Allegro Pastell (Ger)
Dir Anna Roller
This love story about a long-distance relationship between a novelist and web designer is based on Leif Randt’s bestselling novel. It is Roller’s second feature after Dead Girls Dancing, which premiered at 2023’s Tribeca and Munich film festivals. Allegro Pastell is produced by Tobias Walker and Philipp Worm of Germany’s Walker+Worm Films, which is also behind Competition film Rose. The cast includes Sylvaine Falingrant, Jannis Niewöhner and Haley Louise Jones. DCM will release in Germany.
Contact: Totem Films
Arru (Nor-Swe-Fin)
Dir. Elle Sofe Sara
In the frozen Sápmi region, reindeer herder Maia fights to protect her ancestral lands from a mining project and must turn to her uncle for help, reigniting past traumas. Filmmaker Sara is of Sámi heritage and hails from the territory where the film is set. She has directed shorts include Sámi Bojá, and often incorporates her culture into the work. Producers include Elisa Fernanda Pirir, who was a co-producer on Annemarie Jacir’s Palestine 36 and runs Norway’s Staer Film.
Contact: The Yellow Affair
The Day She Returns (S Kor)
Dir. Hong Sangsoo
South Korea’s Hong returns with the story of a woman who has shot an independent film and gives three interviews about the project. Later, in her acting class, she is asked to re-enact the conversations but is unable to recall them. The cast is led by Song Sunmi, Cho Yunhee and Park Miso, and the film is Hong’s 34th feature and 13th to be invited to Berlin. Eight of the director’s films have vied for the Golden Bear including prizewinners The Woman Who Ran (2020), Introduction (2021) and The Novelist’s Film (2022). It is produced by Jeonwonsa Film.
Contact: Finecut
The Education Of Jane Cumming (Ger-Switz-UK)
Dir. Sophie Heldman
Set in Edinburgh in 1810, this English-language historical drama is based on true events and tells the story of two female teachers who find themselves at the centre of a scandal when one of their pupils accuses them of having an affair. Previously known as Miss Pirie And Miss Woods, the film shot in Edinburgh and Cologne. It is the second feature from German director Heldman, after 2010’s Colours In The Dark. Fiona Shaw stars alongside Flora Nicholson, Clare Dunne, Mia Tharia, Sadie Shimmin and Stephen McCole.
Contact: Global Constellation
Enjoy Your Stay (Switz-Fr-Phil)
Dirs. Dominik Locher, Honeylyn Joy Alipio
Co-directed by Switzerland’s Locher and the Philippines’ Alipio, Enjoy Your Stay centres on an undocumented Filipina cleaner in the luxury chalets of Verbier who must make money at any cost to avoid losing custody of her six-year-old daughter in Manila. Set between Switzerland and the Philippines, the film stars Mercedes Cabral in the lead role, alongside Alexis Manenti. Locher’s credits include Locarno selection Goliath in 2017, while Alipio’s include 2015 Cannes Un Certain regard title Taklub (also known as Trap).
Contact: Be For Films
Four Minus Three
(Austria-Ger)
Dir. Adrian Goiginger
Valerie Pachner, known for Terrence Malick’s A Hidden Life and Marie Kreutzer’s The Ground Beneath My Feet, stars in this film about a professional clown who loses her husband and two children in a car accident. Billed as a story of love, loss, hope and the possibilities and limits of art, Four Minus Three is based on true events and the bestselling novel Vier Minus Drei by Barbara Pachl-Eberhart. Austrian director Goiginger’s credits include 2017 Berlinale Perspektive Deutsches Kino film The Best Of All Worlds.
Contact: Beta Cinema
The Garden We Dreamed (Mex)
Dir. Joaquin del Paso
Del Paso arrives with his third feature after Panamerican Machinery premiered at the 2016 Berlinale and The Hole In The Fence bowed in 2021’s Venice Horizons. His latest follows a Haitian couple and their children relocated by a logging company to the Oyamel fir forests of central Mexico, home to millions of butterflies. Mexico’s Peninsula Films & Entertainment, Atomica, Producciones Espiral, Alebrije Producciones, Sula Entertainment and Stellium produced. Pimienta Films will distribute in Mexico.
