JOHN FORD

26. NOV. - 7. DEZEMBER 

The director’s director!

John Ford – the quintessential director’s director of cinema.

Join us for an unforgettable celebration of a filmmaker whose influence reverberates across generations.

Discover why the masters call him “the director’s director” and let his timeless stories move you and ignite your own sense of adventure.

“His storytelling is the very DNA of the modern film language.” – Martin Scorsese

“I prefer the old masters, by which I mean John Ford, John Ford, and John Ford.” – Orson Welles

“He taught me how to paint a landscape with light and shadow.” – Akira Kurosawa

“The man could turn a single frame into a myth.” – Howard Hawks

“His courage on the frontier is the blueprint for every adventure I’ve ever imagined.” – Steven Spielberg

“Playing Ford was a masterclass in humility and power.” – David Lynch

The John Ford Film Festival at Babylon Berlin invites you to step into the worlds that shaped a century of cinema.

From the dustblown plains of Stagecoach  and My Darling Clementine to the stark coalfilled valleys of How Green Was My Valley, from the Dust Bowl desperation of Depressionera America in The Grapes of Wrath ito the wind-torn decks in The Long Voyage Home, Ford’s films are a study in heroic perseverance—ordinary people confronting impossible odds with quiet dignity. 

Beyond his sweeping epics, Ford could also make you laugh. See how he gets Edward G. Robinson to play both Public Enemy #1 and his nervous clerk lookalike in The Whole Town`s Talking, and watch how he turns a trio of outlaws into caretakers of a baby in 3 Godfathers. Perfect light hearted picks.

From 26 November until 7 December, our three screens will showcase a curated selection of Ford’s most influential works.

Take in the sweeping vistas that defined the American West, the intimate closeups that reveal inner turmoil, and the meticulously composed tableaux that continue to inspire today’s auteurs—from the kinetic intensity of Christopher Nolan to the lyrical melancholy of Alfonso Curaón.

For those new to Ford, this festival offers a gateway to the director whose visual grammar underpins everything from blockbuster epics to indie dramas.

For longtime admirers, it is a rare chance to experience his masterpieces sidebyside, reexamined through contemporary eyes and presented in the incomparable Babylon setting, including three of his early silent films accompanied by Anna Valvilkina on our historic organ.

“How did you learn? Did you study particular painters?”

“I studied John Ford.” - Kurosawa

Curator ALFREDO GILIBERTO WILL BE PRESENT at MOST of the FILMS, introducing the films