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When Mari\u00ebtte Rissenbeek and Carlo Chatrian took over the Berlin International Film Festival in 2019<\/a>, many hoped it would mark a new beginning for the festival, one of the most important in world cinema and the largest by audience numbers.<\/p>\n Under its previous leadership, some argued, the event had grown bloated and unglamorous compared with competitors like Cannes and Venice. They hoped the pair would reinvigorate the Berlinale, as the festival is known, by streamlining its offerings and attracting more high-profile movies.<\/p>\n Five years later, the directors are departing under a cloud of controversy, and many will be debating their legacy at this year\u2019s edition, which begins on Thursday.<\/p>\n Rissenbeek, who oversees the Berlinale\u2019s finances, announced last March that she would be retiring after this year\u2019s festival. And in the summer, Germany\u2019s culture minister, Claudia Roth, said that the festival would return to the leadership of a single figure<\/a>, eliminating Chatrian\u2019s position as artistic director.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n That decision spurred pushback: Over 400 filmmakers and artists, including the directors Martin Scorsese and Claire Denis, signed an open letter<\/a> in September praising Chatrian and calling his dismissal \u201charmful, unprofessional and immoral.\u201d Others have argued that Chatrian\u2019s removal was justified, and that the pair never fulfilled their early promise.<\/p>\n In December, Roth announced that Tricia Tuttle<\/a>, an American who has previously helmed the London Film Festival, would take over the Berlinale after this year\u2019s edition. She will inherit a sprawling program as well as financial challenges and a perilous political backdrop.<\/p>\n The behind-the-scenes turmoil will likely be a hot topic at this year\u2019s event, which opens with a gala screening of \u201cSmall Things Like These<\/a>,\u201d a drama about the institutional abuse of women in Ireland, starring Cillian Murphy. Further films in this year\u2019s competition include new works by the French filmmakers Olivier Assayas<\/a> and Mati Diop<\/a>, whose \u201cAtlantics\u201d won the Grand Prix at Cannes in 2019, and the Korean director Hong Sang-soo<\/a>, a Berlinale mainstay.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Other movies will feature the actors Rooney Mara, Isabelle Huppert and Adam Sandler, whose Netflix film \u201cSpaceman\u201d<\/a> will premiere in an out-of-competition slot. Lupita Nyong\u2019o, the Kenyan Mexican actress best known for \u201c12 Years a Slave\u201d and \u201cBlack Panther,\u201d will lead the jury<\/a>, and this year\u2019s Honorary Golden Bear, the festival\u2019s equivalent to a lifetime achievement award, will go to Scorsese<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Yet the starry program came together under unsettled conditions, and in a recent joint interview with the outgoing directors, Chatrian chafed at questions about his departure. He said that the announcement had come as a surprise, because Roth had indicated that his contract would be extended. Maybe there had been a \u201cmisunderstanding,\u201d he said \u2014 in any case, his focus was now on bringing attention to the films in this year\u2019s selection.<\/p>\n Under the leadership of Chatrian and Rissenbeek, the festival cut several sidebar programs and introduced a new competition called Encounters<\/a> for more experimental features. But they said it had been difficult to put their stamp on the festival because of disruptions caused by the pandemic. Germany\u2019s first lockdowns were imposed weeks after their first edition, in 2020, and ensuing events were held online, outdoors or under strict Covid protocols<\/a>, requiring constant reinvention.<\/p>\n \u201cIt made it much more difficult to think about a continuous line for where we want to go with the festival,\u201d Rissenbeek said.<\/p>\n She noted that the festival had also faced tough financial headwinds, including inflation and the loss of some long-term sponsors. Although Germany\u2019s federal government recently announced a cut in financing, she said that Berlin\u2019s local government had stepped in to fill in the gap.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Some have also interpreted the duo\u2019s decision to cut a program dedicated to up-and-coming German filmmakers as a lack of interest in fostering local cinema. In an email, Linda S\u00f6ffker, who ran the program from 2010 until 2022, described it as a crucial \u201cbuilding block\u201d for German cinema and for smaller production companies with less access to stars and money. Chatrian said the program had been cut for financial reasons and had attracted insufficient interest from industry festivalgoers.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n In an emailed statement, Roth declined to comment on her reasons for ousting Chatrian, but said that her long-term goal was to strengthen the Berlinale among the \u201ctop-level film festivals.\u201d She added that the \u201cthe grand task of the Berlinale is to combine its artistic goals with a commercially successful cinema that also relies on stars and familiar names.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n The Berlinale is the most political of the major film festivals, and this year\u2019s program is once again shaped by global developments. Several films on the program deal with the war in Ukraine, including a documentary by the American director Abel Ferrara<\/a>.<\/p>\n The war in Gaza is creating rumblings, too.<\/p>\n Some artists have complained that Germany\u2019s overzealous implementation<\/a> of a 2019 parliamentary resolution<\/a> means that they face being shut out by state-funded institutions if they speak publicly against Israel\u2019s attacks on Gaza or show solidarity with the Palestinians. This gave rise to a movement called Strike Germany<\/a> that, in the name of fighting censorship, urges artists to boycott cultural events.<\/p>\n Many of the movement\u2019s followers hoped that sympathetic filmmakers would join in. But so far, only three films in a sidebar program have been withdrawn by their creators from among the Berlinale\u2019s 239 movies.<\/p>\n The Berlinale has also been at the center of an uproar over its decision to invite two lawmakers from the far-right Alternative for Germany party to Thursday\u2019s opening gala.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n