FREEDOM TO PASSENGERS

Berlinale 2023

Berlinale 2023 has seriously changed its geography. We as Berlinale true old-timers (journalistic accreditation since early 1990s) were facing, how festival screenings moved from the hall in the forest near the Brandenburg Gates to Zoo; then a couple of decades ago there was a famous relocation to Potsdamer Platz, where the cinema complex “on the scar” flourished - on the line where the Wall placed. Gradually, with the tactics of seepage, film screenings spread to different quarters of Berlin. But this year the geography has changed fundamentally. “Forum” found itself in Cubix and International theatres. Berlinale Specials - in the huge Verti hall, which also stands near the line of the destroyed Wall. And the academician Andrey Sakharov looks at the audience from the graffiti on the Wall (photo attached).

Of course, Delphi, Zoo theatres are in business. In general, an accredited journalist does not sit still, but practically lives in the 300th or 200th bus. Late in the evening, a kind Berlin bus driver already refuses to sell a ticket - with the words: “How many times would you buy these tickets - freedom for passengers!” ...