Festivals: Berlin / EFM
Berlinale 2026 Wrap: All Our Reviews, Interviews, News
The 76th edition of the Berlinale was held during the month of February 2026, featuring the latest films by a bevy of exciting directors, presented in a glamorous atmosphere (see above). As the indispensable David Hudson noted in his wonderfully...
Berlinale 2026 Review: TRACES Follows Survivor Networks Documenting Wartime Sexual Violence
Ukrainian filmmaker Alisa Kovalenko, working with co-director Marysia Nikitiuk, examines the documentation of conflict-related sexual violence during Russia's war against Ukraine through the work of survivor and activist Iryna Dovhan.
Berlinale 2026 Review: LUST Constructs a Minimalist Chamber Study of Authority and Desire
Bulgarian director Ralitza Petrova's sophomore feature continues her examination of individuals shaped by institutional structures, shifting the focus toward a more contained study of psychological control and personal disintegration.
Berlinale 2026 Review: WHERE TO? Turns Late-Night Rides Into a Study of Intimacy and Displacement
Israeli director Assaf Machnes' debut feature unfolds as a dialogue driven chamber piece set within Berlin's nocturnal rideshare circuits.
Berlinale 2026 Review: Porn and Gen Z Intimacy Clashes in Sweet Coming-of-Age TRULY NAKED
Muriel d'Ansembourg's feature debut Truly Naked examines adolescence and sexual education through the unlikely setting of a small family-run pornography business, framing a Gen Z coming-of-age story around competing ideas of intimacy, masculinity, and agency.
Berlinale 2026 Review: A Clock Stalled Between Fantasy and Fable in CHIMNEY TOWN: FROZEN IN TIME
Japanese director Hirota Yusuke revisits the world of his box office success Poupelle of Chimney Town with Chimney Town: Frozen in Time, a fantasy sequel that expands the franchise's steampunk universe through a new mythic storyline centered on loss, belief, and hope.
Berlinale 2026 Review: MOSCAS, Outsiders Search for Connection in Mexico City
Director Fernando Eimbcke's new film stars Teresita Sánchez, Bastian Escobar, and Hugo Ramírez.
Berlinale 2026 Review: SLEEP NO MORE, Horror in an Indonesian Sweatshop
Director Edwin's film stars Rachel Amanda, Lutesha, Iqbaal Ramadhan, Didik Nini Thowok, and Sal Priadi.
Berlinale 2026 Review: WE ARE ALL STRANGERS, Winning Generational Drama Set in Singapore
Writer/director Anthony Chen's film stars Yeo Yann Yann, Koh Jia Ler, Andi Lim, and Regene Lim.
Berlinale 2026 Interview: IN A WHISPER Director-Writer Leyla Bouzid on Queerness and Her Narrative Approach as a Tunisian Filmmaker
As a Tunisian queer filmmaker, one must exercise particular care when addressing an issue that remains deeply taboo in society to this day. Yet this does not prevent Leyla Bouzid from boldly portraying the increasingly precarious reality faced by homosexual...
Berlinale 2026 Review: LIGHT PILLAR Casts a Melancholic Glow on Disconnection
In his animated feature debut, Zao Xu applies a production designer's precision to a near future fable that examines precarious labor, mediated intimacy and the fragile architectures, both physical and digital, that shape contemporary isolation.
Berlinale 2026 Interview: QUEEN AT SEA Director Lance Hammer on the Ethical Dilemma of Alzheimer's
After an 18-year hiatus, Lance Hammer makes a remarkable return to the director’s chair following his Sundance Award–winning debut Ballast. For this long-awaited project, he assembled what he describes as his dream cast, led by Juliette Binoche and the outstanding...
Berlinale 2026 Review: IN A WHISPER (À VOIX BASSE) Unearths the Queer Stigma in a Tunisian Family and Beyond
Eya Bouteraa, Hiam Abbass, and Salma Baccar form a familial portrait across three generations confronted with an unspoken secret.
Berlinale 2026 Review: FOREST HIGH (FORÊT IVRE), Life in an Alpine Hut
Forest High (orig. Forêt Ivre) takes place almost entirely in and around a hut in the Swiss mountains. Subtitled Three Stories, director Manon Coubia's film follows three volunteers who work there over four seasons. Officially the Refuge d'Ubine des Amis...
Berlinale 2026 Review: A CHILD OF MY OWN (UN HIJO PROPIO), Documentary Reenacts a Kidnapping
Based on a notorious crime in Mexico, A Child of My Own (Orig. Un hijo propio) examines how and why a nurse kidnapped a baby for her own. As she did in The Mole Agent, director Maite Alberdi mixes fact and fiction...
Berlinale 2026 Review: SOUMSOUM, THE NIGHT OF THE STARS, Romanticised Fable for the Tainted Dead in Chad's Immense Desert
Mahamat-Saleh Haroun tells a poetic yet haunting story of life and death driven by female agency.
Berlinale 2026 Review: LALI, Newlyweds Confront Demons in Pakistani Drama
The lavish wedding ceremony keeps hitting snags, especially when future mother-in-law Sohni Ammi (Farazeh Syed) is accidentally shot in the leg during a fireworks celebration. It's just another sign of the bad luck that dogs bride Zeba (Mamya Shajaffar), an...
Berlinale 2026 Review: YELLOW LETTERS, Golden Bear Winner Traces an Artist Couple Caught in Political Turmoil
Özgü Namal and Tansu Biçer star in İlker Çatak's portrait of a pair ensnared in political turmoil in Turkey.
Berlinale 2026 Review: FOUR MINUS THREE, Grief Drama Navigates Loss and Mourning Through Clowning
Valerie Pachner stars, as Austrian filmmaker Adrian Goiginger continues his cycle of true story adaptations with an emotional rollercoaster of a grief drama.
BLIND COP 2 Exclusive: Chroma Picks up North American Rights to Indie Action-Comedy
When an influx of illegal weapons trafficking explodes onto the scene, a grieving blind police officer must purge the city streets or risk mass chaos breaking loose.
