Berlinale has revealed the first films in Berlinale Special, Panorama, Generation, and Retrospective of the 75th Berlin International Film Festival taking place February 13 to 23, 2025.

The first three world premieres confirmed for Berlinale Special are German director Jan-Ole Gerster presents Islands, a neo-noir thriller starring Sam Riley and Stacy Martin; director-duo Madeleine Sims-Fewer and Dusty Mancinelli’s Canadian film Honey Bunch, presented as Latenight Specials. And the first confirmed Berlinale Special Gala is Köln 75, a German film starring Mala Emde, John Magaro and Alexander Scheer and Ido Fluk’s film about the teenaged producer of jazz legend Keith Jarrett’s famous Cologne concert.

Panorama confirms its first twelve titles including new works by Denis Côté, Ira Sachs, Shatara Michelle Ford, Andreas Prochaska, Frelle Petersen, Marcio Reolon and Filipe Matzembacher and presents a deluxe genre mix.

Eight feature-length films and seven short films have been confirmed for Generation’s competition programs Kplus and 14plus. Among them are ten world premieres. Michel Gondry, Čejen Černić Čanak, Rima Das and Karim El Shenawy are showing their new films; Rafaela Camelo, Vasilis Kekatos, Eric San (aka Kid Koala) and Maja Ajmia Zellama are presenting debuts.

From a lush vampire opus to a psychedelic spaghetti western, Berlinale unveiled the 15 selected genre films from East and West Germany in Retrospective 2025, titled “Wild, Weird, Bloody. German Genre Films of the 70s”

The first films in the Berlinale Special

Honey Bunch
by Madeleine Sims-Fewer, Dusty Mancinelli | with Grace Glowicki, Ben Petrie, Kate Dickie, Jason Isaacs, India Brown
Canada 2025
Berlinale Special | World premiere
Diana’s husband takes her to an experimental trauma clinic deep in the wilderness, but she cannot remember why. As her memories begin to creep back so, too, do some unexpected and sinister truths about her marriage.

Islands
by Jan-Ole Gerster | with Sam Riley, Stacy Martin, Jack Farthing
Germany 2025
Berlinale Special | World premiere
Tom, a tennis coach at a luxury hotel, has his life changed when a new family arrives. Matters take a dark turn when the husband disappears and both Tom and the wife become suspects.

Köln 75
by Ido Fluk | with Mala Emde, John Magaro, Michael Chernus, Alexander Scheer
Germany / Poland / Belgium 2025
Berlinale Special Gala | World premiere
The true story of Vera Brandes, teenage patron saint of the 1970s Cologne music scene, who risked everything to organise the greatest solo concert in music history: Keith Jarrett’s legendary Köln Concert.

The first films in Panorama

Ato noturno (Night Stage)
by Marcio Reolon, Filipe Matzembacher | with Gabriel Faryas, Cirillo Luna, Henrique Barreira, Ivo Müller, Kaya Rodrigues
Brazil 2025
Panorama | World premiere
An actor and a politician start a secret affair and together discover their fetish for having sex in public places. The closer they get to their dream of fame, the more they feel the urge to put themselves at risk.

Bajo las banderas, el sol (Under the Flags, the Sun)
by Juanjo Pereira
Paraguay / Argentina / USA / France / Germany 2025
Panorama Dokumente | World premiere | Debut film | Documentary form
This fully archival journey through the 35 years of Alfredo Stroessner’s regime in Paraguay reveals unseen footage and explores one of the longest-running dictatorships in history, whose effects still resonate today.

Den stygge stesøsteren (The Ugly Stepsister)
by Emilie Blichfeldt | with Lea Myren, Thea Loch Næss, Ane Dahl Torp, Flo Fagerli
Norway / Poland / Sweden / Denmark 2025
Panorama | European premiere | Debut film
Elvira will go to any lengths to compete with her insanely beautiful stepsister. In a fairy-tale kingdom where beauty is a brutal business, she uses blood, sweat and tears to catch the Prince’s eye. A twisted take on the classic Cinderella story.

