Happy Doom © 2023 Billy Roisz
20 films from a total of 18 production countries are celebrating their premieres at the 2025 Berlinale Shorts, of which 15 are world premieres. The programme combines classic storytelling with surreal works, features various styles of animation and presents experimental documentary forms.
The films show human beings and the circumstances in which they live. They examine the impact of the past on the present (Rückblickend Betrachtet (In Retrospect); Kok...
In the 2025 Berlinale Classics section, the artistic director of the Deutsche Kinemathek, Dr Rainer Rother, and his team showcase eight digitally restored film classics, seven world premieres and one international premiere. The eras represented range from the 1930s to the 1980s. For the first time, the section features restorations by the Estonian Film Institute (EFI) and the China Film Archive. Berlinale Classics also embraces genre cinema, a nod to the 2025 Retrospective.
The section will ope...
Tala Al-Deen in Das Licht (The Light) by Tom Tykwer © Frédéric Batier / X Filme
The world premiere of Tom Tykwer’s latest feature film Das Licht (The Light) will open the 75th Berlin International Film Festival on February 13, 2025. The German-French production Das Licht (The Light) will be presented as a Berlinale Special Gala in the Berlinale Palast.
“We knew as soon as we saw Das Licht (The Light) that we wanted to have it open the 75th Berlin...
Tanja Meissner
Berlinale Festival Director Tricia Tuttle has appointed the highly regarded and experienced industry professional Tanja Meissner to join her Executive team as the Director of Berlinale Pro*. This reshaped role encompasses the directorship of the European Film Market (EFM) while also taking a strategic lead in developing the Berlinale Pro* consortium, together with the Heads of the Berlinale Co-Production Market, Berlinale Talents and World Cinema Fund, who will report ...
Winston Baker’s Entertainment Finance Forum Berlin returns with a sharp focus on the evolving world of global entertainment finance.
This year, we spotlight cutting-edge sales strategies, the surge of international co-productions, and the intersection of creativity and capital in today’s industry.
Join top executives and thought leaders as they share actionable insights on securing funding, navigating co-production complexities, and staying authentic while deli...
19 films will compete for the Golden and Silver Bears, among them one first feature as well as one documentary. Productions from 26 countries are represented. 17 films are world premieres. Eight films were directed or co-directed by women. Nine filmmakers have screened their films in the Berlinale previously.
“We’re fiercely proud of the films in this year’s Competition; they showcase the breadth of cinema and offer fascinating glimpses into different lives and places. ...
Berlinale is a few weeks away and our partner Winston Baker will be bringing back their 2nd Annual Entertainment Finance Forum Berlin during @efm_europeanfilmmarket on Friday, Feb 14th!
Flashback to the hugely successful forum last year where we heard from @wme, @waypoint_ent, @fifthseason, @telepool_de, @protagonistpictures, @headgearfilms, @stampedeventures and more!
Audiences were also treated to a special Fireside Chat with Wendy ...
From February 15 to 20, 2025, Berlinale Talents will welcome 201 selected filmmakers to Berlin. Over six days, participants will explore the theme “Listen Courageously: Cinematic Narratives in Times of Dissonance” through an engaging programme of talks, workshops and public discussions. Representing a multifaceted community from 62 countries, the filmmakers’ participation is the first step into one of the world’s largest film communities. With ...
On Monday, February 17, 2025, Books at Berlinale will present ten novelties by international authors with high potential for film adaptation as part of the Berlinale Co-Production Market. Since 2006, new releases and bestsellers from the European and international book market have been presented annually in cooperation with the Frankfurter Buchmesse in a moderated pitch event where film producers meet renowned rights holders from publishers and agencies to identify new and promising I...
The Long Road to the Director’s Chair by Vibeke Løkkeberg © Georg Helgevold Sagen | Shinagani gazapkhulebis q'vaviloba (Inner Blooming Springs) by Tiku Kobiashvili © Tiku Kobiashvili | Das falsche Wort (The Lie) by Katrin Seybold © Filmmuseum München
In the second year headed by Barbara Wurm, the Forum Special is once again showing a programme of historical and current films, curated around a set of related themes. ...
In its 20th edition, Forum Expanded brings together 24 works from 21 countries. Employing practices that span installation, film, video and sculpture, the selected artists and filmmakers employ translucence as a means of engaging with the cataclysmic realities of the present. Whether dealing with personal or collective histories, ongoing wars, extractivism, legacies of colonialism or social inequalities, their approaches frequently hinge on intervention rather than observation. B...
35 film projects from 27 countries have been selected for the 22nd Berlinale Co-Production Market (February 15-19). Their producers will meet potential co-producers and financiers at the event, which this year will take place primarily at the Octogon, a new event location at Leipziger Platz, in order to realise the feature films as international co-productions in the coming years. Women are directing 19 of the 35 projects. There were 351 submissions for the official project selection, ...
© Brigitte Lacombe
The 75th Berlin International Film Festival will award Scottish actor Tilda Swinton the Honorary Golden Bear for her lifetime achievement. The award will be presented at the Opening Ceremony at the Berlinale Palast on February 13, 2025.
