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Whenever anyone asks — to whom he should reach out his hand to personally greet the Berlinale with a warm »Guten Tag« — then the right address would be the Holloways.

For who else personifies an inexhaustible interest for films, for the people who make them, for the circumstances that link them together, for the atmosphere that spawns film making and film viewing, for the dynamic ecology of life and living, of fortune and destiny, of beauty and passion, of the art and mastery for which cinema stands. All these components would have to be personified. And nowhere are they better visualized than in the example of the Holloways.

They champion as persons what the Berlinale stands for. Why it is important. Why we can be happy that the Berlinale even exists. Namely, the idea that all these enthusiastic factors of cinema can be lumped together for a few days in one great cauldron, under which you no longer have to stoke the flames ...

Somehow this pair personifies a film festival. They are always present at the fests and festivals of the world that stand for cinema. They can’t do otherwise. And everywhere they bring along with them a kind of »hawker’s festival« — their own knowledge, their singular experience, their overflowing fondness for films, for people, for events. With their modesty too — a rarity in show business. But also with a self-assurance that draws attention to them wherever they go ...

Of course, both have accomplished much more. Dorothea, with her acting performances since Gustaf Gründgens, with her welcomed readings of the German classics. Ron, with his articles and books, with his documentary portraits of Sergei Parajanov and Elem Klimov. Both are still doing pioneer work supporting the cinemas of Central and Eastern Europe — »eye-openers,« as Gary McVey of the American Cinema Foundation said back in 2002. Above all, tirelessly and without interruption, they have published »KINO — German Film and International Reports« for nearly three decades now. What’s more, they deliver it personally to their readers ...

This evening, the Berlinale is paying tribute to itself by honoring Ron and Dorothea Holloway. Indeed, the Berlinale is presenting a portrait of itself. What it stands for. How it wants to be perceived by others.

So, whenever someone asks me — What is the Berlinale? Why is there a Berlinale in the first place? — I have a ready answer. Just look at the Holloways. At what they are doing. Then you already know a great deal.