{"id":418725,"date":"2026-01-20T13:01:09","date_gmt":"2026-01-20T13:01:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/418725\/"},"modified":"2026-01-20T13:01:09","modified_gmt":"2026-01-20T13:01:09","slug":"berlinale-unveils-2026-competition-and-perspectives","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/418725\/","title":{"rendered":"Berlinale Unveils 2026 Competition and Perspectives"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tThe Berlinale<\/a> has unveiled the titles selected for the main Competition and competitive first-film focused Perspectives sidebar of its 76th edition, running from February 12 to 22.<\/p>\n

\n\tIn her second edition at the helm, Festival Director Tricia Tuttle and her programming team have delivered a wide-ranging 22-title Competition, mixing new films from critically acclaimed directors, with a smattering of titles featuring big-name stars for red carpet glamor. <\/p>\n

\n\tHighlights include Korn\u00e9l Mundrucz\u00f3\u2019s At The Sea, starring Amy Adams as a woman who returns to her family\u2019s beach home after a stint in rehab; Karim A\u00efnouz\u2019s highly anticipated Rosebush Pruning, with Callum Turner, Riley Keough, Jamie Bell, Elle Fanning, Pamela Anderson, as well as Markus Schleinzer\u2019s Rose, starring Sandra H\u00fcller in one of her first major big screen roles since her Oscar-nominated performance in Anatomy of a Fall as well as in The Zone Of Interest. (scroll down for full list and synopses)<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tWolfram<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tWolf<\/p>\n

\n\tOther directors in the mix with a strong festival pedigree include Indigenous Australian filmmaker Warwick Thornton with Wolfram, a period Western set on the 1930s about three Aboriginal children who escape brutal servitude in the wolfram mines and embark on a dangerous journey across Central Australia. Thornton won the Cannes Cam\u00e9ra d\u2019Or for his first film\u00a0Samson and Delilah\u00a0in 2009 and was back at the festival in 2023 with\u00a0The New Boy\u00a0starring Cate Blanchett.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tGerman-Turkish filmmaker\u00a0\u0130lker \u00c7atak also returns to the festival fray with Turkey-set drama Yellow Letters. It is first feature since his Germany-set drama Teacher\u2019s Lounge which enjoyed a buzzy awards season run in 2024 after quietly in Berlin<\/a>\u2019s Panorama section in 2023.<\/p>\n

Germany has a strong showing in competition this year, with Eva Trobisch, who previously made waves with buzzy 2018 MeToo drama All Is Well, debuting her third feature Home Stories, and two-time Silver Bear winning director Angela Schanelec unveiling My Wife Cries.<\/p>\n

\n\tWorld cinema is also represented with French-Senegalese director Alain Gomis\u2019 drama Dao, exploring family bonds and heritage through a wedding in France and a commemoration in Guinea Bissau, and Mahamat-Saleh Haroun\u2019s Soumsoum, the Night of the Stars.<\/p>\n

\n\tAs previously, revealed in Deadline\u2019s 2026 Films To Light Up Festivals list<\/a>, Chadian director Haroun\u2019s new film follows a woman troubled by haunting visions whose friendship with a female outcast stirs up trouble in their village. One of Africa\u2019s most feted directors, Haroun\u2019s past films include\u00a0A Dry Season,\u00a0A Screaming Man\u00a0and\u00a0Lingui.<\/p>\n

\n\tA total of 13 films were unveiled for for the Perspectives competition, launched by Tuttle last year with a focus on first features, with a possibility of a 14th being announced at a later date. (scroll down for full list and synopses)<\/p>\n

\n\tHighlights include Animol, the feature directorial debut of veteran UK actor and musician\u00a0Ashley Walters\u00a0(Top Boy)<\/a>, which is produced by Joy Gharoro-Akpojotor, and Israeli director Assaf Machnes\u2019 Berlin-set Where To?, about a series of encounters between a reserved 55-year-old Palestinian Uber driver and a young, outspoken Israeli who keeps getting lost in the city.<\/p>\n

\n\tIn her opening remarks, Tuttle alluded to the battle currently underway for independent cinema.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cIt\u2019s a battle to keep independent cinemas open; to keep distributors and exhibitors who champion independent film thriving and making sure they can still take risks. It\u2019s a battle to ensure that cinema culture can retain its breadth,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\n\tShe welcomed the presence of stars in the line but also emphasized the festival\u2019s role in championing emerging voices.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cWe relish the role that we play in building anticipation for bold and new and unknown work, breaking new voices, and also enabling discovery of cinema\u201d.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe 2026 Berlinale Competition Lineup:<\/p>\n

