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. 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 What Max Said 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".

Juries

The following people were announced as being on the jury for the festival:

Main Competition

Official Sections

Main Competition

The following films were in competition for the Golden Bear award:

Out of competition

Retrospective

The following films were shown in the retrospective dedicated to Marlene Dietrich (Part 2):

Official Awards

The following prizes were awarded by the Jury:

Independent Awards

FIPRESCI Award