Dreams in Nightmares
by Shatara Michelle Ford | with Denée Benton, Mars Storm Rucker, Dezi Bing, Sasha Compere, Charlie Barnett
USA / Taiwan / United Kingdom 2024
Panorama | International premiere
Three Black queer femmes in their mid-thirties take a road trip across the American Midwest in search of their friend who has seemingly disappeared off the grid.

Hjem kaere hjem (Home Sweet Home)
by Frelle Petersen | with Jette Søndergaard, Karen Tygesen, Mimi Bræmer Dueholm, Hanne Knudsen, Finn Nissen
Denmark 2025
Panorama | World premiere
Sofie begins her new work as a carer making home visits to old people. She is quickly confronted with the harsh realities of this challenging job. A precise, authentic representation of a profession that remains largely invisible to the public eye.

Khartoum
by Anas Saeed, Rawia Alhag, Ibrahim Snoopy, Timeea M Ahmed, Phil Cox | with Khadmallah, Majdi, Jawad, Lokain, Wilson
Sudan / United Kingdom / Germany / Qatar 2025
Panorama Dokumente | European premiere | Documentary form
Five lives, one city, the fate of a nation. A civil servant, a tea lady, a resistance committee volunteer and two street boys are forced to flee when civil war breaks out in Sudan. An emotional and lyrical portrait of five people from Khartoum.

Lesbian Space Princess
by Emma Hough Hobbs, Leela Varghese | with Shabana Azeez, Gemma Chua Tran, Richard Roxburgh, Bernie Van Tiel, Mark Bonanno
Australia 2025
Panorama | World premiere | Debut film | Animation
The introverted space princess Saira is forced to leave her home planet of Clitopolis on an inter-gay-lactic mission to save her exgirlfriend who has been kidnapped and is being held ransom by the Straight White Maliens.

Die Möllner Briefe (The Moelln Letters)
by Martina Priessner | with Hava Arslan, İbrahim Arslan, Namık Arslan, Yeliz Burhan
Germany 2025
Panorama Dokumente | World premiere | Documentary form
Thirty years after the racist attacks in Mölln, survivor İbrahim Arslan discovers hundreds of forgotten letters of solidarity. The film follows him and his family in their struggle to foster a new, victim-centred culture of remembrance.

Paul
by Denis Côté | with Cleaning Simp Paul
Canada 2025
Panorama Dokumente | World premiere | Documentary form
Struggling with depression and social anxiety, Paul has found refuge in serving women who invite him to clean their homes. By sharing his gently eccentric routines on social media, he combats loneliness and takes it one day at a time.

Peter Hujar’s Day
by Ira Sachs | with Ben Wishaw, Rebecca Hall
USA / Germany 2025
Panorama | International premiere
A 1974 conversation between photographer Peter Hujar and his friend Linda Rosenkrantz provides a glimpse into the New York downtown art scene of the time and the personal struggles and epiphanies that define an artist’s life.

Sorda (Deaf)
by Eva Libertad | with Miriam Garlo, Álvaro Cervantes, Elena Irureta, Joaquín Notario
Spain 2025
Panorama | World premiere
Ángela, a deaf woman, is expecting a child with her hearing partner, Héctor. The baby’s arrival causes a crisis in their relationship, forcing Ángela to face the challenges of raising her daughter in a world which is not made for her.

Welcome Home Baby
by Andreas Prochaska | with Julia Franz Richter, Reinout Scholten van Aschat, Gerti Drassl, Maria Hofstätter, Gerhard Liebmann
Austria / Germany 2025
Panorama | World premiere
Judith works as an emergency doctor in Berlin. When she inherits a house in Austria from the family who gave her away as a child, her quest to solve the mystery of her origins turns into a nightmarish journey into the past and the dark places of her soul.

The first films in Generation

A natureza das coisas invisíveis (The Nature of Invisible Things | Die Natur der unsichtbaren Dinge)
by Rafaela Camelo | with Laura Brandão, Serena, Larissa Mauro, Camila Márdila, Aline Marta Maia
Brazil / Chile 2025
Generation Kplus | World premiere | Debut film
During the summer holidays, the paths of two ten-year-old girls cross in a hospital and they form an unexpected bond. Their connection leads them on a bittersweet journey of loss, farewells and quiet discoveries about life.

