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The world premiere of “Das Licht (The Light),” the latest feature film from Tom Tykwer, will open the 75th Berlin International Film Festival on February 13, 2025. The German-French production will be presented as a Berlinale Special Gala out of competition in the Berlinale Palast.

“We knew as soon as we saw ‘Das Licht (The Light)’ that we wanted to have it open the 75th Berlinale,” the festival’s director Tricia Tuttle said in making the announcement. “Tom Tykwer finds beauty and joy in our often fractured and challenging world, and magically captures the essence of our modern life on screen. It is our great pleasure to welcome Tom back to the Berlinale with ‘Das Licht (The Light).'”

Tykwer has already opened the Berlinale — twice, as a matter of fact. In 2022 it was his first international production, “Heaven,” that had the honor. The director and screenwriter most recently opened the festival...

European Film Promotion has revealed the 10 emerging actors who will take part in the 27th edition of European Shooting Stars program, which promotes European acting talent. Past Shooting Stars have included Carey Mulligan, Alicia Vikander, Maisie Williams and Riz Ahmed.

From Feb. 16-19, the actors will be presented to the international press and industry, and the German public at the Berlin Film Festival. One of the highlights will be the Shooting Stars Awards Ceremony on Feb. 19 at the Berlinale Palast.

The Shooting Stars for 2024 are Belgium’s Thibaud Dooms, Bulgaria’s Margarita Stoykova, France’s Suzy Bemba, Georgia’s Salome Demuria, Germany’s Katharina Stark, Ireland’s Éanna Hardwicke, Italy’s Valentina Bellè, Lithuania’s Džiugas Grinys, Poland’s Kamila Urzędowska and Sweden’s Asta Kamma August.

The jury that selected the actors comprised of Austrian director, screenwriter and producer Barbara Albert, Lithuanian producer Živilė Gallego, Irish actor Moe Dunford,...

10-strong line-up includes Italian actress Valentina Bellè and Irish actor Éanna Hardwicke.

European Film Promotion (Efp) has revealed the ten young European talents selected for the 27th edition of European Shooting Stars, its initiative to showcase promising on-screen talent from the continent.

Efp has selected seven actresses and three actors who will be presented to international press, industry, and the public during the 2024 Berlin Film Festival.

The line-up includes Italian actress Valentina Bellè who starred in two competition films at Venice this year: Michael Mann’s Ferrari and Lubo by Giorgio Diritti. She also plays the leading role in Disney + series The Good Mother,...

Haley Bennett (Cyrano, Swallow, The Girl On The Train) is set to lead Night and Day, Justine Waddell’s adaptation of Virginia Woolf’s novel, to be directed by BAFTA nominee Tina Gharavi (I Am Nasrine, Cleopatra: African Queens). WestEnd Films has boarded the the German-Irish-u.K. co-production and is introducing the project to buyers in Cannes.

Set in an era when glass ceilings were made of concrete, Bennett will play Katharine Hilbery — one woman who insisted on reaching for the stars. Based on what has been called Woolf’s funniest novel, Night and Day is described as an “unromantic comedy” about a passionate astronomer who does everything she can to avoid romantic love and marriage. Contemporary in tone, the story of Katharine’s bold challenge to the Edwardian patriarchy is set against the backdrop of the suffragette movement and advances in science and technology, at the turn of the 20th century.

The film is the second from Mexican director Lila Avilés.

Mexican director Lila Avilés’s Berlinale Competition film Totem is selling briskly for Alpha Violet, including to New Wave Films for the UK and Ireland.

Rights for Spain have gone to Adso Films, which has previously released films such as Marie Kreutzer’s Corsage and Laurent Larivière’s About Joan.

Tótem is about a family getting ready for a birthday party, told through the eyes of a young girl. It is produced by Limerencia Films, Laterna and Paloma Production.

New Wave handled Avilés’ 2018 film The Chambermaid that premiered in Toronto...

The film is produced by Backscatter Productions, Lunapark Pictures.

Screen Star of Tomorrow 2021 Thalissa Teixeira will star in the first section of Kink, an anthology film about desire, intimacy and sexuality that is the debut directorial feature of UK filmmaker Freya Mavor.

Written by Mavor, the first part of the feature will shoot in the UK at the end of March, with further parts from different writers filming across the next 12 months. Each segment will run between 20-40 minutes, with Mavor directing and curating the entire project.

It is produced by Isabella Speaight and Molly Murphy of Backscatter Productions, with Pietro Greppi of Lunapark Pictures.

All great actresses of a certain age should get to anchor as many starring vehicles as the indefatigable Isabelle Huppert. Her prolific output and enduring marquee-name status are testament to French cinema’s continued interest in women past the age where Hollywood mostly confines them to secondary mom roles. But that doesn’t mean every project is going to be a gem, and “About Joan,” a muddled, maudlin character study that gives its leading lady plenty of screen time but little to actually do, sits at the least memorable end of her filmography. Starring Huppert as an independent, unmarried woman reflecting on the various men she’s loved and lost over the course of four decades, it’s painless but aimless, sunk by a terminal lack of narrative vigor.

Premiering in Berlin’s non-competitive Berlinale Special section (and surely selected only as an event on which to pin the festival...

