Now that scouting trips for the Panorama 2014 are over, viewings in Berlin are in full swing. 50 fictional and documentary films will be chosen to give the programme its distinctive profile between innovative mainstream and radical alternative. So far 19 films have been invited.

Confirmed to date are new works by Michel Gondry, Kutluğ Ataman, Robert Lepage, Sophie Fillières, Benjamin Heisenberg, Maximilian Erlenwein, John Michael McDonagh, and Tsai Ming-liang. Directorial debuts will be contributed by the USA with, for example, Things People Do by Saar Klein and The Better Angels by A. J. Edwards. Astonishing films from Taiwan, the Philippines and Hong Kong have also been picked for the programme, while Latin America is well represented again: already confirmed are two Brazilian productions - Daniel Ribeiro’s Hoje Eu Quero Voltar Sozinho (The Way He Looks), and Marcelo Gomes’ and Cao Guimarães’ O Homem das Multidões (The Man of the Crowd).

The opening film of the Panorama Special has also been selected: Jalil Lespert, who could last be seen in Robert Guédiguian’s Le Promeneur du Champ de Mars in the 2005 Berlinale Competition, is now coming as the director of the film Yves Saint Laurent. With his work, Berlin’s flagship cinema, the Zoo Palast, will be re-inaugurated as a Berlinale venue after extensive renovations, on February 7, 2014.

Along with other Berlinale sections, including the European Film Market, the Festival’s return to the Zoo Palast is a clear sign of a revival at the heart of western Berlin. The Panorama Special will pick up where it left off. Though, over the past three years, things have certainly gone on in great form at the Friedrichstadt-Palast and the Kino International – and both will remain Berlinale sites, in particular the International, which will continue to screen Panorama premieres.

The Heiner Carow Prize, first awarded in 2013 for the best German film, has now established itself. Offered in conjunction with the DEFA Foundation (and endowed with €5,000), it will be awarded to a film that employs extraordinary aesthetic means to deal with social and political issues.

Last but not least, there will be another relocation this year: after many, often wild venues around the city, the TEDDY Award will be presented for the first time in its 28-year history in a baroque setting at the Komische Oper Berlin.

Arrête ou je continue (If You Don't, I Will)

France

By Sophie Fillières

With Emmanuelle Devos, Mathieu Amalric

World premiere

Bai Mi Zha Dan Ke (The Rice Bomber)

Taiwan

By Cho Li

With Huang Chien-wei, Nikki Hsieh, Michael Chang

World premiere

Bing Du (Ice Poison)

Taiwan / Myanmar

By Midi Z

With Wang Shin-Hong, Wu Ke-Xi

World premiere

Calvary

Ireland / Great Britain

By John Michael McDonagh

With Brendan Gleeson, Chris O'Dowd, Kelly Reilly, Aidan Gillen

European premiere

Hoje Eu Quero Voltar Sozinho (The Way He Looks)

Brazil

By Daniel Ribeiro

With Ghilherme Lobo, Tess Amorim, Fabio Audi

World premiere

Is the Man Who Is Tall Happy?

France

By Michel Gondry

With Noam Chomsky

World premiere

O Homem das Multidões (The Man of the Crowd)

Brazil

By Marcelo Gomes, Cao Guimarães

With Paulo André, Silvia Lourenço

International premiere

Papilio Buddha

India / USA

By Jayan Cherian

With Kallen Pokkudan, Saritha Sunil, Sreekumar SP, David Briggs, Prakash Bare, Thampy Antony

European premiere

Quick Change

Philippines

By Eduardo Roy Jr.

With Mimi Juareza, Jun jun Quintana, Miggs Cuaderno, Natashia Yumi, Francine Garcia

International premiere

Stereo

Germany

By Maximilian Erlenwein

With Jürgen Vogel, Moritz Bleibtreu, Petra Schmidt-Schaller, Georg Friedrich, Rainer Bock

World premiere

Test

USA

By Chris Mason Johnson

With Scott Marlowe, Matthew Risch

European premiere

The Better Angels

USA

By A. J. Edwards

With Jason Clarke, Diane Kruger, Brit Marling, Wes Bentley

International premiere

The Lamb

Germany / Turkey

By Kutluğ Ataman

With Nesrin Cavadzade, Cahit Gök, Mert Taştan, Sıla Lara Cantürk, Nursel Köse

World premiere

Things People Do

USA

By Saar Klein

With Wes Bentley, Jason Isaacs, Vinessa Shaw, Haley Bennett

World premiere

Triptyque (Triptych)

Canada

By Robert Lepage, Pedro Pires

With Lise Castonguay, Frédérike Bédard, Hans Piersbergen

International premiere

Über-Ich und Du (Superegos)

Germany / Switzerland / Austria

By Benjamin Heisenberg

With André Wilms, Georg Friedrich

World premiere

Unfriend

Philippines

By Joselito Altarejos

World premiere

Xi You (Journey to the West)

France / Taiwan

By Tsai Ming-liang

With Lee Kang-sheng, Denis Lavant

World premiere

Yves Saint Laurent

France

By Jalil Lespert

With Pierre Niney, Guillaume Gallienne, Charlotte Le Bon, Laura Smet, Marie De Villepin

International premiere – Opening film Panaroma Special