75th Berlin International Film Festival LIne Up - In Progress

Note: This post will be In Progress until festival full program becomes available at official site, which seems is scheduled to February 4, 2025.

This year the festival will run from February 13 to February 23, 2025 and the Program Press Conference is scheduled to be held on January 21, 2025, at 11am at Haus der Kulturen der Welt. The Berlinale 2025 marks the 75th anniversary of the Berlin International Film Festival and is also the first edition under the direction of Tricia Tuttle.

Tricia Tuttle will open the Press Conference and give an overview of the entire festival program. She will then present the films in the Competition and the new competitive section Perspectives together with the Co-Directors of Film Programming Jacqueline Lyanga and Michael Stütz.

European Film Market

Under the new direction of Tanja Meissner, the European Film Market (EFM) 2025 will again open its doors from February 13 to 19, welcoming international industry representatives including producers, global sales agents and distributors as well as cinema operators, high-tech companies, and investors from all over the world.

On February 12, 2025, the inaugural EFM Distributor Award will be presented for the first time as part of the European Film Market kick-off event. The Award aims to recognize the significance of European Arthouse distribution and its central contribution to cultural diversity.

This year, Spain and its vibrant film industry will take centre stage at the Berlinale’s EFM as Country in Focus. The diversity of Spain as a production location, the creative excellence and its tech-savvy pioneering role aligns perfectly with the EFM’s focus on innovation and industry trends.

The Poster

Berlin graphic designer Claudia Schramke created the key design for the 75th Berlinale. The design places the Berlinale at the centre of a glowing visual interpretation of the theme of “time”. A modern, lively remix of the historical cinema feeling and an emotional anniversary countdown form the beating heart of the upcoming Berlinale.

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.



From 2025, the Winners of Three Berlinale Awards Qualify for the Oscars

From current year, the winner of the Teddy Award – Best Documentary/Essay Film will also be entitled to enter the competition for an Oscar®. This is the third award presented at the Berlinale to qualify the winning film to be submitted for the Academy Award®/Oscar® longlist alongside the Golden Bear for Best Short Film and the Berlinale Documentary Award.

Homage

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 modern filmmaking idols, and has also long been part of the Berlinale family. We are delighted to be able to present her with this Honorary Golden Bear,” says Festival Director Tricia Tuttle.

“The Berlinale is the first film festival I ever went to, in 1986 with Derek Jarman and the first film I made, his Caravaggio. It was my portal into the world in which I have made my life’s work - the world of international filmmaking - and I have never forgotten the debt I owe it. To be honoured in this way by this particular festival is deeply touching for me: it will be my privilege and pleasure to celebrate, once more next February, the seedbed that is this wide-eyed and reliably wonderful gathering,” says Tilda Swinton.

The Program

Competition

International Jury
President: Todd Haynes, director, screenwriter and producer, USA

Berlinale Special
Opening Film: Das Licht (The Light), Tom Tyker, Germany, UK and France
Honey Bunch, Madeleine Sims-Fewer and Dusty Mancinelli, Canada
Islands, Jan-Ole Gerster, Germany
Köln 75, Ida Fluk, Germany, Poland and Belgium

Perspectives

Panorama
Ato Noturno (Night Stage), Marcio Reolon and Filipe Matzembacher, Brazil
Den stygge stesøsteren (The Ugly Stepsister), Emilie Blichfeldt, Norway, Poland, Sweden and Denmark (debut film)
Dreams in Nightmares, Shatara Michelle Ford, USA, Taiwan and UK (Teddy - Lesbian Interest)
Hjem kaere hjem (Home Sweet Home), Frelle Petersen, Denmark
Lesbian Space Princess, Emma Hough Hobbs and Leela Varghese, Australia (Animation) (Teddy - Lesbian Interest)
Peter Hujar's Day, Ira Sachs, USA and Germany (Teddy - Gay Interest)
Sorda (Deaf), Eva Libertad, Spain Welcome Home Baby, Andreas Prochaska, Austria and Germany

