The Berlin Film Festival

Berlin is among the most popular tourist destinations in Europe and you have to book months in advance to get cheap flights to Berlin. There is a lot to see for history buffs in terms of museums and historic buildings while art lovers can appreciate modern art and the works of classical painters in the various museums and art galleries. Berlin nightlife is vibrant with more than 300 clubs and thousands of restaurants that function around the clock. A walk through the city is like a walk back in time and reveals the variety of architectural styles where beautiful old buildings coexist with modern skyscrapers.

The Berlinale

Being an avid movie buff, I decided to attend the Berlin Film festival last year, held in February. Berlin Film Festival started in 1951 primarily to boost the cultural morale of the German people after the end of the Second World War. I checked out the airfares available so that I could get reasonably affordable tickets to Berlin. In year 2011 the Berlinale was to be held around February 9-19 featuring more than 400 films from 115 countries across the world. Therefore I checked out the flights to Berlin as this is the best event to attend to get a feel of the glamour, parties and trade associated with world cinema.

Films of all kinds at Berlinale

The Berlinale features films of every category, format and category from pure commercial cinema to outstanding documentaries from all over the world. I booked tickets online while looking for cheap tickets to Berlin and paid by credit card. I was lucky to see good international cinema in the competition section where the best films compete for the prestigious Silver Bear and the Golden Bear.

Other categories are for independent films in the Panorama section, youth oriented films in the Generation category and new German films in the Perspective Deutsches Kino. Many European films hold their world premiere at the Berlin Film Festival as it is considered among the most prestigious in the world. Other interesting categories that I could watch were those in the Berlinale Shorts section and films pertaining to experimental cinematography in the Forum section. There is usually a Retrospective and Homage to a well-known personality of cinema curated by the Deutsche Kinemathek.

A film festival for everybody

Unlike other European film festivals the Berlin Film festival is all inclusive and there are regular screenings for the general public. The tickets are priced reasonably at 7 -11 Euros so that the masses also get a feel of world class cinema. More than 200,000 tickets are sold to the general public making it the biggest film festival open to anyone and everyone who loves movies. In case you cannot book online tickets, regular ticket counters open three days before the start of the festival. The festival program details and the movie screenings are published a week prior to the festival opening so you can buy tickets to the movies of your choice accordingly. So every movie aficionado, should book cheap flight tickets to Berlin this February.