Diversity, politics and revelations from the Nazi era will dominate the agenda when the Berlin International Film Festival launches its 70th edition in the heart of the German capital on Thursday.

One of Europe's biggest cinema events alongside Cannes and Venice, the Berlinale will this year showcase female directors and political films from across the globe while also confronting hard truths about its own murky history.

A new prize, a Silver Bear marking the festival's 70th anniversary, will be awarded by the international jury, the film festival organizers announced on Tuesday. The decision aims at filling the gap following the suspension of the award honoring the first festival director Alfred  Bauer who was alleged with a strong Nazi past.

According to a report from German newspaper "Die Zeit" in January, Alfred Bauer was a "high-ranking functionary in Nazi film bureaucracy." Bauer ran the Berlinale from 1951 to 1976. The film festival has awarded the "Alfred Bauer Prize" in his honor, recognizing work that "opens new perspectives on cinematic art," since his death in 1986.

The "Alfred Bauer Prize" had been awarded since 1987 to honor particularly innovative film-making.

On Tuesday, festival organizers announced they had commissioned the Munich-based Institute for Contemporary History (IfZ) to carry out an independent investigation into Bauer's past.

"We are convinced that an external and independent group of historians should investigate Alfred Bauer's position in the Nazi regime," Berlinale executive director Mariette Rissenbeek said in a statement.

(Cover photo: Workers lay the red carpet for the upcoming Berlinale Film Festival in Berlin, Germany, February 18, 2020. /VCG )

(With input from AFP)