The Berlin Film Festival has appointed former British Film Institute president Tricia Tuttle as the new director of The Hollywood Reporter

The German Ministry of Culture has revealed the new president of the Berlin International Film Festival, who will take over from co-directors Carlo Chatrian and Mariette Riesenbeck, who will step down after next year’s Berlin Film Festival.

Tricia Tuttle, former director of the BFI London Film Festival, will take over as sole director of the Berlinale after next year.

The Berlin Film Festival announced the replacement on Tuesday, after months of speculation and media chatter surrounding Germany’s first film festival. Chatrian and Riesenbeek announced they will leave the team when their contracts expire next year. The German Ministry of Culture and Media, the main funder of the Berlinale, had previously said it would abolish the appointment of a dual director and return to a single festival director from 2025 onwards.

Tuttle, who was the BFI’s Director of Festivals from October 2018 to April this year, is currently Head of Fiction Directing at the UK’s National Film and Television School. She will take over as director of the Berlinale in April 2024.

Claudia Roth, Germany’s Minister of State for Culture and Media, said Tuttle “brings 25 years of experience in the field of cinema and film festivals” to her new job. “Under her leadership, the BFI London Film Festival has not only seen an increase in audience numbers, but has also gained international stature and importance.”

“I have attended the Berlinale for many years as a professional, and I have really come to appreciate it a lot,” Tuttle said in a statement. “The Berlinale is a pioneer among first-class film festivals – welcoming and inclusive, full of an astonishing diversity of films. It is a festival that showcases cinema as a more vibrant and often magical art form, one that can change the way we see the world and how we understand each other. “What an enormous pleasure and privilege to have this opportunity to lead this important festival. I look forward to a very successful Berlinale in 2024, and joining the team then.”

The Ministry of Culture said that the appointment came after the recommendation of a selection committee composed of Claudia Roth and Oscar-winning director Edward Berger.All is quiet on the Western Front(Actress Sarah Fadilat)Nico, Holy spider), Producer Roman Paul (One beautiful morning, Heaven now), Anne Leben, Executive Director of the German Film Academy, and President of the Berlin Senate Chancellery, Florian Graf.

The Ministry previously confirmed that there will be significant cuts in the festival’s operating budget, starting next year, an austerity that forced the Berlinale to cut entire sections of its program to avoid a financial crisis. The city of Berlin has pledged an additional $2.2 million to the festival over the next two years, which should fill the budget gap somewhat.

More problematic for any upcoming Berlinale director is the political influence the Culture Ministry expects him to have on the festival and its official selection. Chatrian said that he resigned from the position of artistic director because the Minister of Culture demanded the use of veto power over the selection of the Berlinale film.

“In the new structure, as presented, it is quite clear that the conditions that would allow me to continue as artistic director no longer exist,” Chatrian wrote in the official statement announcing his departure.

Chatrian and Riesenbeck took over as the Berlinale’s first dual chair in 2019, replacing long-serving solo director Dieter Kosslick. Under Koselleck, the Berlinale and the European Film Market grew in size and importance. Chatrian and Riesenbeek have weathered the Covid-19 pandemic — holding an online-only Berlinale in 2021 and a shortened version of the festival last year — but have struggled to attract big-ticket Hollywood blockbusters and their accompanying stars, making Berlin a less attractive platform for studio releases.

The new artistic director will not only face budgetary challenges, but also the question of what role the Berlinale will play in the future.

The 7th Berlin International Film Festival will take place from February 15 to 25, 2024. Academy Award winner Lupita Nyong’o (12 years a slave, Black Panther) will be president of the International Jury for the Berlinale 2024.