylized as “[DLX]”, Feb. 6 – 16, 2014)[2] was credited to Julia Murakami, André Werner, Klaus W. Eisenlohr and Kenton Turk.

Frequent curator-contributors have included filmmakers Alexei Dmitriev (Russia) and Shaun Wilson (Australia) as well as the late Heiko Daxl (Germany) together with Ingeborg Fülepp (Croatia), both media artists.

[4] [5] In 2008 and 2009, Directors Lounge moved to the now defunct Scala (opened in 1908 as Überbrettl, later Aladin, still later Camera, “the only arthouse cinema in the GDR”) in Mitte,[6] and in 2010 and 2011, the art house Meinblau on the Pfefferberg in Pankow served as the venue.

[12] Although no cessation of the event has been declared, the festival has not been mounted in this full form since "DLX" in 2014,[13] following which the selected venue Naherholung Sternchen closed to the public.

There have been a number of Directors Lounge-related events and cooperations outside Germany, notably in London (Cog Collective, 2006),[15] Poznań (IF Museum, 2006),[16] Denver (TIE [The International Experimental Cinema Exhibition], 2006),[17] Miami (Art Basel Miami Beach, 2006),[18] St. Petersburg (in connection with the Goethe-Institut, 2008),[19] Paris (Nuit Blanche, 2011),[20] Los Angeles (with the Los Angeles Art Association, 2011),[21] Timișoara (Timishort Film Festival, 2011),[22] Rome (L'Isola del Cinema, Cinelab Groupama, 2012),[23][24] Albuquerque (Experiments in Cinema, 2012 and 2013),[25] Seoul (Zaha Museum, 2012; Gallery On, 2014),[26][27] Vienna (Museumsquartier, 2014),[28] Porto Alegre (Usina do Gasômetro, in connection with Goethe-Institut, 2015)[29] and Salvador (in connection with Ocupação Coaty, 2016).

[30] Similar domestic events outside Berlin include Dessau (Bauhaus Kolleg, 2007),[31] Munich (Memory in Motion, 2007),[32] Cologne (Tease Art Fair, 2009),[33] Essen (C.A.R., 2011),[34] Düsseldorf (Japan Day, Blackbox-Kino in the Filmmuseum, 2011, 2012, 2013 and 2014)[35][36][37][38] and Dresden (Motorenhalle, 2015).

[41] Eisenlohr also curates a special ongoing series of screenings entitled "Urban Research" that is regularly presented as part of the festival in February.