Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media Monika Grütters has extended Dieter Kosslick's contract as Director of the Berlinale until May 31, 2019.
Dieter Kosslick assumed directorship of the Berlin International Film Festival in May 2001. Since then, he has enriched the festival with numerous innovations and initiatives, established the EFM (European Film Market) as one of the most important film markets worldwide, and firmly rooted German film within the Berlinale.
"I'm very pleased that I'll be helping shape the profile of the Berlinale for another five years. I thank Federal Government Commissioner Monika Grütters and the KBB Board of Directors for their great support and confidence in my work," says Berlinale Director Dieter Kosslick.
Since May 2001 the creative direction and management of the Berlin International Film Festival have been the responsibility of Dieter Kosslick.
Born in Pforzheim on May 30, 1948, Dieter Kosslick studied Communication, Politics and Education in Munich. After receiving his Masters degree, he stayed on at the university in the Bavarian capital as a research assistant before moving to Hamburg in 1979 to work as speechwriter and office administrator for the First Mayor Hans Ulrich Klose and later as press spokesman for the “women's equality” unit. He left this position in 1982 to work as a journalist for the magazine “konkret”.
In 1983, he became involved in film funding, firstly as managing director of Hamburg's cultural film fund (Hamburg Film Office). In 1986 he founded the European Low Budget Forum with the cinema “Kino auf der Alster”. In 1988 he became managing director of the city's economic film fund (Hamburg Film Fund). The same year, he was a co-founder of EFDO (European Film Distribution Office) and became the president of this European organisation, a post he held until EFDO's dissolution in 1996.
In 1992 the Land of North Rhine-Westphalia and WDR managed to get Dieter Kosslick to come from Hamburg to the Rhine to head up the barely one year-old Filmstiftung NRW as its executive director. During his nine years in office North-Rhine-Westphalia became the leading German film site and established itself internationally as an important film region.
In July 2000 the Land of Berlin and the Federal Government of Germany appointed him director of Germanys prestigious Berlin International Film Festival in 2001. Dieter Kosslick took up his new position in the capital as head of the Berlinale on May 1, 2001.
Dieter Kosslick has received many honours and awards for the diverse ways in which he has promoted film and culture.
