Berlin Film Festival 2026: Discover the Exciting Competition Lineup

The Berlin Film Festival has unveiled its Competition and Perspectives lineups for the 76th edition of the event, with 22 films to play in the main Competition section. The Competition includes new films from Kornel Mundruczo, Ilker Catak, Emin Alper, Angela Schanelec, Karim Ainouz, Warwick Thornton, Anthony Chen and Hanna Bergholm. Scroll down for the Competition, Perspectives titles 20 of the Competition films will have world premieres in Berlin; with Beth de Araujo’s Josephine coming from Sundance, and Warwick Thornton’s Wolfram having closed Adelaide Film Festival last year. Talent appearing in Competition films include Amy Adams, Brett Goldstein, Hiam Abbass, Anders Danielsen Lie, Channing Tatum, Gemma Chan, Juliette Binoche, Tom Courtenay, Sandra Huller, Callum Turner, Riley Keough, Jamie Bell, Elle Fanning, Pamela Anderson and Rupert Grint. Nine of the films are directed or co-directed by women, up from eight last year and six two years ago. Hungarian director Mundruczo will present his 10th feature At The Sea starring Adams, Murray Bartlett, Chloe East, Goldstein and Dan Levy. The film follows a woman coming out of rehab and returning to her family’s Cape Cod home, where sobriety forces her to confront buried trauma and who she is without her dancing career. Finnish filmmaker Bergholm will present second feature Nightborn, a thriller about a couple who move to the forest to start a family; but the arrival of their perfect child turns into a nightmare. In the second edition under the guidance of festival director Tricia Tuttle, the festival has also programmed the second run of its Perspectives section. There are 13 titles in Perspectives, 11 of which are world premieres including two UK titles; Ashley Walters’ directorial debut Animol, and Dara Van Dusen’s Norway-Greece-UK-Sweden co-production A Prayer For The Dying, starring Johnny Flynn, John C. Reilly, Kristine Kujath Thorp and Gustav Lindh. In her opening remarks, Tuttle spoke passionately about the value of the theatrical experience, saying that cinemagoing is “good for business, good for the whole of the film industry.” Tuttle invited festival attendees to “warm themselves at the fireside of cinema.” “We are in a battle for this art form that we love so dearly,” said Tuttle. “It’s a battle to keep independent cinema open, to keep distributors and exhibitors who champion independent film thriving and making sure they can still take risks. “It’s a battle to ensure that cinema culture can retain its breadth; and for you journalists, I’m sure you feel you battle to make sure you have the space to write about films. “We must all work together to make sure that the infrastructure is strong, so that filmmakers can still reach audiences, and so that audiences can still see films in cinemas.” “It’s undeniably the most powerful way to see an artist’s creation; but it’s also a really important place to sit with strangers and friends and try to build a potent and communal experience together. And right now, we need more communal experiences rather than fewer.” The director cited the festival’s record attendance figures in 2025, with 340,000 public audience admissions and over 115,000 further admissions from industry. As previously announced, the festival will open with Shahrbanoo Sadat’s No Good Men. The 2026 Berlinale will run February 12-22, while the concurrent European Film Market will take place February 12-18. Titles have previously been announced for the Panorama, Forum, Classics, Generation and Special strands. German filmmaker Wim Wenders will head the competition jury. Berlinale 2026 titles * denotes world premiere Competition At the Sea (USA-Hun), dir. Kornél Mundruczó * Dao (Fr-Senegal-Guinea-Bissau), dir. Alain Gomis * Dust (Bel-Pol-Greece-UK), dir. Anke Blondé * Everybody Digs Bill Evans (Ire-UK), dir, Grant Gee * Flies (Mex), dir. Fernando Eimbcke * Home Stories (Ger), dir. Eva Trobisch * In A Whisper (Fr-Tunisia), dir. Leyla Bouzid * Josephine (USA), dir. Beth de Araújo The Loneliest Man in Town (Austria), dir. Tizza Covi, Rainer Frimmel * My Wife Cries (Ger-Fr), dir. Angela Schanelec * A New Dawn (Japan-Fr), dir. Yoshitoshi Shinomiya * Nightborn (Fin-Lithuania-Fr-UK), dir. Hanna Bergholm * Nina Roza (Can-It-Bul-Bel), dir. Genevieve Dulude-de Celles * Queen At Sea (UK), dir. Lance Hammer * Rosebush Pruning (It-Ger-Sp-UK), dir. Karim Aïnouz * Rose (Austria-Ger), dir. Markus Schleinzer * Salvation (Turkey-Fr-Neth-Greece-Swe-Saudi Arabia), dir. Emin Alper * Soumsoum, The Night Of The Stars (Fr-Chad), dir. Mahamat-Saleh Haroun * We Are All Strangers (Sing), dir. Anthony Chen * Wolfram (Australia), dir. Warwick Thornton Yellow Letters (Ger-Fr-Turkey), dir. İlker Çatak * YO Love is a Rebellious Bird (USA), dir. Anna Fitch, Banker White * Perspectives 17 (North Macedonia-Ser-Slovenia), dir. Kosara Mitic * Animol (UK), dir. Ashley Walters * A Prayer For The Dying (Nor-Greece-UK-Swe), dir. Dara Van Dusen * Chronicles From The Siege (Alg-Fr-Pal), dir. Abdallah Alkhatib * Filipiñana (Sing-UK-Phil-Fr-Neth), dir. Rafael Manuel Forest High (Belg-Fr), dir. Manon Coubia * Our Secret (Bra-Port), dir. Grace Passô The Red Hangar (Chile-Arg-It), dir. Juan Pablo Sallato The River Train (Arg), dirs. Lorenzo Ferro, Lucas A. Vignale * Take Me Home (USA), dir. Liz Sargent Trial Of Hein (Ger), dir. Kai Stänicke * Truly Naked (Neth-Belg-Fr), dir. Muriel d’Ansembourg Where To? (Isr-Ger), dir. Assaf Machnes