Ladies They Talk About: Larivière Utilizes Huppert in Shaky Melodrama on Loss & Love

For his sophomore film À propos de Joan (About Joan), Laurent Larivière gets none other than Isabelle Huppert to star as his titular protagonist in a French-German-Irish co-production about one woman’s retread through traumatic memories after a significant figure from her past shows up. Co-writing with François Descodts, it’s a film which reveals itself to be a memory puzzle thanks to a significant twist redefining every sequence before, allowing for some forgiveness given the initial banality of its setup. The dependence on this revelation, however, tends to create a rigidity in the storytelling, with nearly all the performers besides Huppert suffering a bit from the narrative procedure—in short, it’s a film which would likely play better on a second viewing, when the full impact of each moment can be fully realized.…

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The in-person Berlin International Film Festival hit an obstacle today, as Isabelle Huppert, this year’s recipient of the prestigious Honorary Golden Bear award, is unable to attend the festival after testing positive for Covid-19, the festival announced. The actress caught the virus in Paris, and while she is not seriously ill, she can not accept her lifetime achievement award in person.

Huppert was scheduled to be in Berlin both to accept the award and to promote her latest film, “About Joan,” which is screening at the festival. The film, hailing from director Laurent Larivière, stars Huppert as a woman forced to confront her past after a mysterious figure from earlier in her life confronts her on a retreat to the countryside with her son.

However, the award ceremony is still scheduled to proceed at the Berlinale Palast on the evening of Tuesday, February 15. Huppert, who is asymptomatic and maintains that she feels fine,...

About Joan (À Propos de Joan) will screen as Berlinale Special Gala after ceremony.

Isabelle Huppert will not attend Berlin to receive her Honorary Golden Bear after it was announced today that the actress has tested positive for Covid in Paris, however the ceremony will go ahead.

Huppert was set to collect the award for lifetime achievement on Tuesday (15) at 9.45 pm local time at the Berlinale Palast. The festival said she will “tune in live from Paris to assist the ceremony and to speak to her audience”.

“Considering that Isabelle Huppert is not feeling sick and she is willing to...

Isabelle Huppert, this year’s recipient of the Berlinale’s Honorary Golden Bear, has pulled out of attending the festival after testing positive for Covid in Paris.

The festival confirmed the French star’s absence on Monday night.

“Unfortunately, today Isabelle Huppert has been tested positive for the coronavirus in Paris and therefore she will not be able to attend the Berlin International Film Festival,” reads a statement from the Berlinale.

“While informing the festival, she emphasized that she feels very dedicated to the Berlinale and wants to participate in any possible way also to support her latest film ‘À Propos de Joan.'”

Berlinale artistic director Carlo Chatrian explained that because Huppert “doesn’t feel sick,” the festival will go ahead with its planned ceremony on Tuesday honoring the “Elle” actor with its lifetime achievement award. Huppert join in via a live link from Paris. The ceremony will be...

Isabelle Huppert, recipient of this year’s Honorary Golden Bear is unable to attend the Berlin Film Festival in person due to testing positive for Covid, the festival has announced.

The Homage of the Berlinale 2022 is dedicated to French film and stage star who is also the recipient of the Honorary Golden Bear for lifetime achievement.

The actress tested positive today in Paris so won’t be able to make the journey.

“Considering that Isabelle Huppert is not feeling sick and she is willing to support the festival we have decided to go on with the award ceremony. As she cannot come, we will send our love and admiration to her home in Paris. We look forward to having her in Berlin another time”, said Berlinale directors Mariette Rissenbeek and Carlo Chatrian.

The award ceremony of the Honorary Golden Bear will take place on February 15, 2022 at 9.45 pm at the Berlinale Palast as planned.

Films by auteurs Claire Denis, Hong Sangsoo and Rithy Panh are part of the lineup in competition at the 72nd Berlin Film Festival.

Berlin’s 2022 selection spans 18 movies, seven directed by women, which will compete for the Golden and Silver Bears. The films originate from 15 countries, with 17 serving as world premieres. Two of the films are first features, both from women.

Artistic director Carlo Chatrian discussed the thematic throughline of “human and emotional bonds” across the selection, with the family unit serving as a key focal point in a number of movies. More than half are set in the present time, and two are within the pandemic era.

The festival hosts 12 returning filmmakers, eight of whom are in competition and five of whom already hold a Bear from Berlin.

The festival will go ahead as an in-person event, albeit with seating capacity in movie theaters reduced to 50% and without any parties or receptions.

French actor Isabelle Huppert is set to receive the Berlin Film Festival’s Honorary Golden Bear at the Berlin Film Festival in February. Her films will also be honored as part of a special Homage section.

Huppert will be awarded the prize for lifetime achievement. In conjunction with the awards on Feb. 15 at the Berlinale Palast, the festival will screen her latest movie, Laurent Larivière’s “À propos de Joan” — unveiled on Wednesday in the fest’s first batch of titles — as a special gala premiere.

Huppert has a longstanding relationship with Berlin, and has starred in seven competition films to date. She was first a guest in Berlin with Jacques Doillon’s “La vengeance d’une femme” before appearing in Francois Ozon’s “8 Femmes” as an unprepossessing woman who emerges in the end as a confident beauty. The ensemble cast was awarded a Silver Bear for outstanding artistic accomplishment.