Tom Tykwer’s The Light (Das Licht) will world premiere as the opening film of the 75th Berlin International Film Festival on February 13, 2025. The Light (Das Licht) will be presented as a Berlinale Special Gala out of competition.

“We knew as soon as we saw The Light (Das Licht) that we wanted to have it open the 75th Berlinale. Tom Tykwer finds beauty and joy in our often fractured and challenging world, and magically captures the essence of our modern life on screen. It is our great pleasure to welcome Tom back to the Berlinale with Das Licht (The Light),” says Festival Director Tricia Tuttle.

Starring Lars Eidinger (Dying, About Joan, Babylon Berlin) and the renowned actor and director Nicolette Krebitz (A Cloud in Our House, A E I O U – A Quick Alphabet of Love), The Light (Das Licht) tells the story of the Engels family.

Tim (Lars Eidinger), Milena (Nicolette Krebitz), their twins Frieda (Elke Biesendorfer) and Jon (Julius Gause) and Milena’s son Dio (Elyas Eldridge) are a family that lives more side by side than together and nothing holds them together until the housekeeper Farrah (Tala Al-Deen) enters their lives. The mysterious woman from Syria puts the Engels’ world to an unexpected test and brings to light feelings that have long been hidden. In the process, she pursues a plan all of her own that will fundamentally change the family’s life.

Director and screenwriter Tom Tykwer shows the everyday life of a German middle class family in a world that is spinning fast and has become unstable.

Tom Tykwer has opened the Berlinale twice previously: in 2002 with his first international production Heaven and in 2009 with the political thriller The International.

“I’m over the moon to open next year’s Berlinale with The Light (Das Licht),” says Tom Tykwer. “The Berlinale is the festival of my life. The city is my destiny. This film is my longing.”

Das Licht (The Light) will be released in German cinemas on March 20, 2025.