Berlinale Talents 2025 Recap:
Listen Courageously - Cinematic Narratives in Times of Dissonance
This year’s focus on listening with courage, exploring new narratives and reflecting on creative processes was the common thread throughout the Berlinale Talents programme, and a timely one. The 200 invited filmmakers enjoyed an invigorating range of discussions, workshops, labs and think tanks as well as well-attended public talks with Todd Haynes, Cheryl Dunye, Michel Franco, Zacharias Kunuk, Rana Eid, Inbal Weinberg and Bina Daigeler, just to name a few.
An exclusive session with Honorary Golden Bear recipient Tilda Swinton was a once-in-a-life-time experience for all Talents. Kept a secret until she walked into the room, the intimate session with Tilda and the 200 Talents was an unbelievably unique experience, where the award-winning actor was incredibly generous with her time, thoughts, advice and responses to the questions posed by our selected filmmakers. It was truly unforgettable.
The global alumni community of Berlinale Talents once again impressed with their achievements, with 125 former participants represented in 77 of the festival films. Following the Awards Ceremony, 13 of those films walked away with awards or special mentions.
My experience at Berlinale Talents has been nothing short of transformative, it was overwhelming, inspiring, and a powerful surge of energy. It has reinforced the profound importance of deep listening in ways that will resonate with me for a long time. Thank you.Berlinale Talents participant, 2025
Together with co-partner Mastercard, Berlinale Talents celebrated the sustainable commitment of emerging filmmakers to innovative social initiatives at the legendary Dine & Shine Dinner for more than 400 guests. It was there that the new fellows of the Talents Footprints - Mastercard Enablement Programme were announced. For the first time this year, we welcomed two new fellows with new projects, and also welcomed back two alumni of the programme to catch up with and further support their projects. Each will receive financial support and mentorship. The new fellows are Bavaneedha Loganathan with Big Eyes Short Film Lab 2025: Finding Marginalized Stories from Untold Worlds (Sri Lanka) and Kit Hung with Stories in Safe Hand: Building Resilience Through Secure Filmmaking Practices (UK). The returning fellows are Carlos Ormeño Palma with TranStories (Peru) and Laura Bermúdez with Tercer Cine (Honduras).
Read more here.
The VFF - Verwertungsgesellschaft der Film und Fernsehproduzenten supports a project from the Talent Project Market with the VFF Talent Highlight Award, endowed with 10,000 Euro. This year, the award went to "March 14th" (director: Alberto Gross Molo), pitched at the Berlinale Co-Production Market by producer Laura Egidos Plaja (Spain). Honourable Mentions of 1,000 Euros went to producers Alice Bloch from France for "All That We Could Be" and Julia Alves from Brazil for "The Serpent".
Read more here.
Highlight Video
Over six days we welcomed incredible guests to the stages of HAU Hebbel am Ufer, alongside our film-loving public audiences, longstanding friends, brand new connections, and of course, the 200 newest members of our global Talents alumni network. Our filmmakers gained invaluable skills and new perspectives through hands-on workshops tailored to various disciplines, expert mentorship, and insights from industry leaders. From new collaborators and friends to innovative and inspiring ways of seeing and thinking about film, the week offered countless takeaways.
Relive the magic moments in our highlight video.
Photo Highlights
And in case we missed any best bits in our video coverage, we had our photographers on hand to capture the rest of the week's activity! Relive the magic from another perspective here.
Dive In
Berlinale Talents is part of Berlinale Pro*, which unites the European Film Market, the Berlinale Co-Production Market, Berlinale Talents and the World Cinema Fund. Berlinale Pro* is the festival’s full-circle industry infrastructure that serves the global film industry as incubator, enhancer and supporter in all stages of film development, production, sales and distribution.
Berlinale Talents is supported by the Minister of State for Culture and Media, Creative Europe – MEDIA Programme of the European Union, Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg, German Federal Film Board, Mastercard and ARRI.
