Berlinale 2025 Unveils Film Festival Line Up
Grace Glowicki and Ben Petrie in 'Honey Bunch'
XYZ
Of the Big Five Film Festivals held over the first nine months of the year, The Berlin International Film Festival probably produces the least buzz here in the States. There are several reasons for that, starting with the Film Festival’s openly political bent, which has been a hallmark of the event since it launched in 1951. One of those political bends is that Germany’s selection committee works hard to include many non-English-language films; most of the International debuts are in Spanish, French, and German, when not in various Eastern European languages or Mandarin.
That does limit the titles the festival gets in terms of Anglophilic fare, which is one reason why Berlinale (as the locals call it) also tends to pick one or two high-profile films that were released in the U.S. the previous year and is tracking for Academy Awards love, to entice its A-list stars onto the red carpet. This year’s American hit is A Complete Unknown, the Timothee Chamalet-plays-Bob Dylan biopic, but the lineup will bring several A-list actors to the Berlin festival, including Tilda Swinton, who will receive the Honorary Golden Bear for her body of work over the last 40 years.
Other significant titles coming to the festival include Richard Linklater’s latest feature, Blue Moon, starring Ethan Hawke and Andrew Scott, and The Thing with Feathers with Benedict Cumberbatch and Vinette Robinson. Also, much like Cannes, Berlinale has a side market where creators bring projects for sale or need funding that runs simultaneously with the main festival. This being the German version, it is strictly controlled, with one segment for television series that need buyers for distribution (The Berlinale Series Market) and one for films and TV series that need funding (The Berlinale Co-production Market). Both markets require applications, and only a handful of lucky projects get selected to participate.
Here's a rundown of everything U.K.-related coming to the Berlin International Film Festival.
All The U.K. Films at Berlinale 2025
Berlinale 2025 Competition
- Blue Moon (Director: Richard Linklater; with Ethan Hawke, Andrew Scott, Margaret Qualley, Bobby Cannavale) USA/Ireland
- Dreams (Director: Michel Franco; with Jessica Chastain, Isaac Hernández, Rupert Friend, Marshall Bell) Mexico
- Hot Milk (Director: Rebecca Lenkiewicz; with Emma Mackey, Fiona Shaw, Vicky Krieps, Vincent Perez) UK (Director's Debut)
Panorama
- Dreams in Nightmares (Director: Shatara Michelle Ford; with Denée Benton, Mars Storm Rucker, Dezi Bing, Sasha Compere, Charlie Barnett) US/Taiwan/UK
- Once Again... (Statues Never Die) (Director: Isaac Julien; with André Holland, Danny Huston, Sharlene Whyte, Devon Terrell, Alex Part) UK
Berlinale Special 2025
- Mickey 17 (Director: Bong Joon Ho; with Robert Pattinson, Naomi Ackie, Steven Yeun, Anamaria Vartolomei, Toni Collette, Mark Ruffalo) US/South Korea/UK
- The Thing with Feathers (Director: Dylan Southern; with Benedict Cumberbatch, Richard Boxall, Henry Boxall, Sam Spruell, Vinette Robinson) UK
- Honey Bunch (Director: Madeleine Sims-Fewer & Dusty Mancinelli; with Grace Glowicki, Ben Petrie, Kate Dickie, Jason Isaacs, India Brown) Canada
- The Narrow Road to the Deep North (Director: Justin Kurzel; with Jacob Elordi, Ciarán Hinds, Odessa Young, Olivia DeJonge, Simon Baker) Australia
- After This Death (Director: Lucio Castro; with Mia Maestro, Lee Pace, Rupert Friend, Gwendoline Christie, Philip Ettinger) UK
- Islands (Director: Jan-Ole Gerster: with Sam Riley, Stacy Martin, Jack Farthing, Dylan Torrell) Germany
11th Berlinale Series Market
- Corbeaux (Crows) (Creator: Pierre-Louis Sanschagrin; Director: Stéphane Lapointe; with Mylène Mackay, Pascale Bussières, Lou Thompson) Canada
- n00b (Creators: Victoria Boult & Rachel Fawcett; Director: Josh Frizzell & Victoria Boult; with Max Crean, Jaxson Cook, Shervonne Grierson, James Sexton, Felicia To'a) New Zealand
- Sunny Nights (Creators: Nick Keetch & Ty Freer; Showrunner/Director: Trent O’Donnell; with Will Forte, D’Arcy Carden, Rachel House) Australia/US
Berlinale Co-Production Market
Rotterdam-Berlinale Express:
- Meat (Director: Rioghnach Ni Ghrioghair) Ireland
Berlinale 2025: Honorary Golden Bear
- Tilda Swinton
The Berlin International Film Festival runs from Thursday, February 13 through Sunday, February 23, 2025. The Berlinale Series Market runs from Sunday, February 16 through Wednesday, February 19; the Co-production Market will be held on Tuesday, February 18, and Wednesday, February 19, 2025.