\n\tAt the Sea
by Korn\u00e9l Mundrucz\u00f3 | with Amy Adams, Murray Bartlett, Chloe East, Brett Goldstein, Dan Levy
USA \/ Hungary 2026
Competition | World premiere
After a stint in rehab, a woman returns to her family\u2019s Cape Cod home where sobriety forces her to confront buried trauma and the terrifying question of who she is without her career as a dancer.<\/p>\n

\n\tDao
by Alain Gomis | with Katy Correa, D\u2019Joh\u00e9 Kouadio, Samir Guesmi, Mike Etienne, Nicolas Gomis
France \/ Senegal \/ Guinea-Bissau 2026
Competition | World premiere
A film in which two celebrations of life, a wedding in France and a commemoration in Guinea Bissau, are organically intertwined with the threads of a family and heritage that live and travel between these two worlds. Perpetual circular movement framing reality.<\/p>\n

\n\tDust
by Anke Blond\u00e9 | with Arieh Worthalter, Jan Hammenecker, Thibaud Dooms, Anthony Welsh
Belgium \/ Poland \/ Greece \/ United Kingdom 2026
Competition | World premiere
At the end of the 1990s, during the height of the Belgian tech boom, visionary entrepreneurs Luc and Geert watch their empire collapse as news of their fraud breaks. With just one day of freedom left, they part ways in search of redemption.<\/p>\n

\n\tHome Stories (Etwas ganz Besonderes)
by Eva Trobisch | with Frida Hornemann, Max Riemelt, Eva L\u00f6bau, Gina Henkel, Rahel Ohm
Germany 2026
Competition | World premiere
\u201cWho are you and what defines you?\u201d, Lea is asked by the production crew of a reality talent show. She does not know. And with this question, her search for an identity within and beyond her family\u2019s hotel in the forests of the former East Germany begins.<\/p>\n

\n\tEverybody Digs Bill Evans
by Grant Gee | with Anders Danielsen Lie, Bill Pullman, Laurie Metcalf
Ireland \/ United Kingdom 2026
Competition | World premiere
At the height of his career, legendary jazz pianist Bill Evans loses his bassist and musical soulmate in a tragic car crash. The film portrays the inner life of a musical genius as he struggles to learn that sometimes an intermission is part of the music.<\/p>\n

\n\tYellow Letters (Gelbe Briefe)
by \u0130lker \u00c7atak | with \u00d6zg\u00fc Namal, Tansu Bi\u00e7er, Leyla Smyrna Cabas, \u0130pek Bilgin
Germany \/ France \/ Turkey 2026
Competition | World premiere
Life is good for Derya and Aziz, a celebrated artist couple from Turkey, until an incident at their play\u2019s premiere. Suddenly targeted by the state and struggling to balance their ideals with life\u2019s necessities, their marriage is pushed to a breaking point.<\/p>\n

\n\tJosephine
by Beth de Ara\u00fajo | with Channing Tatum, Gemma Chan, Mason Reeves, Phillip Ettinger, Syra McCarthy
USA 2025
Competition | International premiere
After eight-year-old Josephine accidentally witnesses a crime in Golden Gate Park, she begins to act out violently to protect herself. This emotional trauma leads to conflicts between her parents as they search for justice, and a way to feel safe again.<\/p>\n

\n\tSalvation (Kurtulu\u015f)
by Emin Alper | with Caner Cindoruk, Berkay Ate\u015f, Feyyaz Duman, Naz G\u00f6ktan, \u00d6zlem Ta\u015f
Turkey \/ France \/ Netherlands \/ Greece \/ Sweden \/ Saudi Arabia 2026
Competition | World premiere
In a remote village, an exiled clan returns, reviving a decades-old land feud. Seized by divine visions, Mesut challenges his brother\u2019s leadership to save his people. Will this new path bring salvation or tragedy?<\/p>\n

\n\tThe Loneliest Man in Town
by Tizza Covi, Rainer Frimmel | with Alois Koch, Brigitte Meduna, Alfred Blechinger, Flurina Schneider
Austria 2026
Competition | World premiere
Blues musician Al Cook lives in an apartment filled with memories. Outside, the world carries on without him. But when his home is slated for demolition, out of the ruins of his existence, a long-forgotten dream suddenly resurfaces.<\/p>\n

