The Berlin International Film Festival has unveiled the full lineup for its 2025 International Competition, featuring 19 titles from 26 production countries. Seventeen of the films will have their world premieres in Berlin, with eight directed or co-directed by women.
The competition includes a mix of established auteurs and emerging voices. Richard Linklater brings “Blue Moon.” Michel Franco returns with “Dreams,” while Norway’s Dag Johan Haugerud presents “Drømmer” (“Dreams (Sex Love)”). Hong Sangsoo will premiere “Geu jayeoni nege mworago hani” (“What Does That Nature Say to You”), and Radu Jude competes with “Kontinental '25.”
Mary Bronstein’s “If I Had Legs I'd Kick You,” Iván Fund’s “El mensaje” (“The Message”), Johanna Moder’s “Mother's Baby,” and Ameer Fakher Eldin’s “Yunan” are also included in the selection. Rebecca Lenkiewicz's “Hot Milk” marks a debut feature, while “Strichka chasu” (“Timestamp”) by Kateryna Gornostai enters as a documentary.
Festival Director Tricia Tuttle expressed her delight with the selected films in the Competition section, describing them as a showcase of the breadth of cinema and as offering fascinating perspectives on different lives and places.
“There are intimate dramas that ask us to understand our human fragilities and strengths; there is gentle comedy but also the sharpest, blackest satire; there are films that pay homage to cinematic greats and ones that use the art form’s fullest canvas.” She emphasized that “each of these singular works demonstrates filmmakers at the top of their craft.”
Also competing are Léonor Serraille’s “Ari,” Lionel Baier’s “La cache” (“The Safe House”), Hélène Cattet and Bruno Forzani’s “Reflet dans un diamant mort” (“Reflection in a Dead Diamond”), Huo Meng’s “Sheng xi zhi di” (“Living the Land”), Lucile Hadžihalilović’s “La Tour de Glace” (“The Ice Tower”), and Gabriel Mascaro’s “O último azul” (“The Blue Trail”).
Also finalized is the Berlinale Special section, which completes its slate with nine new films joining the previously announced twelve, for a total of 21 titles representing 16 production countries. The section includes 16 narrative features, four documentaries, and one series. Fifteen titles will world premiere at the festival.
Four new additions will screen as part of the Berlinale Special Gala: “After This Death” by Lucio Castro, James Mangold’s “A Complete Unknown,” Petra Volpe’s “Heldin” (“Late Shift”), and “Lurker” by Alex Russell.
Also joining the section are “Das Deutsche Volk by Marcin Wierzchowski, “Kein Tier. So Wild.” (“No Beast. So Fierce.”) from Burhan Qurbani, “Leibniz – Chronik eines verschollenen Bildes” (“Leibniz – Chronicle of a Lost Painting”) by Edgar Reitz and Anatol Schuster, “Michtav Le’David” (“A Letter to David”) from Tom Shoval, and “My Undesirable Friends: Part I – Last Air in Moscow,” directed by Julia Loktev.
The program is complemented by a special screening of Peter Wollen’s “Friendship’s Death,” held in tribute to Tilda Swinton, who will receive the Honorary Golden Bear at this year’s festival.
Festival Director Tricia Tuttle reflected on the Berlinale Special as one of the most varied sections of the festival, and considers it as an invitation to the festival's many diverse audiences to experience the pleasures and provocations cinema can offer.
Also unveiled was the lineup for Perspectives, Berlinale’s newly introduced competition for first fiction features. The section includes 14 debut titles from 19 production countries, with a range spanning India to Mexico, Taiwan to Egypt, and the U.S. to Slovenia. Twelve of the selections are world premieres, while two will screen as international premieres. Among the lineup, five films are directed or co-directed by women, and two by non-binary filmmakers.
Also new to this year’s edition is the Berlinale Shorts CUPRA Filmmaker Award, launched in partnership with CUPRA and aimed at spotlighting unconventional directorial voices in the short film competition. All films in the Berlinale Shorts section will be eligible. The award, valued at €20,000, will be presented during the festival’s closing ceremony on Feb. 22 at the Berlinale Palast.
The 75th Berlin International Film Festival opens Feb. 13 with the world premiere of Tom Tykwer’s “Das Licht” (“The Light”). The ceremony will also feature the introduction of the International Jury and the presentation of the Honorary Golden Bear to Tilda Swinton for lifetime achievement. Luxembourg-born actor, presenter and filmmaker Désirée Nosbusch will host the event.
The full lineup for International Competition, Berlinale Special, and Perspektives section follows.
