28th Berlin International Film Festival
The 28th annual Berlin International Film Festival was held from 22 February to 5 March 1978. Director Wolf Donner successfully managed to shift the festival's date from June to February, a change which has remained ever since. This was the first year the festival was held in February. The festival opened with Opening Night by John Cassavetes and closed with Steven Spielberg's out of competition film Close Encounters of the Third Kind.
Festival poster | |
| Opening film | Opening Night |
|---|---|
| Closing film | Close Encounters of the Third Kind |
| Location | West Berlin, Germany |
| Founded | 1951 |
| Awards | Golden Bear (Ascensor, What Max Said, Las truchas) |
| Festival date | 22 February – 5 March 1978 |
| Website | Website |
The jury awarded the Golden Bear to Spain for its contribution to the festival. The three Spanish films which were screened at the festival and won it were short film Ascensor directed by Tomás Muñoz and feature films La palabras de Max by Emilio Martínez Lázaro and Las truchas by José Luis García Sánchez.
A new section for children was introduced at the festival. The Part 2 of the retrospective dedicated to West German actress Marlene Dietrich was shown at the festival, as well as the retrospective called "Censorship – Banned German Films 1933-1945".