\n\tMy Wife Cries (Meine Frau weint)
by Angela Schanelec | with Vladimir Vulevi\u0107, Agathe Bonitzer, Birte Schn\u00f6ink, Pauline Rebmann, Clara Gostynski
Germany \/ France 2026
Competition | World premiere
An ordinary workday on a building site. Forty-year-old crane operator Thomas receives a call from his wife: he has to pick her up from the hospital. Once there, he finds her sitting alone on a park bench, crying.<\/p>\n

\n\tFlies (Moscas)
by Fernando Eimbcke | with Teresita S\u00e1nchez, Bastian Escobar, Hugo Ram\u00edrez
Mexico 2026
Competition | World premiere
Olga rents out a room to a man whose wife has been admitted to a hospital nearby. However, the man has a nine-year-old son he has been sneaking into the room, which leads to Olga\u2019s carefully controlled world shifting as their lives become intertwined.<\/p>\n

\n\tA New Dawn
by Yoshitoshi Shinomiya | with Riku Hagiwara, Kotone Furukawa
Japan \/ France 2025
Competition | World premiere | Debut film | Animation
Keitaro lives in a fireworks factory that is about to be shut down. He is determined to unravel the mystery of the Shuhari, a mythical firework created by his father before he disappeared without a trace \u2013 and launch it before the factory closes.<\/p>\n

\n\tNina Roza
by Genevieve Dulude-de Celles | with Galin Stoev, Ekaterina Stanina, Sofia Stanina, Chiara Caselli, Michelle Tzontchev
Canada \/ Italy \/ Bulgaria \/ Belgium 2026
Competition | World premiere
An art dealer travels from Quebec to the homeland he abandoned to see the paintings of an elusive pre-teen prodigy in the Bulgarian countryside. It is only by viewing her work firsthand that he will be able to determine if she is a fraud, or a genius.<\/p>\n

\n\tQueen at Sea
by Lance Hammer | with Juliette Binoche, Tom Courtenay, Anna Calder-Marshall, Florence Hunt
United Kingdom \/ USA 2026
Competition | World premiere
As advanced dementia erodes an older woman\u2019s ability to communicate her inner life, her husband and daughter struggle to act in her best interests, navigating love and the fragile boundaries between care, protection and autonomy.<\/p>\n

\n\tRosebush Pruning
by Karim A\u00efnouz | with Callum Turner, Riley Keough, Jamie Bell, Elle Fanning, Pamela Anderson
Italy \/ Germany \/ Spain \/ United Kingdom 2026
Competition | World premiere
In a Spanish villa, American siblings Jack, Ed, Anna and Robert wallow in isolation and their inherited fortune. When Jack wants to move in with his girlfriend and Ed uncovers the truth about their mother\u2019s death, the fabric of the family begins to unravel.<\/p>\n

\n\tRose
by Markus Schleinzer | with Sandra H\u00fcller, Caro Braun, Marisa Growaldt, Godehard Giese, Augustino Renken
Austria \/ Germany 2026
Competition | World premiere
In the early 17 th century, a soldier arrives at an isolated Protestant village in Germany claiming to be the heir to an abandoned farmstead. Even though he proves to be a good man, the villagers\u2019 suspicions about his identity grow and they force a reckoning.<\/p>\n

\n\tSoumsoum, the Night of the Stars (Soumsoum, la nuit des astres)
by Mahamat-Saleh Haroun | with Ma\u00efmouna Miawama, \u00c9riq Ebouaney, Achouackh Abakar Souleymane
France \/ Chad 2026
Competition | World premiere
Seventeen-year-old Kellou has been gifted with supernatural powers she does not understand. Her disquiet and uncertainty only change when she meets Aya. It is an encounter with destiny that forges a mystical world where the visible and invisible converge.<\/p>\n

\n\tIn a Whisper (\u00c0 Voix Basse)
by Leyla Bouzid | with Eya Bouteraa, Hiam Abbass, Marion Barbeau, Feriel Chamari
France \/ Tunisia 2026
Competition | World premiere
Lilia returns to Tunisia for her uncle\u2019s funeral and reunites with a family that knows nothing about her life in Paris, especially her love life. Determined to confront her family\u2019s secrets, Lilia sets out to unravel the mystery of her uncle\u2019s sudden death.<\/p>\n