Panorama Dokumente
Bajo las Banderas, el Sol (Under the Flags, the Sun), Juanjo Pereiro, Paraguay, Argentina, USA, France, and Germany
Die Möllner Briefe (The Moelin Letters), Martina Priessner, Germany
Khartoum, Anas Saeed, Rawia Alhag, Ibrahim Snoopy, Timeea M Ahmed, and Phil Cox, Sudan, UK, Germany and Qatar
Paul, Denis Côté, Canada

Forum

Forum Special
The 2025 Forum Special is entitled "Open Wounds, Open Words" and forms a logical continuation of these programming ideas, turning its attention this time around to the positions of the younger generation: growing up, youthful awakenings, becoming an adult and part of society – in contexts marked by cultural norms, social inequality and political injustice.

Feature Films
Das falsche Wort (The Lie), Katrin Seybold, Germany, 1987 (documentary) (digital restoration)
Iracema, uma transa amazônica (Iracema), Jorge Bodanzky and Orlando Senna, Brazil and Germany, 1975 (digital restoration)
Mes fantômes arméniens (My Armenian Phantoms), Tamara Stepanyan, France, Armenia and Qatar (documentary)
Scars of a Putsch, Nathalie Borgers, Austria and Belgium (documentary)
The Long road to The Director's Chair, Vibeke Løkkeberg, Norway (documentary)

Short Films
Guochang (Fruit Farm), Nana Xu, China (documentary)
Nagota (Nudity), Sabina Bakaeva, Uzbekistan and France (documentry)
Shinagani gazapkhulebis q'vaviloba (Inner Blooming Springs), Tiku Kobiashvili, Georgia (documentary)

Forum Expanded
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.

Feature Film
Cartas do Absurdo (Letters from Absurd), Gabraz Sanna, Brazil
Extra Life (and Decay), Stéphanie Lagarde, Netherlands and France
Miraculous Accident, Assaf Gruber, Germany and Austria
Mirage: Eigenstate, Riar Rizoldi, Indonesia, UK and Portugal
ภูเขาคำราม Mountain Roars, Chonchanok Thanatteepwong and Pobwarat Maprasob, Thailand
Pidikwe (Rumble), Caroline Monnet, Canada
Portales (Portals), Elena Duque, Spain (animation)
Stars, Stars Collective, UK and Germany (animation) (Teddy - queer interest)
When the Sun is Eaten (Chi'bal K'iin), Jerome Everson, USA

Documentary
Akher Youm (The Last Day), Mahmoud Ibrahim, Egypt (documentary)
Al Basateen (The Orchards), Antoine Chapon, France (documentary)
Mikuba (Cobalt), Petna Ndaliko Katondolo, Congo and USA (documentary)
Mua besoj më shpëtoj portreti (I Beleive the Portrait Saved Me), Alban Muja, Kosovo and Netherlands (documentary)
Photosynthesizing Dead in Warehouse, Jeamin Cha, South Korea (documentary)
Spetsialna Operatsiia (Special Operation), Oleksiy Radynski, Ukraine and lithuania (documentary)
Tin City, Feargal Ward, Ireland (documentary)
Zizi (ou oração da jaca fabulosa) (Zizi (or Praying to a Fabulous Tree)), Felipe M. Bragança, Brazil (documentary)

Installations
Alternatives Denkmal für Deutschland (ADfD) (Alternative Monument for Germany) (reality installation)
Beneath the Placid Lake, Kush Badhwar and Vyjayanthi Rao, India and Finland (video installation)
Chang Gyeong, Jongwook Lee, South Korea (video installation)
J-N-N, Ginan Seidl, Germany (video installation)
Rapture, Alisa Berger, France and Germany (VR installation)
Sinking Suns, Neda Saeedi, Austria and Germany  (reality and video installation)
Wilfred Buck's Star Stories, Lisa Jackson and The Macronauts, Canada (360-degree dome projection)

