Life is change, but as the Dalai Lama says, the Lightbub has to want to change. New dates, new directors, new directions, and what changing temperatures during this 70th edition of one of the most celebrated international film rendezvous in the calendar, created by a former (in dispute), charming (not in dispute as I remember him well on my first-footing, fresh from Oxford University, to what was to become the last summer edition of the Cold War celluloid showcase in the metropolitan oasis of West Berlin, firmly tucked in behind the Iron Curtain). With Gina Lollobrigida, one of Woody Allen's  funniest earlier features, and boat trips on the Spree, it was a memorable debut for my reportages on air (on the famed Radio 4 nightly arts programme Kaleidoscope and an 850-word article in the historic weeky The Spectator) and I was clearly willkommen to return to subsequent editions, having paid my own way in its last summer, as the first Festleiter enjoyed reading my review and ensured that not only were my hotel costs covered, for 12 days, but even daily gutscheine were provided for sustenance between press screenings, galas, and Forum premieres.Colleagues from the East quickly realised these meal vouchers were worth  their weight in Deutschemarks, and soon began ordering a mere coffee, and then the waiter would tip them, in any Festival bar, and in bar.No wonder the Bears really used to dance at night. The Festival has now come full circle, as it provides the press with free cappuccino, provided they bring their own cups.Or as Marlene might say, waist not, vont not.

The best is yet  to come...fasten your seat-belts!

Phillip Bergson                                                            www.berlinale.de