Berlin International Film Festival Berlin International Film Festival The Berlin International Film Festival (), usually called the Berlinale, is a film festival held annually in Berlin, Germany. Founded in West Berlin in 1951, the festival has been held every February since 1978 and is one of the "Big Three" alongside the Venice Film Festival and Cannes Film Festival. With around 300,000 tickets sold and 500,000 admissions each year, it has the largest public attendance of any annual film festival. Up to 400 films are shown in several sections across cinematic genres. Around twenty films compete for the festival's top awards, called the Golden Bear
28th Berlin International Film Festival 28th Berlin International Film Festival The 28th annual Berlin International Film Festival was held from 22 February to 5 March 1978. The festival opened with "Opening Night" by John Cassavetes and closed with Steven Spielberg's out of competition film "Close Encounters of the Third Kind". This was the first year the festival was held in February. The jury awarded the Golden Bear to Spain for its contribution to the festival. The three Spanish films which were screened at the festival and won it were short film "Ascensor" directed by Tomás Muñoz and feature films "La palabras de Max" by Emilio