By the numbers

From the time I first arrived at the Berlin airport to the closing night ceremony, this year’s Berlinale was a wonderfully hectic and truly rewarding film going experience. I was consistently impressed by the monumental organizational effort behind this festival and always reminded of it by the ever-present Berlinale bear festival logo. The official statistics stated that this year’s festival visitors came from 125 countries to see the 383 films that were shown at 1,256 screenings. An astonishing 430,000 people attended at least some aspect of this year’s festival.