New films by Richard Linklater, Michel Franco and Hong Sang-soo are among the competition highlights of the 75th Berlin International Film Festival, the world’s largest public film festival, and the full lineup was announced today.
Linklater’s Blue Moon is a historical drama depicting the final days of Lorenz Hart, one half of the Rodgers & Hart songwriting team. will be participating in the Berlin Competition for the fourth time. His last tryout with Boyhood in 2014 earned him the Silver Bear for Best Director. The film, starring Ethan Hawke, Margaret Qualley, Bobby Cannavale and Andrew Scott, will be released worldwide by Sony Pictures Classics.
Berlinale regular and four-time Silver Bear winner Hong Sang-soo returns with his latest intimate drama, What Does That Nature Say to You? And Norwegian director Dag-Johan Haugerd, whose feature Sex was a hit with audiences in Berlin last year, is back with Dreams, the final feature in his Sex, Love, Dream trilogy.
Other competition highlights include Polish screenwriter Rebecca Lenkiewicz’s (Ida, Disobedience) directorial debut Hot Milk, starring Emma Mackey and Vicki Krieps; Michel Franco’s dream, the Mexican helmer reunites with Jessica Chastain. The French drama “Tower of Ice” directed by Lucille Hadjihalilovic and starring Marion Cotillard, Gaspard Noé, and August Diehl.
Marion Cotillard in “The Ice Tower”
© 3B-Davis-Stole Koronko-Arte
At the beginning of the press conference, Tuttle gave a nod to Berlin’s reputation as the most political of the big festivals.
“People often ask me, and the press often asks us, is this a political festival? We can’t do that, and we don’t shy away from this,” Tuttle said. “It’s definitely the DNA of the city itself and the DNA of the festival itself, but it’s fair to say there are many elements to the Berlinale. “Right now, in every festival and in every culture, the news agenda is Often dominating the discussion, we sincerely hope that the films audiences will see over the coming weeks of the festival will get people talking about the art form itself and the vibrancy of film itself. We believe so.”
Politics overshadowed the film last year in Berlin when the Bernale Prize winners caused a backlash in Germany after calling for a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip and making pro-Palestinian remarks on stage. Prominent politicians from both the left and the right branded the statement “anti-Semitic” and called for “consequences” for the festival.
Tuttle acknowledged that the situation in Berlin will be “difficult” this year, especially since Germany is in the midst of a national election campaign and voting will take place on February 23, the last day of the festival.
“But to be honest, this has been a really difficult year for all festivals,” Tuttle said. “We live in a very divisive and divided world, and discussions are not always friendly and open, so that creates a difficult environment. , and I’m going to be completely honest with you, it’s been really fun, really fun, and really an honor to be able to watch the films that I’ve talked about here and work with the team to put together the program. So I think it’s strange for me to complain about the challenges when we’re showing an audience such a great movie.
The official line-up certainly includes plenty of political topics, including Marcin Wierszczowski’s The German People, which is based on the 2020 far-right attack in the German city of Hanau. This includes the world premiere of . Michtav LeDavid (Letter to David) by Israeli director Tom Shoval. A cinematic letter to my friend David Kunio, who was abducted from Kibbutz Nir Oz on October 7th. Also included is My Undesirable Friends: Part I – Last Air in Moscow, a documentary by American director Julia Loktev that chronicles independent journalists in Moscow facing government repression over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. . All three films will be screened in a special program at the Berlinale.
Berlin has already announced most of the films that will be screened at this year’s gala section, including the Robert Pattinson-starring sci-fi feature Mickey 17, directed by Parasite director Bong Joon-ho, who was removed from competition, and the new film Mickey Mouse. Das Licht’ is also included. From German helmer Tom Tykwer (Run Lola Run, Cloud Atlas), who will open the 2025 Berlin race on February 13th.
The Berlin sidebar is also extensive. The entire lineup of Panorama, an “overtly queer, overtly feminist, overtly political” section featuring independent arthouse films from around the world, as well as Forum (experimental films) and Generation (youth and children’s films). The lineup was announced earlier this month.
Sidebar highlights include new features from arthouse favorites Ira Sachs (Peter Hujhar’s Day), Denis Côté (Paul), and Michel Gondry (Maya, Give Me a Title).
American filmmaker Todd Haynes (Carol, Far From Heaven), whose feature debut film Poison won the Teddy Award in Berlin in 1991, selects winners of Berlin’s Golden and Silver Bears. He is the head of this year’s international jury. Tilda Swinton, who has screened a total of 26 films in Berlin over the years, will receive this year’s Honorary Golden Bear Award for lifetime achievement.
