Cherrybomb at the Berlinale – an introduction

As the world premiere of Cherrybomb at the Berlin Film Festival draws nearer we thought we should get you better acquainted with the festival itself and its importance, as well as explaining in more detail the competition Cherrybomb is part of and how the award winners are chosen. The prizes won by actors are limited to the main competition so unfortunately we will not see Rupert Grint accepting a Golden Bear this time. However, Cherrybomb as a movie has already won recognition by being selected to screen in the Generation section of the festival and can add to that distinction by winning the Crystal Bear awarded to the winner of that competition. Additionally, as Cherrybomb is the debut feature film of directors Glenn Leyburn and Lisa Barros D’Sa, the movie is also competing for the Best First Feature award. The winner of this prize wins   50 000 euros and a high-quality viewfinder.

The Berlin Film Festival, also known as the Berlinale, is one of the world’s leading film festivals, on the same level as Cannes and Venice in terms of prestige. Every year it hosts more than 15000 film professionals and 4000 journalists. It also has the largest film festival audience in the world, with over 200 000 tickets sold last year. While the global economic downturn might affect this year’s attendance the festival is still guaranteed to put quality films on display. Up to 400 movies are shown every year as part of the programme and the festival as a whole is a fantastic blend of art, glamour, business, creativity and fun.

Integrated into the festival is the European Film Market, an annual film trade fair where distributors, producers, financiers and others within the film industry get together and are able to network, make deals and outline new projects. By screening at the Berlinale, Cherrybomb might not only win awards but will hopefully attract interest from the distributors attending the festival.

Winning awards is of course an excellent way of drawing attention to your film and some of the movie world’s most respected prizes, the Golden and Silver Bears are presented to the winners in the main competition. These decided by an international jury, this year headed by renowned actress Tilda Swinton.

Meanwhile, Cherrybomb was selected, among over a thousand submissions, to compete in the Generation 14 plus competition which targets a younger audience. The winning movie in this section will collect a Crystal Bear and is chosen by a youth jury consisting of seven members. The jurors are selected from 2500 hopefuls who filled out a questionnaire during the previous year’s festival where they were asked to give feedback on the films they saw. Those deemed to be most suitable become members of the jury that will determine whether Cherrybomb is awarded or will have to settle for the great honour of being nominated for the prize.

In short, The Berlin Film Festival is an amazing opportunity for the team behind Cherrybomb, as well as for Rupert Grint and the other cast members, to market themselves to representatives of the film industry as well as media. Most importantly, it’s a chance to showcase their talent to the thousands of film lovers attending this prestigious cultural event.