From the 7th to 17th February Berlin will be playing host to the Berlinale, one of the world’s biggest and most important film festivals, comparable with Cannes or Sundance. Major features of the festival will, of course, include lots of premiers of films and exhibitions (42 in fact), and juries and prizes in a number of categories, including short films and best first feature.

International films will vie for attention with the avant-garde and experimental, and there will even be a culinary films section.

It’s not all about the films, of course (just mostly). The festival also brings together people from all parts of the world of cinema, from actors and directors to journalists and critics, as well as the general public. It’s also a place where buyers and sellers meet to do business. For ten days Berlin, always vibrant and busy, positively buzzes with activity.