Now in its 24th edition, Berlinale Talents is Berlin International Film Festival’s acclaimed talent development programme which brings together 200 emerging filmmakers and film professionals for an intensive development programme at the heart of the festival, taking place from February 13 to 18 at Radialsystem, Holzmarktstrasse 33, Berlin.
Each year the Talents programme is devised around a key theme, often a provocation and a jumping off point to stimulate dialogue and deeper examination of the creative process. This year Berlinale Talents embraces the ambiguity and complexity of our world and shines a spotlight on the creative potential that can emerge out of embracing this reality with the theme “Creating (and) Confusion – Cinema, Chaos and the Power of Discomfort”.
The Talents join one of the world’s largest and most connected film networks, with more than 10,000 alumni worldwide.
This year, 142 former Talents are represented across 86 films screening throughout the 76th edition of the Berlinale Film festival, with alumni contributions reaching every section of the programme.
Five of the films from this year’s festival selection originated as projects developed in Berlinale Talents Labs in previous years, and Reinaldo Marcus Green is on the 2026 Berlinale jury, having himself been a talent exactly 10 years ago.
As Marcus Green said at the Berlinale launch, “There’s nothing like being changed by a movie. When you sit in a theatre and see someone’s life unfold before you, there’s nothing more special, I think my life is just a series of movies. I grew up watching films that I can recite the lines to, and that’s kind of how I live my life. So, by just discovering all these new voices this week, I can’t wait to recite it more.”
One half of Berlinale Talents management duo, Tobias Pausinger is Programme Manager with extensive expertise in development, production, acquisition, distribution, film policy, teaching, film funding, as well as in curating industry events and film markets.
We spoke to him about this years theme.
“The concept is about things being set in different ways and traditions and methods being deconstructed,” he said. “Europeans can be more inflexible. Its about being able to hold a moment and not getting straight into problem- solving mode. Diving into it, absorbing it, and letting it sit, and sitting with it, and enjoying it.”
“We have an international team here. So we come from many countries, and you see the divide between certain nationalities. How people react to this ‘let’s sit with it.'”
“We want to go to places that are exciting and new and an adventure. It’s a very personal decision, whether confusion is a bad thing or a good thing.”
Nikola Joetze and Tobias Pausinger elaborated further. “The discomfort of confusion often leads to an inner search for answers and it can drive creative thinking. In cinema, filmmakers create tension and ambiguity through editing, rhythm, and sound. Paradoxically, this very confusion requires precise decisions in framing, tempo, and form. A good story, a good film, widens perspectives and provokes thought and is most satisfying when it shows us something new about the world.”
The key visual for the annual theme, designed by Berlin-based duo Ada Favaron and Imad Gebrael, explores the fragmented, chaotic nature of perception and the continuous flow of the creative process. Abstract forms suggest eyes, hands, and mouths without fully defining them. In this way, they reflect the ambiguous world behind the scenes of filmmaking, where ideas circulate freely and collective understanding emerges from shared exploration.
Moving venue for the first time this year Berlinale Talents will be housed at Berlin’s Radialsystem- the former pumping station on the banks of the Spree that has been converted into an arts centre.
Nikola Joetze spoke about the move at the launch.
“I think we can all agree that Berlin is not making it that easy at the moment to be a city of cinema, even though it has so many cinemas,” she said. “I think we all have to look at how we can make Berlin back into a city of cinema, a welcoming city of cinema, where you can meet and have places to connect. This is what this hub and place of meeting is trying to do.”
Nikola Joetze and Tobias Pausinger commented futher.
“In 2026, with the move to Radialsystem, we will open a new chapter. For the first time, our entire programme will take place under one roof – a true House of Talents, whose architecture fosters constant networking among our participants.”
A celebrity – rich program of talks and events is weaved throughout.
Academy Award–nominated directors Sara Khaki and Mohammadreza Eyni as well as Andrew Jarecki expose systems shaped by institutional failure.
Production designers Francesca Di Mottola and Cora Pratz illuminate the craft of building visual coherence from script to screen.
Director Aidan Zamiri explores identity and artistic pressure through his collaboration with Charli xcx
Celebrated actor Hiam Abbass reflects on her expansive career across film, theatre and television. Joining the programme.
Oscar winning and nominated filmmaker Chloé Zhao discusses her creative evolution, her instinct driven approach and her adaptation of Hamnet.
Indigenous Australian director Warwick Thornton reframes erased histories through image and silence.
Genre innovators Hanna Bergholm and Edwin explore empathy through horror and transformation.