International Competition
- “Ari”
Director: Léonor Serraille
France/Belgium - “Blue Moon”
Director: Richard Linklater
USA/Ireland - “La cache” (“The Safe House”)
Director: Lionel Baier
Switzerland/Luxembourg/France - “Dreams”
Director: Michel Franco
Mexico - “Drømmer” (“Dreams (Sex Love)”)
Director: Dag Johan Haugerud
Norway - “Geu jayeoni nege mworago hani” (“What Does that Nature Say to You”)
Director: Hong Sangsoo
South Korea - “Hot Milk”
Director: Rebecca Lenkiewicz
United Kingdom - “If I Had Legs I'd Kick You”
Director: Mary Bronstein
USA - “Kontinental '25”
Director: Radu Jude
Romania - “El mensaje” (“The Message”)
Director: Iván Fund
Argentina/Spain - “Mother's Baby”
Director: Johanna Moder
Austria/Switzerland/Germany - “Reflet dans un diamant mort” (“Reflection in a Dead Diamond”)
Director: Hélène Cattet, Bruno Forzani
Belgium/Luxembourg/Italy/France - “Sheng xi zhi di” (“Living the Land”)
Director: Huo Meng
People’s Republic of China - “Strichka chasu” (“Timestamp”)
Director: Kateryna Gornostai
Ukraine/Luxembourg/Netherlands/France - “La Tour de Glace” (“The Ice Tower”)
Director: Lucile Hadžihalilović
France/Germany
Competition - “O último azul” (“The Blue Trail”)
Director: Gabriel Mascaro
Brazil/Mexico/Chile/Netherlands - “Was Marielle weiß” (“What Marielle Knows”)
Director: Frédéric Hambalek
Germany - “Xiang fei de nv hai” (“Girls on Wire”)
Director: Vivian Qu
People’s Republic of China - “Yunan”
Director: Ameer Fakher Eldin
Germany/Canada/Italy/Palestine/Qatar/Jordan/Saudi Arabia
Berlinale Special
- “A Complete Unknown” (“Like a Complete Unknown”)
Director: James Mangold
USA - “After This Death”
Director: Lucio Castro
USA - “Ancestral Visions of the Future”
Director: Lemohang Jeremiah Mosese
France/Lesotho/Germany/Qatar/Saudi Arabia - “Das Deutsche Volk”
by Marcin Wierzchowski
Germany - “Friendship's Death”
Director: Peter Wollen
United Kingdom
(Berlinale Special – Honorary Golden Bear) - “Heldin” (“Late Shift”)
Director: Petra Volpe
Switzerland/Germany - “Honey Bunch”
Directors: Madeleine Sims-Fewer, Dusty Mancinelli
Canada - “Islands”
Director: Jan-Ole Gerster
Germany - “Je n’avais que le néant – “Shoah” par Lanzmann” (“All I Had Was Nothingness”)
Director: Guillaume Ribot
France - “Kein Tier. So Wild.” (“No Beast. So Fierce.”)
by Burhan Qurbani
Germany/Poland/France - “Köln 75”
Director: Ido Fluk
Germany/Poland/Belgium - “Leibniz – Chronik eines verschollenen Bildes” (“Leibniz – Chronicle of a Lost Painting”)
Directors: Edgar Reitz, Anatol Schuster
Germany - “Das Licht” (“The Light”)
Director: Tom Tykwer
Germany - “Lurker”
Director: Alex Russell
USA/Italy - “A melhor mãe do mundo” (“The Best Mother in the World”)
Director: Anna Muylaert
Brazil/Argentina - “Michtav Le'David” (“A Letter to David”)
Director: Tom Shoval
Israel/USA - “Mickey 17”
Director: Bong Joon Ho
USA/South Korea/United Kingdom - “My Undesirable Friends: Part I – Last Air in Moscow”
Director: Julia Loktev
USA - “The Narrow Road to the Deep North”
by Justin Kurzel
Australia - “Pa-gwa” (“The Old Woman with the Knife”)
Director: Min Kyu-dong
South Korea - “Shoah”
Director: Claude Lanzmann
France - “The Thing with Feathers”
Director: Dylan Southern
United Kingdom
Perspective
- “Al mosta'mera” (“The Settlement”)
Director: Mohamed Rashad
Egypt/France/Germany/Qatar/Saudi Arabia - “Baksho Bondi” (“Shadowbox”)
Director: Tanushree Das, Saumyananda Sahi
India/France/USA/Spain - “BLKNWS: Terms & Conditions”
Director: Kahlil Joseph
USA - “Come la notte” (“Where the Night Stands Still”)
Director: Liryc Dela Cruz
Italy/Philippines - “El Diablo Fuma (y guarda las cabezas de los cerillos quemados en la misma caja)” (“The Devil Smokes (and Saves the Burnt Matches in the Same Box)”)
Director: Ernesto Martínez Bucio
Mexico - “Duas vezes João Liberada” (“Two Times João Liberada”)
Director: Paula Tomás Marques
Portugal - “Hé mán” (“Eel”)
Director: Chu Chun-Teng
Taiwan - “How to Be Normal and the Oddness of the Other World”
Director: Florian Pochlatko
Austria - “Kaj ti je deklica” (“Little Trouble Girls”)
Director: Urška Djukić
Slovenia/Italy/Croatia/Serbia - “Mad Bills to Pay” (“or Destiny, dile que no soy malo”)
Director: Joel Alfonso Vargas
USA - “Minden Rendben” (“Growing Down”)
Director: Bálint Dániel Sós
Hungary - “Mit der Faust in die Welt schlagen” (“Punching the World”)
Director: Constanze Klaue
Germany - “On vous croit” (“We Believe You”)
Director: Arnaud Dufeys, Charlotte Devillers
Belgium - “Le rendez-vous de l'été” (“That Summer in Paris”)
Director: Valentine Cadic
France