This year's 60th Berlinale Retrospective series, "Play It Again," returns new and old viewers to the landmark films of the Berlin Film Festival.

David Thomson, renowned British film critic and historian, has selected 38 films from the past 60 years to run as a kind of "film school" over 10 days.

"We should never forget the old films. They are what made us and have educated us," the curator told Xinhua.

Berlinale was originally established in 1951 by an American film officer with the hope of bringing back culture to war-torn Berlin.

The retrospective series, which kicked off on Friday and will end on Feb. 21, will also feature directors whose films are currently playing in the main festival.

Chinese director Zhang Yimou has a lot to do at this year's 60th Berlin Film Festival, also known as the Berlinale.

His new film, "A Woman, A Gun and A Noodle Shop," premiered in the competition on Sunday and his classic, "Red Sorghum," which won the first Golden Bear for China in 1988, hit the big screen again in the retrospective series on Monday.

It's a magnificent year for films and filmmakers. When asked about how Zhang felt about the return of his debut feature, "Red Sorghum," to the big screen, he replied, "It is like going home. It's as if Berlinale and I were a family."

"It's a great, great film. When it (first) played in Berlin, it had a fantastic effect, as if suddenly a vast new continent had opened up," Thompson said.

Over the past six decades of the Berlinale, more than 15,000 films have been screened at the festival, though not all of them were well received by the critics.

"Berlin Film festival has always been a serious film festival. It's very political and argumentative," Thompson said.

In 1979, American director Michael Cimino screened his controversial Vietnam War movie, "The Deer Hunter." Criticism from around the world engulfed the film's imminent premiere and Eastern European countries pulled their films and delegates from the Berlinale in protest.

"Cinema is personal," Thomson has said, regarding film criticism and history.

Not all films that premiered at the festival stirred hot debate. Films such as "A bout de souffle" (Breathless) by Jean-Luc Godard was one of the celebrated first films to come out of the French New Wave.

Godard's first feature length film, a French drama about forbidden love, betrayal and robbery, was recognized instantly for its bold visual style and innovative editing.

The 38 films from the retrospective also include Wong Kar-wai's "Fallen Angels," Akira Kurosawa's "Ikiru" and Thomson's pick of the bunch, "Magnolia," by Paul Thomas Anderson.

The retrospective series is an opportunity to get out and revisit the classics, and besides, remarked Thomson, "Berlin is a festival that says, come to the winter, to a dark city and have a good time."