娱乐英语新闻:Interview: Berlinale a more "audience-friendly" film fest than others

BERLIN, Feb. 13 (Xinhua) -- While in Cannes, stars and people are mostly outdoors talking at the beach, things are a lot different at the ongoing Berlin International Film festival -- or Berlinale -- according to the director of its famed Panorama program Wieland Speck.

"Here, people actually go inside the cinema because it's ugly, cold and sometimes wet," Speck told Xinhua in an exclusive interview.

Since 1992, the noted director and filmmaker has been serving as the director of Panorama, the coveted section of Berlinale that showcases mostly art-house cinema.

Speck said he highly valued being able to put the spotlight on the alternative to films offered by the mainstream. "In Berlinale you can show a lot of different, difficult films, because only entertainment is not enough," he said.

However, art-house cinema does not automatically mean no profits, Speck said. "With art-house we make a little money with many films and so a lot of money in the end. So it is a different kind of business," he added.

Another case in point -- Panorama alone attracts more than 100,000 spectators in the 10 days of Berlinale, he said.

Speck added that Berlinale recorded 400,000 tickets sold this year, including hundreds of thousands of regular moviegoers. "Real audiences go into the cinema to see the film, while in other film festivals there are only professionals. This is why we are an audience-friendly film festival," he stated.

The director said Berlinale was like a window to the world. "This was the founding of the festival back in 1951 -- to let the world in and to look out to the world."