Berlinale Keynotes to Discuss Future Issues of the Film Industry for the Second Time.

“This is the biggest change to movies since the invention of the full-length feature film. Those that understand this transformation can be winners and those who don’t will fall behind,” says Don Tapscott, one of the leading authorities on digital economy, in describing the film industry’s current situation in view of the rapid advances in the media. Tapscott – professor at the University of Toronto, CEO of the business innovation company New Paradigm and bestselling author (Wikinomics. How Mass Collaboration Changes Everything) – will be one of the distinguished international speakers at the Berlinale Keynotes to be held in the Kaisersaal at Potsdamer Platz on Tuesday, February 12, 2008 from 2 to 6 p.m.

After successfully premiering in 2007, the Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg and the Berlin International Film Festival are once more offering masterminds of film and media a forum for reflecting and discussing future issues of the film industry in 2008. As Berlinale Director Dieter Kosslick comments: “I’m delighted we’ll be able to contribute with the Berlinale Keynotes to the debate on the remarkable developments in the digital media world again in 2008. With the Berlinale Keynotes, we hope the Festival will open itself up even more to representatives of other media and the event will establish itself as a forum for innovative questions and exchange between different sectors.”

“Movie games take over computer screens, studios go on shopping sprees in the game industry, the Internet has become the new key medium: Web 2.0 and games are driving forces behind radical changes in the media as well as the main focus of the Keynotes 2008,” comments Managing Director of the Medienboard, Petra Müller.

The Berlinale Keynotes are a joint initiative of the Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg and the Berlin International Film Festival, and address international decision-makers from the fields of film, media, games and Web 2.0. The event is being organized in cooperation with the mabb Medienanstalt Berlin-Brandenburg/Medienwoche and the media.net berlinbrandenburg. Attendance is by invitation only. More details are available at www.berlinale.de and www.medienboard.de/berlinalekeynotes.