German state minister for culture Claudia Roth underscored the importance of culture for democracy as Berlin’s 72nd International Film Festival opened on Thursday with audiences present again for the first time since the pandemic. “We won’t let the coronavirus get us down. We need cinema. We need film,” Roth asserted amid applause from the audience. Judges, filmmakers and actors were elated that the Berlinale – Germany’s top film festival – was taking place in person and with the public attending. “We are all sitting here because we love cinema so much,” German filmmaker Anne Zohra Berrached t…