Contact: m-appeal
I Understand Your Displeasure (Ger)
Dir. Kilian Armando Friedrich
German filmmaker Friedrich’s fiction feature debut follows Heike, a customer service manager at an understaffed cleaning company who must sacrifice one of her own employees to comply with the demands of a powerful subcontractor. It was shot with non-professional actors and real employees of the low-wage sector, with Sabine Thalau, Nada Kosturin and Werner Posselt leading the cast. The film is produced by Ben Ulrich, Felix Mann and Simon Bogocz for Germany’s WennDann Film. Friedrich previously co-directed 2023 documentary Nuclear Nomads.
Contact: Films Boutique
If I Were Alive (Bra)
Dir. Andre Novais Oliveira
This is the fourth feature film of Oliveira, the winner of the special jury prize at 2014’s Buenos Aires International Film Festival with She Comes Back On Thursday, which also screened at Rotterdam and IndieLisboa film festivals. He is one of the founders of the production company Filmes de Plastico, based in the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais, where If I Were Alive, a delicate love story that spans five decades, was shot. Through the daily lives of the protagonist couple, Oliveira conducts a personal and cinematic investigation into grief, memory, love and the passage of time.
Contact: Filmes de Plastico
Isabel (Bra-Fr)
Dir. Gabe Klinger
Marina Person stars as a sommelier in Sao Paulo’s high-end gastronomic scene, who dreams of owning her own bar. It marks the first project shot in Brazil for Sao Paulo-born, Chicago-based director Klinger, who won the Venice Classics award for best documentary on cinema in 2013 for Double Play: James Benning And Richard Linklater, and whose 2016 debut narrative feature Porto screened at SXSW and BFI London. Isabel is produced by Rodrigo Teixeira’s RT Features, which was behind last year’s best international feature Oscar winner I’m Still Here.
Contact: Urban Sales
Iván & Hadoum (Sp-Ger-Belg)
Dir. Ian de la Rosa
Shot and set in de la Rosa’s native Almeria region in southern Spain, Iván & Hadoum centres on a man working in a greenhouse who falls for a newly hired Moroccan Spanish co-worker, but their relationship is tested when he receives a long-awaited promotion. First-time actors Silver Chicon and Herminia Loh (known as music artist restinga) star. It is produced by Spanish outfit Avalon, which was behind Carla Simon’s Alcarràs and Summer 1993, and is de la Rosa’s debut feature following shorts including 2015’s Victor XX.
Contact: Indie Sales
Lady (UK-Nigeria)
Dir. Olive Nwosu
Nigeria-born, UK-based filmmaker Nwosu’s debut feature, which premiered at Sundance in the World Cinema Dramatic Competition, follows a taxi driver (Jessica Gabriel’s Ujah) who is drawn into Lagos’s seedy sex scene. Producers are Alex Polunin for Ossian International, John Giwa-Amu and Stella Nwimo. Nigerian co-producers are Adetokunboh Sangodoyin and Tunji Jamiu Shoyode. Funders include the BFI, Film4, Screen Scotland, Level Forward and Amplify Capital. Nwosu is an alumna of the Sundance Lab, and her short Masquerade premiered at Toronto in 2021.
Contact: HanWay Films
Lali (Pak)
Dir. Sarmad Sultan Khoosat
One of the first all-Pakistani productions selected for Berlin is the latest by Khoosat, director of Busan 2019 award-winner Circus Of Life and a producer of Cannes 2022 jury prize winner Joyland. Lali follows a newly married man whose wife has a dark past: three of her suitors died before they could marry, leading to paranoia from her new husband. The cast includes Mamya Shajaffar, Channan Hanif and Rasti Farooq. Khoosat’s debut Circus Of Life and Joyland were Pakistan’s Oscar submissions. His outfit Khoosat Films produced in collaboration with Enso Films.
