The 54th Berlin International Film Festival got off to a raucous start Thursday when a group of student protesters stormed the Berlinale Palast venue before the opening night gala screening of “Cold Mountain.” The students, who were protesting the Berlin city-state government’s plan to cut funding for higher education, forced their way past a lightly guarded side door and poured into the atrium of the theater. Red-carpet guests looked on nervously before a wall of German police forced the demonstrators back outside. The disturbance delayed the gala start by an hour. The president of the festival jury, American actress Frances McDormand, who was greeted with the whistles and chants of the students, said she saw no harm in the protests. “I love that, that’s fabulous. We are the people,” she was quoted as saying.