Berlinale 2026: Tiktok and the content material of the cinema | EUROtoday

It was pouring rain when the primary limousines pulled as much as the purple carpet main into the Berlinale Palace at Potsdamer Platz on Thursday night. The exactly choreographed ritual normally lasts two hours: First come celebrities who don’t have anything to do with this system however are purported to convey glamour; later individuals who can have their very own look on the movie competition; then the International Jury, led this yr by Wim Wenders, and eventually the director and group of the opening movie of the 76th Berlinale, the Hamburg-based Shahrbanoo Sadat, who additionally offers together with her personal escape from Afghanistan in “No Good Men”.

They all attempt to make their stroll on the purple carpet as elegant as doable, a brief interview right here, a smile right into a handycam there. And whereas followers and media stood within the rain, simply meters away an excited crowd had a transparent view from the heat of the parade of stars: In the Berlinale HUB, a container in a first-rate location in the course of the hustle and bustle, the competition invited individuals to an occasion with the Tiktok community, which, like final yr, acts as a Berlinale accomplice. The room was crammed with largely younger creators.

The truth {that a} competition that’s dedicated to concentrating on greater than 200 works from present world filmmaking is getting into right into a industrial partnership with a platform that has as soon as once more drastically radicalized the “social network” precept with first-person content material requires dialogue. But there was no time for that on the occasion; advertising and marketing phrases needed to suffice: “We share the same values.”

Of course, the Berlinale can’t escape the logic of the viral, which Tiktok’s algorithm so arbitrarily depicts and creates on the similar time. Debates about the right way to take care of the platforms should play an necessary function, particularly right here in Berlin – particularly at a time when movie funding is struggling to incorporate Netflix, Disney, Apple, Amazon and different content material giants within the exploitation chains, by which the types of cinema that may be seen on the Berlinale must also have an opportunity.

This cinema itself has lengthy been grappling with the altering media order, as might be seen from the instance of the movie that may most likely generate essentially the most consideration on the primary Berlinale weekend: “The Moment,” with singer Charli xcx within the lead function, can also be a broadside towards Amazon, launched by the cult firm A24, which has created a distinct segment of autonomy for itself in Hollywood.

With her album “Brat” Charli xcx created a hype in 2024, a cultural motion. “The Moment” (launched in theaters February nineteenth) sarcastically exhibits how the leisure business is attempting to make the artist submissive. “The Moment” describes the whole defeat of artwork, which is offset by the truth that the star’s credit score will enhance.

For many of the followers who stood within the rain on Thursday, the Berlinale is a competition with out movies. They are viral lots, attempting to seize a private second with individuals within the highlight. The coming days will present whether or not a platform like Tiktok can convey a few of the magic that the competition creates at its precise location, within the cinemas.