Generation

Generation Kplus

Feature Film
A natureza das coisas invisíveis (The Nature of Invisible things), Rafaela Camelo, Brazil and Chile
Anngeerdardardor (The Thief), Christoffer Rizvanovic Stenbakken, Denmark and Groenland
Autokar, Sylwia Szkiłądź, Belgium and France (animation)

Generation 14plus

Feature Film
Daye: Seret Ahl El Daye (The Tale of Daye's Family), Karim El Shenawy, Egypt and Saudi Arabia
I Agries Meres Mas (Our Wildest Days), Vasilis Kekatos, Greece and France (debut film)
Maya, donne-moi un titre (Maya, Give Me a Title), Michel Gondry), France (animation)
Space Cadet, Eric San, Canada (debut film) (animation)
Têtes Brûlées, Maja Ajmia Yde Zellama, Belgium (debut film)
Village Rockstars 2, Rima Das, India and Singapore
Zečji nasip (Sandbag Dam), Čejen Černić Čanak, Croatia, Lithuania and Slovenia

Short Film
Beneath Which Rivers Flow, Ali Yahya, Iraq (documentary)
Fantas, Halima Elkhatabi, Canada
Ne réveillez pas l'enfant qui dort (Don't Woke the Sleeping Child), Kevin Aubert, Senegal, France and Morocco
On a Sunday at Eleven, Alicia K. Harris, Canada
Ornmol (White Ochre), Marlikka Perdrisat, Australia (documentary)

Berlinale Shorts

Berlinale Co-Production Market
35 film projects from 27 countries from 351 submissions. Female directors in 19 of the 35 projects.

Official Feature Project Section 2025

30 Days of Summer, Anastasiia Solonevych, Ukraine
A Few Miles South, Ben Pearce, Poland
A Place in the World, Ayşe Polat, Germany
Crocodile Rock, Kirsten Tan, USA
Dreamgirl, Kaan Müjdeci, Turkey
Galerna, Tatiana Huezo, Mexico
Girl, Don't Play, Ainhoa Rodríguez, Spain
Happy Days, Floor van der Meulen, Netherlands
Holiday, Wissam Charaf, France
Ibicaba - Visions of Paradise, Andrea Štaka, Switzerland
Keep Her Quiet, Franz Böhm and Suli Kurban, Germany
Konbini, Pedro Collantes, Spain
Lende, Katy Lena Ndiaye, France
Men and Days, Arnau Vilaró, Spain
Suffering Is Optional, Zarrar Kahn, Canada
The Earth Is Flat – I Flew Around and Saw It, Maksym Nakonechnyi, Ukraine
The Funeral, Carolina Markowicz, Brazil
The Magic Hour, Radu Muntean, Romania
You Crazy Thing, Miia Tervo, Finland

Berlinale Directors projects
Daemon, Valeria Hofmann, Chile
The Block Universe, Stephan Komandarev, Germany
The Inverted Well, Narges Kalhor, Germany

World Cinema Market project
I'm Coming For You, Cyrielle Raingou, Germany

Rotterdam-Berlinale Express
Four Seasons In Java, Kamila Andini, Indonesia
Meat, Rioghnach Ni Ghrioghair, Ireland

Talent Project Market
A Certain Type, Christoffer Lossius, Norway
All That We Could Be, Rohena Gera, France
Death in Torrevieja, Adriana Arratia, Spain
Hum, Don Josephus Raphael Eblahan, USA and Philippines
March 14th, Alberto Gross Molo, Spain
Sentimental Fail Club, Jasmin Baumgartner, Austria
Sentinel, Carl Joseph E. Papa, Philippines
The Illusions, Ingrid Pokropek, Argentina
The Serpent, Diogo Hayashi, Brazil
The Sun Sees Everything, Wissam Tanios, Lebanon

To check projects at official site go here.