\n\tWolfram
by Warwick Thornton | with Deborah Mailman, Erroll Shand, Joe Bird, Thomas M Wright, Ferdinand Hoang
Australia 2025
Competition | International premiere
1930s Australia, the colonial frontier. Two swaggering outlaws roll into a mining town and unleash a wave of cruelty. Three kids use this opportunity to break free from their white masters and set off across the \u201csweet country\u201d of central Australia.<\/p>\n

\n\tWe Are All Strangers (Wo Men Bu Shi Mo Sheng Ren)
by Anthony Chen | with Yeo Yann Yann, Koh Jia Ler, Andi Lim, Regene Lim
Singapore 2026
Competition | World premiere
A life-altering event forces 21-year-old Junyang and his girlfriend to face reality. At the same time, while Junyang\u2019s father is struggling to hold their modest life together, a woman enters his life and both generations are forced to redefine their family.<\/p>\n

\n\tYO Love is a Rebellious Bird
by Anna Fitch, Banker White | with Yolanda Shea
USA 2026
Competition | World premiere | Documentary form
Anna spends a decade building a 1\/3-scale version of the house of her late friend, Yo, that she can fit into \u2013 along with a puppet of Yo. When the pair first met, Yo was 73 and Anna 24, but they formed a deep bond that defied the gap in age and experience.<\/p>\n

\n\tNightborn (Y\u00f6n Lapsi) (
by Hanna Bergholm | with Seidi Haarla, Rupert Grint
Finland \/ Lithuania \/ France \/ United Kingdom 2026
Competition | World premiere
Eager to start a family, Saga and Jon move to her childhood home in the Finnish forest. But after their baby is born, the couple\u2019s dream of a perfect child turns into a nightmare \u2013 and only Saga senses the unsettling truth.<\/p>\n

\n\tPerspectives<\/p>\n

\n\t17
by Kosara Mitic | with Eva Kostic, Martina Danilovska, Dame Joveski, Eva Stojchevska, Petar Manic
North Macedonia \/ Serbia \/ Slovenia 2026
Perspectives | World premiere | Debut film
Seventeen-year-old Sara is hiding a secret on a school trip. When the trip spirals out of control and Sara witnesses a classmate\u2019s sexual assault, she and the girl seal a bond that will last forever.<\/p>\n

\n\tAnimol
by Ashley Walters | with Tut Nyuot, Vladyslav Baliuk, Sekou Diaby, Stephen Graham, Sharon Duncan-Brewster
United Kingdom 2026
Perspectives | World premiere | Debut film
Behind the walls of a young offender institution, Troy is thrust into a brutal world of gangs, loyalty and violence from the moment he arrives. When an unspoken bond develops with a fellow inmate, it becomes a dangerous vulnerability for them.<\/p>\n

\n\tChronicles From the Siege
by Abdallah Alkhatib | with Nadeem Rimawi, Saja Kilani, Maria Zreik, Emad Azmi, Idir Benaibouche
Algeria \/ France \/ Palestine 2026
Perspectives | World premiere
When their city is placed under siege, the lives of a group of ordinary people are turned upside down, forcing each of them to confront impossible choices in pursuit of what they believe is survival in a war zone.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe River Train (El Tren Fluvial )
by Lorenzo Ferro, Lucas A. Vignale | with Milo Barria, Rita Pauls, Mariano Barria, Fabi\u00e1n Casas, Lucrecia Pazos
Argentina 2026
Perspectives | World premiere | Debut film
Nine-year-old Milo lives in a remote Argentinian village where he studies the Malambo, a folk dance full of bravura. He is an excellent dancer, but Milo\u2019s only desire is to escape the countryside on a train for the Buenos Aires of his dreams.<\/p>\n

\n\tFilipi\u00f1ana
by Rafael Manuel | with Jorrybell Agoto, Carmen Castellanos, Teroy Guzman, Carlitos Siguion-Reyna, Nour Houshmand
Singapore \/ United Kingdom \/ Philippines \/ France \/ Netherlands 2026
Perspectives | European premiere | Debut film
New girl Isabel is strangely drawn to Dr. Palanca, president of the country club where she works. As she pieces together a violent picture of what lies beneath the club\u2019s pristine surfaces, she realises that they are both connected by a sinister shared history.<\/p>\n