Contact: Khoosat Films
London (Austria)
Dir. Sebastian Brameshuber
Austrian director Brameshuber makes his fiction feature debut with this story of Bobby, who drives between Vienna and Salzburg, giving lifts to strangers and sharing conversations. The film, starring Bobby Sommer, is billed as a tender portrait of today’s Europe, where anonymity and warmth still go hand in hand. It is produced through Austrian outfit Panama Film, whose credits include Timm Kröger’s Venice 2023 title The Universal Theory.
Contact: Square Eyes Films
The Moment (US-UK)
Dir. Aidan Zamiri
Charli xcx, Alexander Skarsgard, Rosanna Arquette, Trew Mullen and Isaac Cole Powell star in the first project from musician Charli xcx’s production company Studio 365, following its bow in Sundance Premieres. This mockumentary, produced by David Hinojosa, follows a rising pop star navigating the complexities of fame and industry pressures. The UK’s Zamiri makes his feature debut, having previously collaborated with Charli xcx on music videos; the British performer also recently starred in Sundance premiere I Want Your Sex.
Contact: Universal (international); A24 (US)
Mouse (US)
Dirs. Kelly O’Sullivan, Alex Thompson
The co-directors impressed attendees at Sundance with their 2024 drama Ghostlight and now have a coming-of-age story about high-school best friends whose relationship is tested as they prepare to become seniors. Production on Mouse took place in Little Rock, Arkansas and the cast includes Sophie Okonedo, Katherine Mallen Kupferer and Chloe Coleman. O’Sullivan and Thompson’s Little Engine produced with Metropolitan Entertainment, Rosalind Productions and Runaway Train.
Contact: Jessica Lacy, Gersh (US); Visit Films (international)
Narciso (Par-Ger-Uru-Bra-Port-Sp-Fr)
Dir. Marcelo Martinessi
Martinessi won a Silver Bear in 2018 for debut The Heiresses. He is back with the story of a man (Diro Romero) who becomes a rock star and symbol of hope on returning to Paraguay under military dictatorship in the late 1950s. It went through San Sebastian’s 2020 Europe-Latin America Co-production Forum as Who Killed Narciso? and filmed in Asuncion in 2024. La Babosa is lead producer with France’s Luxbox, Germany’s Pandora Film, France’s La Fabrica Nocturna Cinema, Brazil’s Esquina Filmes, Uruguay’s Mutante Cine, Spain’s Bteam and Portugal’s Oublaum Filmes.
Contact: Luxbox
Numb (Japan)
Dir Takuya Uchiyama
This semi-autobiographical feature, set between 1998 and 2017, stars Takumi Kitamura (Baka’s Identity) as a man whose trauma growing up with an abusive father and alcoholic mother has rendered him unable to speak. The ColorBird production, shot on 16mm film, is the fourth feature from Uchiyama (2020’s Sasaki In My Mind, 2024’s The Young Strangers) and won the special jury prize at Tokyo Filmex in 2025.
Contact: ColorBird
Only Rebels Win (Fr-Leb-Qat)
Dir. Danielle Arbid
French Lebanese filmmaker Arbid returns with this Beirut-set film starring Hiam Abbass and Amine Benrachid, about a widow with Palestinian roots who saves a younger undocumented Sudanese man from a racist attack. The two end up falling in love but their relationship provokes anger among those around them, in a fractured Lebanon on the brink of collapse. Arbid has been a festival mainstay with films in Cannes Directors’ Fortnight (2004’s In The Battlefields and 2007’s A Lost Man), Locarno (2011’s Beirut Hotel) and Toronto (2015’s Parisienne). Her last film Simple Passion, an adaptation of Annie Ernaux’s 1991 novel, received the Cannes 2020 label before playing at San Sebastian. Only Rebels Win is produced by France’s Easy Riders Films and Lebanon’s Abbout Productions.
