Elle Fanning and Timothée Chalamet in A Complete Unknown by James Mangold © 2024 Searchlight Pictures All Rights Reserved
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Berlinale Special


Elle Fanning and Timothée Chalamet in A Complete Unknown by James Mangold © 2024 Searchlight Pictures All Rights Reserved

Elle Fanning and Timothée Chalamet in A Complete Unknown by James Mangold © 2024 Searchlight Pictures All Rights Reserved

The Programme of Berlinale Special is Complete with Further Galas Added, Including James Mangold’s A Complete Unknown

The final nine titles have been added to the Berlinale Special programme. Four of them will be screened as Berlinale Special Gala: Lucio Castro’s After This Death, A Complete Unknown by James Mangold, Heldin (Late Shift) by Petra Volpe and Alex Russell’s Lurker. There is also Das Deutsche Volk by Marcin Wierzchowski, Burhan Qurbani’s Kein Tier. So Wild. (No Beast. So Fierce.), Leibniz – Chronik eines verschollenen Bildes (Leibniz – Chronicle of a Lost Painting) by Edgar Reitz and Anatol Schuster, Michtav Le’David (A Letter to David) by Tom Shoval as well as Julia Loktev’s My Undesirable Friends: Part I – Last Air in Moscow as Berlinale Special.

Thus, this year‘s Berlinale Special comprises a total of 21 films from 16 countries, among them four documentary forms, 16 feature films and one series. 15 are world premieres. The programme is complemented by a screening of Peter Wollen’s Friendship’s Death in honour of Tilda Swinton, the 2025 Honorary Golden Bear award winner.

“Berlinale Special is one of the most varied sections of the festival, and we take a great deal of care in thinking about different audiences when we make our selections. There are delicious popular forms – from genre films to those that harness the star power and charisma of well-known talents. Likewise there are ‘talking-point’ documentary and fiction films that invite dialogue on issues such as the global health care crisis, or ask us to reflect on the importance of memory as a guard against violence and hate. Berlinale Special is an invitation to our many diverse audiences to experience the pleasures and provocations cinema can offer,” says Festival Director Tricia Tuttle. 

Competition

Margaret Qualley and Ethan Hawke in Blue Moon by Richard Linklater © Sabrina Lantos / Sony Pictures Classics
Margaret Qualley and Ethan Hawke in Blue Moon by Richard Linklater © Sabrina Lantos / Sony Pictures Classics

19 films will compete for the Golden and Silver Bears, among them one first feature as well as one documentary. Productions from 26 countries are represented. 17 films are world premieres. Eight films were directed or co-directed by women. Nine filmmakers have screened their films in the Berlinale previously.

“We’re fiercely proud of the films in this year’s Competition; they showcase the breadth of cinema and offer fascinating glimpses into 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. Each of these singular works shows filmmakers at the top of their craft. From these deserving ranks, we look forward to discovering what Todd Haynes’ jury pick as the winners of Berlinale Golden and Silver Bears,” says Festival Director Tricia Tuttle. 

Perspectives

Luisa-Céline Gaffron in How to Be Normal and the Oddness of the Other World by Florian Pochlatko © Golden Girls Film

The Perspectives competition comprises 14 feature film debuts, of which twelve are world premieres and two are international premieres. 19 production countries are represented. Five films were directed or co-directed by women, two films were directed by non-binary directors.

“Perspectives, our new first fiction feature competition brings together exceptional international filmmakers, spanning the globe from India to Mexico, from Taiwan to Egypt, from the US to Slovenia. While the stylistic and thematic diversity is just as wide-ranging, all of these filmmakers reach out to audiences with much heart and many bold ideas. That this is the future of cinema, bodes very well indeed,” says Festival Director Tricia Tuttle.

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Editor in Chief of Ikon London Magazine, journalist, film producer and founder of The DAFTA Film Awards (The DAFTAs).