Anngerdardardor (The Thief)
by Christoffer Rizvanovic Stenbakken | with Kamillo Ignatiussen, Mikkel Paalu P. Bianco, Simujook Ikila
Denmark 2025
Generation | World premiere | Short Film
Kaali embarks on an intense search through the town of Tasiilaq in East Greenland, determined to find his missing sled dog. After an encounter with a group of young bullies, he recovers the dog but risks losing his only friend.

Autokar
by Sylwia Szkiłądź | with Natalia Wolska, Henryk Niebudek, Elżbieta Gaertner, Marcin Pempuś, Lidia Sadowa
Belgium / France 2025
Generation Kplus | World premiere | Animation | Short Film
In the 1990s, 8-year-old Agata leaves her home in Poland and travels by herself to Belgium. Her perceptions transform the reality of migration into an imaginative experience of initiation.

Beneath Which Rivers Flow
by Ali Yahya | with Ibrahim Halim, Hakima Ali, Karim Halim
Iraq 2025
Generation 14plus | World premiere | Documentary form | Short Film
In the marshlands of southern Iraq, Ibrahim feels like a stranger in the world. His sole companion is his faithful buffalo. But a looming environmental catastrophe threatens the only life he knows and the one living being he truly understands.

Fantas
by Halima Elkhatabi | with Tania Doumbe Fines, Juan Mateo Barrera Gonzales, Bourriquet, Adam Hilali, Ryan Hilali
Canada 2024
Generation 14plus | International premiere | Short Film
Tania decides to take her horse Fantas to the city and introduce it to some friends in the working-class neighbourhood where she and her family live. Two worlds that have never crossed paths before collide in this little urban tale.

I Agries Meres Mas (Our Wildest Days)
by Vasilis Kekatos | with Daphne Patakia, Nikolakis Zeginoglou, Stavros Tsoumanis, Eva Samioti, Natalia Swift
Greece / France
Generation 14plus | World premiere | Debut film
Chloe leaves her family behind and joins a group of teenagers crossing Greece. On her journey, she helps poor people in unconventional ways and starts to wonder if tenderness is the ultimate act of rebellion.

Maya, donne-moi un titre (Maya, Give Me a Title)
by Michel Gondry | with Maya Gondry, Pierre Niney
France
Generation Kplus | International premiere | Animation
Michel Gondry’s stop-motion love letter to his daughter Maya brings to life a poetic and amusing journey that invites you to dream and laugh.

Ne réveillez pas l’enfant qui dort (Don’t Wake the Sleeping Child)
by Kevin Aubert | with Khadia Ndiaye Fall, Mame Binta Sane, Samba Ly, Adji Mareme Hanne
Senegal / France 2025
Generation 14plus | World premiere | Short Film
Fifteen-year-old Diamant from Dakar dreams of making films, but her family has other plans for her. To Diamant, however, these are out of the question. She falls into a deep sleep from which no one can wake her.

On a Sunday at Eleven
by Alicia K. Harris | with Zoe Peak, Amia Ogieva, Samaya Hodge, Jasmine Best, Malea Yarde
Canada 2024
Generation Kplus | International premiere | Short Film
A young Black ballerina carries out her Sunday rituals while facing the pressure to perform whiteness. The film is an unapologetic celebration of the powerful, ancestral bond embedded in Black women.

Ornmol (White Ochre)
by Marlikka Perdrisat
Australia 2025
Generation Kplus | World premiere | Documentary form | Short Film
Kupungarri in northwestern Australia is one of the most natural places left in the world. The small community strengthens its young people through a close connection with Country. Excitement grows as they prepare for the biggest event of the year, the Mowanjum Festival.

Space Cadet
by Eric (aka Kid Koala) San
Canada 2025
Generation Kplus | World premiere | Debut film | Animation
When the astronaut Celeste blasts off into space on her first solo mission, the guardian robot that has accompanied her throughout her childhood is left alone to wonder: What now? A tomorrow-days lullaby about finding your place in the universe.