“The range of Tilda Swinton’s work is breathtaking. To cinema she brings so much humanity, compassion, intelligence, humour and style, and she expands our ideas of the world through her work. Tilda is one of our moder...
The Berlinale 2025 marks the 75th anniversary of the Berlin International Film Festival. The 75th Berlinale is also the first edition under the direction of Tricia Tuttle.
For the first time, an animated key visual is at the centre of the design alongside the classic poster. This reflects the media shift towards digital channels and the importance of moving graphics in communication.
The design places the Berlinale at the centre of a glowing visual interpretation of the theme...
Todd Haynes © Samir Hussein / Wire Image
The US-American director, screenwriter and producer Todd Haynes will be President of the International Jury of the 75th Berlin International Film Festival.
“Todd Haynes is a dazzlingly gifted writer and director with an impressive range; his body of work is at once stylistically versatile but also unmistakably his. Ever since his debut feature Poison won the TEDDY AWARD in 1991, the Berlinale has followed and loved his fil...
Berlinale Talents Key Visual and Theme for 2025: "Listen Courageously – Cinematic Narratives in Times of Dissonance" © Ada Favaron and Imad Gebrael
The art of listening will be the overarching theme for the 23rd edition of Berlinale Talents, the vibrant talent hub of the Berlin International Film Festival.
Listening intently, considerately, carefully, and most importantly, courageously, builds upon the foundation o...
Co-Directors of Film Programming Jacqueline Lyanga and Michael Stütz
Tricia Tuttle Appoints Michael Stütz and Jacqueline Lyanga as Co-Directors of Film Programming and Announces Other New Executive Director Positions
Berlinale Director Tricia Tuttle has appointed two internationally respected programmers to share responsibilities as Co-Directors of Film Programming. Former US-delegate to the Berlinale, Jacqueline Lyanga, and Panorama section head Michael Stütz will ass...
With the creation of an international competitive strand for fiction feature debuts, the Berlinale will shine a brighter spotlight on new filmmakers within the festival. This new stand-alone competition, Perspectives, will include up to 14 fiction debuts from all over the world, with a jury of three deciding on the Best First Feature Award. The award is endowed with 50,000 euros, funded by GWFF (Gesellschaft zur Wahrnehmung von Film- und Fernsehrechten), a society dedicated to s...
Goodbye Julia von / by Mohamed Kordofani © Pierre de Villiers / Rushlake Media GmbH
At the 40th jury session of the Berlinale World Cinema Fund (WCF), the juries made ten funding recommendations for projects from Algeria, Argentina, Brazil, Cameroon, Egypt, Iran, Lesotho, Nepal and Sudan. The current funding pot of eight production and two distribution grants amounts to a total of 260,000 euros.
“At a time when the complexity of the world is ...
Spain will be the “Country in Focus” at the upcoming edition of the European Film Market. Its many filmmakers make Spain a dynamic and strong European film location with international appeal, as well as a long-standing and successful tradition of numerous films in the festival programme as well as at the EFM and in the Berlinale’s industry initiatives.
Continuing an initiative that started in 2017, the EFM annually places a major film...
Tobias Pausinger, der neue Programmleiter von Berlinale Talents / Tobias Pausinger, the new Programme Manager of Berlinale Talents
© Steffen Junghans
On October 1, Tobias Pausinger will take over the programme management of Berlinale Talents, completing the dual leadership team of the talent development initiative alongside Project Manager Nikola Joetze.
Tobias, a seasoned, interdisciplinary creative executive, has made a...
Fotos: Berlinale Series Market: © Juliane Eirich / Co-Pro Series: © Carlos Collado
Serialised filmmaking has long been an integral part of the Berlinale, as both a cultural showcase in the public programme and as an important creative and business exchange within the Berlinale Pro* industry programmes. In 2025, the Berlinale reaffirms its commitment with exciting new series due to be presented in the public programme, at the Berlinale Series...
(Black Tea by Abderrahmane Sissako © Olivier Marceny / Cinéfrance Studios / Archipel 35 / Dune Vision)
By M.R. D’Amico
Even before its world premiere at Berlinale 2024, Black Tea had generated strong interest among major international distributors, a promising start for the film’s journey into the global market. Mauritanian director Abderrahmane Sissako, after the amazing success of his first Oscar-nominated film Timbuktu in 2014, embarks here...
(Thinley Lhamo from Shambhala by Min Bahadur Bham, © Aditya Basnet / Shooney Films)
By M.R. D’Amico
It is the first Nepalese film to be in competition at Berlinale and one of the best surprises of the festival. In a Nepalese Himalayan village a young beautiful woman, Pema, starts her adult life with a polyandrous marriage to Tashi and his two younger brothe...
Social Media Channel Hacked
On Sunday, February 25, the Instagram channel of the Berlinale Panorama section was briefly hacked and anti-Semitic image-text posts about the Middle East war with the Berlinale logo were posted on the channel. These statements do not originate from the festival and do not represent the festival's stance. The posts were deleted immediately and an investigation was launched into how this incident could have occurred. The Berlinale condemns this crimin...
