2025 | Meet the Sections | Berlinale Shorts
To Be in This World

The 2025 Berlinale Shorts films

Jamaluddin Latif, Ari Dwianto
After Colossus by Timoteus Anggawan Kusno
ITA, IDN, NLD 2024, Berlinale Shorts
© TAK STUDIOWORKS

Berline Charles, Feguenson Hermogène
Anba dlo by Luiza Calagian, Rosa Caldeira
CUB, BRA, HTI 2025, Berlinale Shorts
© Luiza Calagian, Rosa Caldeira

Emma Gonzales-Commaret
Because of (U) by Tohé Commaret
FRA 2024, Berlinale Shorts
© Miles Cinéma

Mauro Guzmán, Katherine Bernal
Casa chica by Lau Charles
MEX 2025, Berlinale Shorts
© Angel Jara Taboada

Ana Barja, Isabel Rico
Casi septiembre | Close to September by Lucía G. Romero
ESP 2025, Berlinale Shorts
© ESCAC FILMS

Emma Lim
Children’s Day by Giselle Lin
SGP 2025, Berlinale Shorts
© Potocol

Comment ça va? | How Are You? by Caroline Poggi, Jonathan Vinel
FRA 2025, Berlinale Shorts
© Caroline Poggi & Jonathan Vinel

Dar band | Citizen-Inmate by Hesam Eslami
IRN 2025, Berlinale Shorts
© Aras Films

Lilla Kizlinger
Élő kövek | Living Stones | Atmende Steine by Jakob Ladányi Jancsó
HUN 2025, Berlinale Shorts
© Filmsquad

Futsu no seikatsu | Ordinary Life by Yoriko Mizushiri
FRA, JPN 2025, Berlinale Shorts
© Miyu Productions & New Deer

Kámen Osudu | Stone of Destiny by Julie Černá
CZE 2025, Berlinale Shorts
© Pure Shore s.r.o.

Xu Yidan, Tu Ling, Li Gengyou
Ke wai huo dong | Extracurricular Activity by Dean Wei, Xu Yidan
CHN 2024, Berlinale Shorts
© Dean Wei

Koki, Ciao by Quenton Miller
NLD 2025, Berlinale Shorts
© Quenton Miller

Lloyd Wong
Lloyd Wong, Unfinished by Lesley Loksi Chan
CAN 2025, Berlinale Shorts
© Lloyd Wong

Mother’s Child by Naomi Noir
NLD 2024, Berlinale Shorts
© Naomi Noir

Hazira Đafic, Ramiz
Prekid vatre | Ceasefire by Jakob Krese
DEU, ITA, SVN 2025, Berlinale Shorts
© Majmun Films

Rückblickend betrachtet | In Retrospect by Daniel Asadi Faezi, Mila Zhluktenko
DEU 2025, Berlinale Shorts
© