The 76th Berlin International Film Festival kicked off Thursday evening with a star-studded opening gala, welcoming Michelle Yeoh, Daniel Brühl, and Neil Patrick Harris to the red carpet. The festival, a major event on the film world calendar, promises a diverse lineup and a platform for politically charged cinema.
Academy Award winner Michelle Yeoh will be honored with the Honorary Golden Bear for her lifetime achievements. Actor Sean Baker will deliver the laudatory speech, and Désirée Nosbusch will host the evening. The festival began with the world premiere of Shahrbanoo Sadat’s No Good Men, a romantic drama set in Afghanistan.
Among the many prominent guests were Bella Ramsey, known for their role in The Last of Us, as well as Iris Berben, Christian Petzold, and Lars Eidinger. Additional stars expected to attend throughout the festival include Pamela Anderson, Juliette Binoche, and Ethan Hawke.
Festival Director Tricia Tuttle and Jury President Wim Wenders launched the Berlinale with a festive opening. Wenders, who is presiding over the seven-member international jury, described the festival as showcasing “a more colorful face of the world than other festivals.” The jury also includes Min Bahadur Bham from Nepal, South Korean actress Bae Doona, Indian director Shivendra Singh Dungarpur, and Japanese filmmaker Hikari.
The festival has a reputation for tackling political themes, and this year is no exception. When asked about the German government’s stance on the situation in Gaza, director Wim Wenders responded, I think filmmakers shouldn’t interfere in politics. If we were to make too many political films, we would already be entering politics. But we create a counterweight to politics.
He added, Films can change the world. But not politically. No film has ever changed the opinion of a politician. But we can focus on how people think, what idea they have of their life.
Sadat’s No Good Men focuses on a television camerawoman navigating a divorce in Kabul, Afghanistan, just before the Taliban regained control in 2021. The director hopes the film will allow audiences to forget everything they grasp about Afghanistan and just watch our film.
She is currently living in Hamburg after leaving Afghanistan following the Taliban’s return to power.
This year’s program features 22 films competing for the Golden Bear. Even as some familiar faces appear in the lineup – including Channing Tatum in the crime drama Josephine and Juliette Binoche in the family film Queen at Sea – the festival is largely focused on showcasing independent and international cinema. According to film journalist Scott Roxborough of The Hollywood Reporter, This year the festival has a really tough arthouse program, which is full of politically important films, but you don’t find so many Hollywood stars in it.
Other notable films include The Moment, featuring pop star Charli XCX, and Rosebush Pruning, starring Pamela Anderson alongside Elle Fanning and Callum Turner. The festival also includes the mini-series Monyová, inspired by the life of Czech writer Simona Monyová, which will premiere on the Oneplay platform.
The Berlinale also highlights Czech contributions, with three co-productions screening outside the main competition: the animated short En, ten, týky!, Roya, and the documentary Kdyby se holubi proměnili ve zlato. Věra Chytilová’s Panelstory has been digitally restored and added to the Classics section, while Eli Beneš’s novel Nepatrná ztráta osamělosti is featured in Books at Berlinale.
Established in 1951, the Berlinale sold a record 336,000 tickets last year. The festival also attracts approximately 12,000 accredited attendees to its accompanying film market, where distribution rights are sold. Last year’s winner was the Norwegian drama Sny, directed by Dag Johan Haugerud.