Abdallah Alkhatib, with collaborators Rana Eid and Talal Khoury, examines filmmaking under siege.
Choreographer Sasha Waltz traces the deep connections between movement and the camera.
Alain Gomis reflects on cinema shaped across continents and the Teddy Talents Talks celebrate queer form as a radical space for insight.
Composer Daniel Blumberg delves into improvisation as creative catalyst.
Olivier Bugge Coutté and Eskil Vogt, both Oscar nominated for Sentimental Value, close the programme by exploring discomfort as a source of artistic clarity.
February 14, 10.00 am
Chaos and Control: Exposing Systems That Thrive on Confusion
Academy Award–nominated filmmakers Sara Khaki and Mohammadreza Eyni (Cutting Through Rocks) as well as Andrew Jarecki (The Alabama Solution) examine how their documentaries confront abuses of state power and the erosion of trust in public institutions.
February 14, 2.30 pm
Controlled Chaos: The Production Design Process
Production designers Francesca Di Mottola (The Moment – Panorama), Cora Pratz (The Weight – Berlinale Special Gala), Inbal Weinberg (Roofman) share their creative journey from early stages of pre-production to the final execution stage of bringing all of the elements together.
February 14, 5.00 pm
The Moment: Aidan Zamiri on Chaos, Brat and Creative Discomfort
Director Aidan Zamiri breaks down his long running creative partnership with Charli xcx and how it deepens his film’s playful discomfort, shaping a funhouse mirror world where authenticity and performance blur.
February 15, 11.30 am
The Identity of a Voice: In Conversation with Hiam Abbass
Hiam Abbass (In a Whisper – Competition) addresses the process of how she selects her projects, how she gives her characters a voice and her collaborations with acclaimed directors, including Hany Abu-Assad, Annemarie Jacir, Steven Spielberg and Denis Villeneuve.
February 15, 2.00 pm
Berlinale Talents: Love in Numbers: Creating a Short Film Canon Bottom Up
Short film lovers worldwide were invited to nominate ten films under 60 minutes that they consider the “greatest” ever. This resulted in a ranked list of 104 titles. But what now? A collective conversation about pros, cons and potentials of such a canon.
February 15, 5.00 pm
Con Fusion: Sasha Waltz on Creating Connecting Choreographies
Internationally renowned choreographer Sasha Waltz, who is based with her company Sasha Waltz & Guests at Radialsystem, makes her Berlinale debut by giving a lecture at Berlinale Talents.
February 16, 12.00 noon
Reframing Stolen Narratives: The Cinema of Warwick Thornton
Premiering his new film Wolfram in Competition, Warwick Thornton joins Berlinale Talents to reflect on his work as both director and cinematographer.
Event in English. Tickets at www.berlinale.de
February 16, 2.30 pm
Mixed Feelings: Empathy for the Monster in Genre
Berlinale Talents alumni Hanna Bergholm (Nightborn) and Edwin (Sleep No More) discuss their approaches to genre filmmaking and how they create empathy for their monsters.
Feburar 16, 5.00 pm
Filming Under Siege
Filmmaker Abdallah Alkhatib (Chronicles from the Siege) and his team address their relationship built on trust, but also the current political state of their region, which has directly influenced some of their artistic and technical choices.
February 17, 11.15 am
World Cinema Fund Talk: Alain Gomis
Co-hosted by the World Cinema Fund, Alain Gomis (Dao – Competition) joins to discuss his filmmaking practice shaped across borders, various languages and production contexts.
February 17, 5.00 pm
Teddy Talents Talks: Confusion as Catalyst
Daniela Vega (A Fantastic Woman – TEDDY 40), Efraín Mojica and Rebecca Zweig (Jaripeo – Panorama Dokumente), Fallon Mayanja (Joy Boy: A Tribute to Julius Eastman – Forum) as well as Sarnt Utamachote (I Don’t Want to Be Just a Memory) explore how queer cinema harnesses ambiguity, resists categorisation and uses formal disruption to generate new ways of seeing from the margins.
February 18, 12.00 noon
Chloé Zhao – In Conversation
February 18, 2.00 pm
Composer’s Talk with Daniel Blumberg
Academy Award–winning composer Daniel Blumberg (The Brutalist) dives into his musical curiosity and shares his insights from his work on The Testament of Ann Lee.
February 18, 5.00 pm
The Power of Discomfort: Crafting Sentimental Value
Academy Award-nominated editor Olivier Bugge Coutté and Berlinale Talents alum Eskil Vogt discuss their collaboration with Joachim Trier, another alum of Berlinale Talents, on Sentimental Value.
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.
