The Berlin International Film Festival (Berlinale) runs this year from February 12–22 and opens with Shahrbanoo Sadat’s Afghan drama No Good Men. Sadat’s third feature—set on the eve of the 2021 Taliban offensive—follows a TV newsroom camerawoman frustrated by limited romantic options in a patriarchal society. The film blends political urgency with romantic-comedy beats, reflecting the Berlinale’s twin identity as one of Europe’s most overtly political major festivals and one of the world’s largest audience events.
Last year the festival set a record, selling 336,000 public tickets. Festival director Tricia Tuttle, in her second year, says this year’s program of more than 200 films spans everything from horror and rom-coms to experimental work. Tuttle stresses that even intimate stories can be political and that the festival aims to support a struggling film industry by pairing crowd-pleasers with more challenging titles.
The opening title plays in Berlinale Special, a non‑competitive strand intended to provoke conversation and add red‑carpet sparkle. Berlinale Special includes Ulrike Ottinger’s horror-tinged comedy The Blood Countess, co-written with Nobel laureate Elfriede Jelinek and starring Isabelle Huppert; Noah Segan’s The Only Living Pickpocket in New York, featuring John Turturro and Steve Buscemi; Padraic McKinley’s Sundance favorite The Weight (Ethan Hawke, Russell Crowe); and Gore Verbinski’s sci‑fi comedy Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die (Sam Rockwell, Juno Temple, Zazie Beetz). A mockumentary about British pop star Charli XCX, The Moment, skewers fame and industry pressures.
Twenty-two films compete for the Golden and Silver Bears. High-profile contenders include Karim Aïnouz’s Rosebush Pruning, a dark thriller about a disintegrating privileged family with Callum Turner, Riley Keough, Jamie Bell, Elle Fanning and Pamela Anderson; Kornél Mundruczó’s At the Sea, starring Amy Adams as a former dancer rebuilding her life after rehab; Beth de Araujo’s Josephine, fresh from a Sundance Grand Jury Prize, with Channing Tatum and Gemma Chan as parents of a child who witnessed assault; Lance Hammer’s Queen at Sea, which probes dementia and includes Juliette Binoche; and Nightborn, a horror-fantasy set in a remote Scandinavian forest starring Rupert Grint and Seidi Haarla.
Competition titles are international: 28 countries are listed as co‑producers, and Africa has a strong presence with co‑productions from Guinea‑Bissau, Senegal, Tunisia and Chad. Germany is main producer on three competition films and co‑producer on two more, among them Markus Schleinzer’s 17th‑century drama Rose, starring Sandra Hüller, and Angela Schanelec’s return, My Wife Cries. Ilker Çatak’s Yellow Letters, which confronts repression of artistic freedom in Turkey, is also in the running.
The broader lineup includes a Bill Evans biopic, Yoshitoshi Shinomiya’s anime A New Dawn, and Anna Fitch’s decade‑spanning documentary Yo (Love Is a Rebellious Bird), which tracks friendship, grief and creativity.
An international jury led by German filmmaker Wim Wenders will announce winners on February 21. On opening night the festival will present an Honorary Golden Bear to Michelle Yeoh, accompanied by a tribute screening of Everything Everywhere All at Once.
Alongside the main prizes, the Berlinale celebrates LGBTQ+ cinema with the Teddy Award, marking its 40th year, and spotlights emerging directors in the Perspectives section. That strand features 14 debuts in a “first feature competition” introduced last year by Tuttle to highlight new talent. Tuttle says festivals are vital for discovering the next generation of filmmakers and calls this year’s selection “dazzling,” full of heart and creativity.