Têtes Brûlées
by Maja Ajmia Yde Zellama | with Safa Gharbaoui
Belgium 2025
Generation 14plus | World premiere | Debut film
Twelve-year-old Eya has to face the sudden death of her beloved older brother Younès. In an intense grieving process, she draws on her creativity, resilience and the support of Younès’ friends to come to terms with her loss.

Village Rockstars 2
by Rima Das | with Bhanita Das, Basanti Das, Junumoni Boro, Manabendra Das, Boloram Das
India / Singapore 2024
Generation 14plus | European premiere
In a small and charming village, a teenage girl passionately pursues her musical dream. But the harsh realities of life get in the way. Defying the challenges, she embarks on a journey to rediscover the profound harmonies between music and life.

Zečji nasip (Sandbag Dam)
by Čejen Černić Čanak | with Lav Novosel, Andrija Žunac, Leon Grgić, Petra Mikolaci, Tanja Smoje
Croatia / Lithuania / Slovenia 2024
Generation 14plus | World premiere
In a village on the brink of flooding, Marko’s life is turned upside down when Slaven returns for his father’s funeral and rekindles their forbidden romance. Marko must confront his family and make a difficult choice.

The Tale of Daye’s Family
by Karim El Shenawy | with Aseel Omran, Islam Mobarak, Haneen Saeed, Badr Mohamed
Egypt 2024
Generation 14plus | European premiere
Daye, a 14-year-old Nubian albino with a golden voice, is used to having to stick up for himself. Inspired by his idol Mohamed Mounir, he and his family journey to Cairo so he can audition for “The Voice”.

All films of the Retrospective

Blutiger Freitag (Bloody Friday)
by Rolf Olsen | with Raimund Harmstorf, Amadeus August, Gila von Weitershausen, Gianni Macchia, Christine Böhm
Federal Republic of Germany / Italy 1972
Retrospective
A bank robbery in Munich goes south, ending in a hostage taking and a wave of violence. Loosely modelled on actual crimes, this German-Italian entry in the giallo genre is an impressive blend of realistic and over-the-top elements.

Deadlock
by Roland Klick | with Mario Adorf, Anthony Dawson, Marquard Bohm, Mascha Rabben, Sigurd Fitzek
Federal Republic of Germany 1970
Retrospective
Under the torrid sun in an abandoned desert settlement, there is a lethal battle over the spoils of a bank robbery. This heady spaghetti western features psychedelic music by Cologne kraut-rockers Can.

Einer von uns beiden (One or the Other of Us)
by Wolfgang Petersen | with Klaus Schwarzkopf, Elke Sommer, Jürgen Prochnow, Ulla Jacobsson, Kristina Nel
Federal Republic of Germany 1974
Retrospective
A broke drop-out blackmails a sociology professor after discovering that his dissertation was a plagiary. This action-packed film version of a “sociological thriller” set in Berlin was Wolfgang Petersen’s lead-in to a Hollywood career.

Fleisch (Spare Parts)
by Rainer Erler | with Jutta Speidel, Wolf Roth, Herbert Herrmann, Charlotte Kerr, Christoph Lindert
Federal Republic of Germany 1979
Retrospective
While a German couple is on their honeymoon in the USA, the groom is kidnapped by an ambulance crew. His bride joins forces with a trucker to try to find him. This 1979 thriller about the illicit trade in human organs triggered fierce debate at the time.

Fremde Stadt (Strange City)
by Rudolf Thome | with Roger Fritz, Karin Thome, Peter Moland, Werner Umberg, Eva Kinsky
Federal Republic of Germany 1972
Retrospective
A bank robber comes to Munich to ask for his ex-wife’s help in “laundering” the stolen money. He is soon running from a detective and a gaggle of other greedy pursuers. A black-and-white thriller in Cinemascope inspired by American B pictures.

Hut ab, wenn du küsst! (Hat Off When You Kiss)
by Rolf Losansky | with Angelika Waller, Alexander Lang, Rolf Römer, Günter Junghans, Günther Grabbert
German Democratic Republic 1971
Retrospective
A macho engineer has a problem with his girlfriend working as an auto mechanic. She sets about arousing the jealousy of her oldfashioned boyfriend. Set at East Germany’s Leipzig Trade Fair, this musical rom-com struck a blow for the Working Woman.