Contact: Fandango Sales
Paradise (Can-Fr-Ghana)
Dir. Jérémy Comte
Newcomers Joey Boivin-Desmeules and Daniel Atsu Hukporti star as two men on opposite sides of the world who connect when they search for the truth about their absent fathers. Comte shot his directorial debut in Quebec and Ghana in 2024 following his 2018 Oscar-nominated short Fauve. Entract Films, EMAfilms and Constellation Productions produced with support from Telefilm Canada, SODEC, Eurimages and Quebecois provincial and Canadian federal production incentives, in co-production with Arte France Cinema. Elevation Pictures will release in English-speaking Canada, Entract Films in Quebec and Tandem Films in France.
Contact: Global Constellation
Prosecution (Ger)
Dir. Faraz Shariat
Legal thriller Prosecution explores right-wing violence in the German justice system, through the story of a young state prosecutor. She survives a racist attack and takes her own case to court, confronting both the perpetrators and the justice system. Chen Emilie Yan stars in the second feature by German Iranian filmmaker Shariat, whose feature debut No Hard Feelings (Futur Drei) won the Teddy Award at the Berlinale in 2020. He has also directed episodes for German series Druck as well as UK high-end horror comedy The Baby for HBO/Sky. Prosecution is produced through Berlin-based Jünglinge Film.
Contact: New Europe Film Sales
Raging (Phil)
Dir. Ryan Machado
Machado’s Raging (Rumaragasa) receives its international premiere in Berlin after winning best cinematography and best sound at Cinemalaya Philippine Independent Film Festival last October. Set on Sibuyan Island in the mid-1990s, the drama follows an abuse victim who decides to break his silence and seek justice after witnessing a plane crash. It is produced by Daluyong Studios and Terminal Six. Machado was named best director at Cinemalaya in 2023 for his debut feature Huling Palabas, which played the Berlinale’s Generation 14plus in 2024.
Contact: Alemberg Ang, Daluyong Studios
Roya (Ger-Lux-Cze-Iran)
Dir. Mahnaz Mohammadi
Iranian director and women’s rights activist Mohammadi’s latest film was made under the radar, without official state permission. It is about an Iranian teacher imprisoned for her political beliefs, who is faced with a choice: make a forced televised confession or remain confined to her tiny cell. Turkish actress Melisa Sözen (Winter Sleep, The Bureau) stars. Mohammadi has been arrested several times in Iran and was jailed for five years in 2014; she has been unable to leave the country since. This is her second fiction feature after Son-Mother, which premiered at Toronto in 2019.
Contact: Totem Films
Safe Exit (Egypt-Libya-Tun-Qat-Ger)
Dir. Mohammed Hammad
This psychological thriller follows a Cairo security guard who is struggling with trauma following the murder of his parents, victims of the religious and ethnic violence that has been present in the Middle East for decades. It is the second feature from Egypt’s Hammad after Withered Green, which premiered at Locarno and won best director at Dubai in 2016. Producers are Hammad with Kholoud Saad for Pareidolia Productions, alongside Tunisia’s Dora Bouchoucha at Nomadis Images, whose credits include Cannes 2025 selection Aisha Can’t Fly Away.
Contact: MAD World
Shanghai Daughter (China)
Dir. Agnis Shen Zhongmin
Shanghai-born Shen’s feature debut is rooted in her family history. The protagonist travels to the autonomous prefecture of Xishuangbanna on China’s southwest border with Myanmar and Laos, where her late father was sent 50 years earlier during the Cultural Revolution. She hopes to find people at a rubber tree plantation who once knew her father, and encounters a mysterious woman among the strangers. Director Shen worked as a short story writer and newspaper editor before crossing into contemporary art and film. Producers are Xu Ruijing and Liao Yong.
Contact: Parallax Films
Profiles by Ellie Calnan, Ben Dalton, Tim Dams, Elaine Guerini, Jeremy Kay, Rebecca Leffler, Michael Rosser, Matt Schley, Mona Tabbara, Silvia Wong