Today, the Berlinale 2025 selections for the main competition and new Perspectives section were presented by the new festival director, Tricia Tuttle. The International Competition comprises 19 films, 17 of which are World premieres. One of the exceptions is Dag Johan Haugerud’s Dreams (Drømmer), which opened in Norway as early as October last year. Anyone who read my review of the director’s Love (Kjaerlighed) knows about my scepticism of the director. The other is Mary Bronstein’s If I Had Legs, I’d Kick You, an A24 production which will be screened at Sundance.
For some reason, the festival makes a thing about pointing out that eight of the films are directed or co-directed by women. Some names are all too well-known, like Radu Jude, Hong Sang-Soo, Richard Linklater and Michel Franco. The latter’s film is called Dreams too. Jude, of course, won the Golden Bear in 2021 with the dreadful Bad Luck Banging or Loony Porn.
The first feature of the competition is Hot Milk by Rebecca Lenkiewicz. She might be most known as the co-scenarist of Pawel Pawlikowski’s Ida (2013). Going to France, we find the latest films by Lucile Hadžihalilović and Leonor Serraille. While the latter is more associated with Cannes, her new film, Ari, will compete for a Golden Bear. Her previous films were no favourites of mine. The Ice Tower (La tour de glace) features Gaspar Noé, which is no surprise since he is the husband of director Hadzihalilovic. The film is said to be a fantasy drama set in the seventies.
Hélène Cattet and Bruno Forzani (Amer, Let the Corpses Tan) are back with a film called Reflection in a Dead Diamond. One could also mention the two Chinese features: Girls On Wire is the latest film by Vivian Qu. It is a family drama set in modern China with all its rapid changes. Huo Meng’s sophomore feature, Living the Land, is the other Chinese film selected in the competition.
The complete list of the competition is as follows.
Ari, director: Léonor Serraille
France / Belgium (2025)
Blue Moon, director: Richard Linklater
USA / Ireland (2025)
La cache (The Safe House), director: Lionel Baier
Switzerland / Luxembourg / France (2025)
Dreams, director: Michel Franco
Mexico (2025)
Drømmer (Dreams (Sex Love)), director: Dag Johan Haugerud
Norway (2024)
Geu jayeoni nege mworago hani (What Does That Nature Say to You), director: Hong Sang-Soo
South Korea (2025)
Hot Milk, director: Rebecca Lenkiewicz
United Kingdom (2025)
If I Had Legs I’d Kick You, director: Mary Bronstein
USA (2024)
Kontinental ’25, director: Radu Jude
Romania (2025)
El mensaje (The Message), director: Iván Fund
Argentina / Spain (2025)
Mother’s Baby, director: Johanna Moder
Austria / Switzerland / Germany (2025)
O último azul (The Blue Trail), director: Gabriel Mascaro
Brazil / Mexico / Chile / Netherlands (2025)
Reflet dans un diamant mort (Reflection in a Dead Diamond), directors: Hélène Cattet, Bruno Forzani
Belgium / Luxembourg / Italy / France (2025)
Sheng xi zhi di (Living the Land), director: Huo Meng
People’s Republic of China (2025)
Strichka chasu (Timestamp), director: Kateryna Gornostai
Ukraine / Luxembourg / Netherlands / France (2025)
La Tour de Glace (The Ice Tower), director: Lucile Hadžihalilović
France / Germany (2025)
Was Marielle weiß (What Marielle Knows), director: Frédéric Hambalek
Germany (2025)
Xiang fei de nv hai (Girls on Wire), director: Vivian Qu
People’s Republic of China (2025)
Yunan, director: Ameer Fakher Eldin
Germany / Canada / Italy / Palestine / Qatar / Jordan / Saudi Arabia (2025)
Berlinale 2025 with New Perspectives?
Perspectives is the name of the new competition strand devoted to first features. The section consists of 14 films. The most interesting in the Disapproving quarters is obviously the Hungarian Growing Down (Minden rendben) by Bálint Dániel Sós. It concerns Sándor, a widower, who is the only witness to a serious accident involving his stepdaughter and youngest son. The film stars Szabolcs Hajdu, and the project was financed via the Incubator programme, like other films I’ve covered earlier, like White Plastic Sky, screened at the 2023 Berlinale. The director previously made some shorts but is mainly known for his ads.
Regarding Hungarian cinema, there is also a film in Berlinale Shorts by Jakob Ladányi Jancsó called Living Stones (Élő Kövek). The director is the grandson of Martá Mészáros. The film takes place in a rehabilitation centre in the countryside.
The list of films competing in the Perspectives section.
Al Mosta’mera (The Settlement), director: Mohamed Rashad
Egypt / France / Germany / Saudi Arabia / Qatar (2025)
Baksho Bondi (Shadowbox), directors: Tanushree Das, Saumyananda Sahi
India / France / USA / Spain (2025)
BLKNWS: Terms & Conditions, director: Kahlil Joseph
USA (2025)
Come la notte (Where the Night Stands Still), director: Liryc Dela Cruz
Italy / Philippines (2025)
El Diablo Fuma (y guarda las cabezas de los cerillos quemados en la misma caja) (The Devil Smokes (and Saves the Burnt Matches in the Same Box)), director: Ernesto Martinez Bucio
Mexico (2025)
Duas Vezes João Liberada (Two Times João Liberada), director: Paula Tomás Marques
Portugal (2025)
Hé mán (Eel), director: Chu Chun-Teng
Taiwan (2025)
How to Be Normal and the Oddness of the Other World, director: Florian Pochlatko
Austria (2025)
Kaj ti je deklica (Little Trouble Girls), director: Urška Đukić
Slovenia / Italy / Croatia / Serbia (2025)
Mad Bills to Pay (or Destiny, dile que no soy malo), director: Joel Alfonso Vargas
USA (2025)
Minden Rendben (Growing Down), director: Bálint Dániel Sós
Hungary (2025)
Mit der Faust in die Welt schlagen (Punching the World), director: Constanze Klaue
Germany (2025)
On vous croit (We Believe You), directors: Arnaud Dufeys, Charlotte Devillers
Belgium (2025)
It is difficult to judge how intriguing this year’s Berlinale will be. There are some usual suspects, for sure, but there are also other films that might prove more rewarding and challenging. The Berlinale runs from February 13 to 23, with the last day being Audience Day. This year, it coincides with the national elections.