Jonathan
by Hans W. Geißendörfer | with Jürgen Jung, Hans-Dieter Jendreyko, Paul Albert Krumm, Hertha von Walther, Oskar von Schab
Federal Republic of Germany 1970
Retrospective
A blood-thirsty aristocrat and his followers terrorise an entire region – until the people rise up against them. A visually rich, fascinating genre film that echoes the politics of its time. Based loosely on leitmotifs from Bram Stoker’s “Dracula”.

Lady Dracula
by Franz Josef Gottlieb | with Evelyne Kraft, Brad Harris, Theo Lingen, Eddi Arent, Stephen Boyd
Federal Republic of Germany 1978
Retrospective
A vampire re-awakes 100 years after she was bitten by Count Dracula. The title character finds work, and victims, as a mortuary cosmetologist in Vienna. The film is a genre mix of horror, thriller, and crude jokes that sported a notable cast for the time.

Männer sind zum Lieben da (The Girls from Atlantis)
by Eckhart Schmidt | with Isi ter Jung, Horst Letten, Barbara Capell, Diana Nisbeth, Marianne Sock
Federal Republic of Germany 1970
Retrospective
A group of women from an alien realm shrink men by sleeping with them, and then kidnap them as sex slaves. But one of them falls in love with her victim. An enchanting satire of the soft-sex film genre with burlesque and poetic elements.

Nelken in Aspik (Carnations in Aspic)
by Günter Reisch | with Armin Mueller-Stahl, Helga Sasse, Erik S. Klein, Helga Göring, Herbert Köfer
German Democratic Republic 1976
Retrospective
To hide his lisp, a commercial artist stops talking altogether. Hailed as a savvy innovator, he advances to become director of an ad agency. Armin Mueller-Stahl is brilliant in this subversive satire of a dysfunctional East German working environment.

Nicht schummeln, Liebling! (Don’t Cheat, Darling!)
by Joachim Hasler | with Chris Doerk, Frank Schöbel, Dorit Gäbler, Christel Bodenstein, Karel Fiala
German Democratic Republic 1973
Retrospective
A school principal and her girls’ soccer team battle it out with the town’s men’s team, which has been accorded unheard of privileges by the mayor. A saucy musical featuring snazzy choreography and the East German pop stars Frank Schöbel and Chris Doerk.

Orpheus in der Unterwelt (Orpheus in the Underworld)
by Horst Bonnet | with Wolfgang Greese, Dorit Gäbler, Rolf Hoppe, Lisa Macheiner, Achim Wichert
German Democratic Republic 1973
Retrospective
The philandering Orpheus is forced to go to the rescue of his adulterous wife Eurydice who has been spirited away to Hades. This opulent film version of Jacques Offenbach’s suggestive operetta is full of satirical jabs at life in East Germany.

Output
by Michael Fengler | with Lou Castel, Katja Rupé, Bernd Herberger, Claus Eberth, Marquard Bohm
Federal Republic of Germany 1974
Retrospective
A crew of filmmakers and gangsters team up to enact a script in real life by robbing millions from a US military transport. A heist movie with perfect timing based on a hard-boiled thriller by Ulf Miehe, known as the German Raymond Chandler.

Rocker
by Klaus Lemke | with Hans-Jürgen Modschiedler, Gerd Kruskopf, Paul Lyss, Marianne Mim, Heidrun Rieckmann
Federal Republic of Germany 1972
Retrospective
A leather-boy from Hamburg and a 14-year-old drifter help each other out in a milieu teeming with violence. Shot on location with an amateur cast, this down and dirty biker flick paints an authentic picture of a big-city subculture.

Die Zärtlichkeit der Wölfe (Tenderness of the Wolves)
by Ulli Lommel | with Kurt Raab, Jeff Roden, Margit Carstensen, Ingrid Caven, Wolfgang Schenck
Federal Republic of Germany 1973
Retrospective
Ulli Lommel’s film about a serial killer in the early post-war era echoes the real story of “wolf man” murderer Fritz Haarmann. A mix of Fritz Lang’s M and Hitchcock’s Psycho that follows in the tradition of Weimar cinema.