\n\tForest High (For\u00eat Ivre)
by Manon Coubia | with Salom\u00e9 Richard, Aur\u00e9lia Petit, Anne Coesens, Arthur Marbaix, Yoann Zimmer
Belgium \/ France 2026
Perspectives | World premiere | Debut film
In the northern Alps, Anne, H\u00e9l\u00e8ne and Suzanne take turns looking after a mountain hut. Through the seasons, hikers come and go. Stories bloom and fade, leaving each of them facing the silence of their chosen solitude and the poetry of nature.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe Red Hangar (Hangar rojo)
by Juan Pablo Sallato | with Nicol\u00e1s Z\u00e1rate, Boris Quercia, Marcial Tagle, Catalina Stuardo, Aron Hern\u00e1ndez
Chile \/ Argentina \/ Italy 2026
Perspectives | World premiere | Debut film
As the 1973 military coup unfolds in Chile, Air Force Captain Jorge Silva is torn between duty and conscience as his academy turns into a detention centre.<\/p>\n

\n\tDer Heimatlose (Trial of Hein)
by Kai St\u00e4nicke | with Paul Boche, Philip Froissant, Emilia Sch\u00fcle, Stephanie Amarell
Germany 2026
Perspectives | World premiere | Debut film
After 14 years away, Hein returns to his home village on a remote island, only to discover that the close-knit community no longer recognises him. Suspecting him to be an impostor, they demand a trial to determine his true identity.<\/p>\n

\n\tNosso segredo (Our Secret)
by Grace Pass\u00f4 | with Efraim Santos, Flip, J\u00e9ssica Gaspar, Ju Colombo, Marisa Revert
Brazil \/ Portugal 2026
Perspectives | World premiere | Debut film
A family drifts through their home in silence, struggling to rebuild their lives after a recent loss. Each mourns alone, until the youngest child reveals a secret that enables them to realise that they must come together with love and courage to defy grief.<\/p>\n

\n\tA Prayer for the Dying
by Dara Van Dusen | with Johnny Flynn, John C. Reilly, Kristine Kujath Thorp, Gustav Lindh
Norway \/ Greece \/ United Kingdom \/ Sweden 2026
Perspectives | World premiere | Debut film
In the wake of the American Civil War, veteran Jacob Hansen\u2019s dream of a new life in Friendship, Wisconsin becomes a nightmare. As an epidemic spreads chaos, Jacob \u2013 sheriff, undertaker and pastor \u2013 must fight to save his town, his family and his soul.<\/p>\n

\n\tTake Me Home
by Liz Sargent | with Anna Sargent, Victor Slezak, Ali Ahn, Marceline Hugot, Shane Harper
USA 2026
Perspectives | International premiere | Debut film
Anna, a 38-year-old woman with a cognitive disability, cares for her ageing adoptive parents until a Florida heatwave shatters their family and Anna\u2019s routine. This intimate drama examines the shifting demands placed on a uniquely vulnerable family.<\/p>\n

\n\tTruly Naked
by Muriel d\u2019Ansembourg | with Caol\u00e1n O\u2019Gorman, Andrew Howard, Alessa Savage, Safiya Benaddi, Lyndsey Marshal
Netherlands \/ Belgium \/ France 2026
Perspectives | World premiere | Debut film
An introverted teen, who has only ever experienced sex through the lens while working for his father\u2019s pornography business, must step out from behind the camera when a feisty classmate challenges him to embrace a real connection.<\/p>\n

\n\tWhere To?
by Assaf Machnes | with Ehab Salami, Ido Tako, Milan Peschel, Rama Nasrallah, Raheeq Haj Yahia-Suleiman
Israel \/ Germany 2026
Perspectives | World premiere | Debut film
Hassan, a 55-year-old Palestinian Uber driver, shuttles partygoers through endless Berlin nights. Amir, a young Israeli, who is in danger of losing himself to these nights, becomes Hassan\u2019s regular passenger when they find themselves bonded by heartbreak.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Berlinale has unveiled the titles selected for the main Competition and competitive first-film focused Perspectives sidebar of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":418726,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[8198,200165,88,11337],"class_list":{"0":"post-418725","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-entertainment","8":"tag-berlin","9":"tag-berlinale","10":"tag-entertainment","11":"tag-festivals"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/418725","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=418725"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/418725\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/418726"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=418725"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=418725"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=418725"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}