娱乐英语新闻:Interview: Berlinale offers more than entertainment -- official

BERLIN, Feb. 13 (Xinhua) -- The art-house cinema section at the ongoing Berlinale presents an alternative to mainstream films as it pushes the audience to think rather than just entertain them, said the director of Berlinale Panorama.

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

The co-existence of Panorama Program and the leading competition one is to balance the need of the audiences and of the film market, Speck told Xinhua, adding that the Panorama Program is more audience-friendly.

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."

"Just panorama itself has attracted more than 100,000 spectators in the 10 days of Berlinale, and they are the ones who don't see the mainstream (films). One half of the panorama audiences are regular cinema-goers who buy the tickets themselves," Speck said, stressing that it's very important to understand that filmmakers can make money with art-house.

"In our film market we have many medium- and small-sized companies that look for their small films, which absolutely work for targeted audiences, " he said.

Speck also explained why Berlinale chose to be staged in harsh winter season: that the audiences have to feel warm inside while it is cold outside.

"Berlinale had been held in June before 1977, then it switched to winter because we wanted people to see the film inside and not to sit outside to enjoy themselves. We are going to be the festival that gets people to work." he said.

While in Cannes, stars and people are mostly outdoors talking at the beach, "here people go inside because outside is ugly and cold and sometimes wet, and inside is cinema," Speck said.

Noting the difference to its rivals like Cannes, the director noted that the Berlinale boasts 400,000 sold tickets as thousands of audiences go into the cinema to see the film, while in other film festivals there are only professionals.

The director said Berlinale is 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," he said.

"In Berlinale you can show a lot of difficult films, because only entertainment is not enough," Speck said.

"They can say they don't like it and that's their freedom, but here we show alternatives to films offered by the mainstream and the media," he said.

As to Chinese films, Speck noted that Berlinale organizers generally have a strong interest in China and its long history. He suggested the next generation of China's young talent could bring their new experiences in the changing society onto the screen, which might help Westerners to better understand China.