Berlinale 2025 Competition
Ali Director: Leonor Seraille
France/Belgium (2025)
Blue Moon Director: Richard Linklater
America/Ireland (2025)
La Cache (Safe House), directed by Lionel Bayer
Switzerland / Luxembourg / France (2025)
Dreams, directed by Michel Franco
Mexico (2025)
Dreams (Sex Love), directed by Dag-Johan Haugerd
Norway (2024)
What Does That Nature Say to You, directed by Hong Sang-soo
South Korea (2025)
Hot Milk, directed by Rebecca Lenkiewicz
United Kingdom (2025)
If I Had Legs I’d Kick You Director: Mary Bronstein
America (2024)
Continental ’25, Director: Radu Jude
Romania (2025)
El mensaje (The Message), directed by Iván Fund
Argentina/Spain (2025)
Mother’s Baby, directed by Johanna Moder
Austria / Switzerland / Germany (2025)
O último azul (The Blue Trail), directed by Gabriel Mascaro
Brazil / Mexico / Chile / Netherlands (2025)
Reflet dans un diamant mort (Reflection of a Dead Diamond), directed by Hélène Catetto, Bruno Forzani
Belgium / Luxembourg / Italy / France (2025)
Sheng xi zhi di (Living the Land), directed by Huo Meng
People’s Republic of China (2025)
Strichka Chasu (timestamp), directed by Katerina Gornostei
Ukraine / Luxembourg / Netherlands / France (2025)
“La Tour de Glace” (“The Ice Tower”), Director: Lucille Hadjihalilovic
France/Germany (2025)
Mariel Weiss (What Mariel Knows), directed by Frederic Hambarek
Germany (2025)
Xiang fei de nv hai (Girls on Wire), directed by Vivian Khoo
People’s Republic of China (2025)
Younan, Director: Amir Fakher El-Din
Germany / Canada / Italy / Palestine / Qatar / Jordan / Saudi Arabia (2025)
Berlinale Special 2025
“After This Death” Director: Lucio Castro
America (2025)
Like a Complete Unknown, directed by James Mangold
America (2024)
Heldin (Late Shift), directed by Petra Volpe
Switzerland/Germany (2025)
Island, Director: Jean-Ole Gerster
Germany (2025)
Cologne 75, Director: Ido Fulk
Germany / Poland / Belgium (2025)
Das Licht (The Light), directed by Tom Tykwer
Germany (2025)
“Lurker” Director: Alex Russell
America/Italy (2025)
Mickey 17 Director: Bong Joon Ho
USA / South Korea / UK (2024)
“Things with Feathers” Director: Dylan Southern
United Kingdom (2025)
Ancestral Visions of the Future, Director: Remohan Jeremiah Mose
France / Lesotho / Germany / Saudi Arabia (2025)
German national, Director: Marcin Wierszkowski
Germany (2025)
The Honey Bunch, directed by Madeline Sims-Fewer, Dusty Mancinelli
Canada (2025)
Je n’avais que le néant – “Shoah” by Claude Lanzmann (All I Had Was Nothingness), directed by Guillaume Ribot
France (2025)
Kane Tier. It’s very wild. (No Beast. So Fierce.), directed by Burhan Qurbani
Germany / Poland / France (2025)
Leibniz – Chronik eines verschollenen Bildes (Leibniz – Chronicle of Lost Paintings), directed by Edgar Reitz, Anatol Schuster
Germany (2025)
A melhor mãe do mundo (The Best Mother in the World | Die beste Mutter der Welt), directed by Anna Muylaert
Brazil/Argentina (2025)
Michtav LeDavid (Letter to David), directed by Tom Shoval
Israel/USA (2025)
My Unwanted Friend: Part I – The Last Air of Moscow, Director: Julia Loktev
America (2024)
Pa-gwa (Old Woman with a Knife) Director: Min Gyu-dong
South Korea (2025)
Shore, Director: Claude Lanzmann
France (1985)
Death of Friendship Director: Peter Warren
United Kingdom (1987)
Berlinale Prospects 2025
Al Mostamerah (The Settlement), Director: Mohamed Rashad
Egypt / France / Germany / Saudi Arabia / Qatar (2025)
Bakshaw Bondi (Shadowbox), Director: Tanushree Das, Saumyananda Sahi
India / France / America / Spain (2025)
BLKNWS: Terms of Use, Director: Kahlil Joseph
America (2025)
Come la notte (Where the Night Stands Still), directed by Lyric Dela Cruz
Italy/Philippines (2025)
El Diablo Fuma (y Guarda las cabezas de los cerillos quemados en la missma caja) (The Devil Smokes (and Saves the Burnt Matches in the Same Box)), directed by Ernesto Martínez Busio
Mexico (2025)
Duas Vezes João Liberada (Two Times João Liberada), directed by Paula Tomás Marquez
Portugal (2025)
Hé mán (Eel), Director: Chu Chun-teng
Taiwan (2025)
“How to Become Ordinary and the Strangeness of Another World” Director: Florian Pokratko
Austria (2025)
Kaj ti je deklica (Little Trouble Girls), directed by Urszka Dzukic
Slovenia / Italy / Croatia / Serbia (2025)
Mad Bills to Pay (or Destiny, dile que no soy malo), directed by Joel Alfonso Vargas
America (2025)
Minden Lembeng (Growing Down), directed by Balint Daniel Soth
Hungary (2025)
Mit der Faust in die Welt schlagen (Punching the World), directed by Constanze Klaue
Germany (2025)
On vous croit (We Believe You), directed by Arnaud Dufay, Charlotte DeVillers
Belgium (2025)
Le rendez-vous de l’été (That Summer in Paris), directed by Valentine Kadic
France (2025)
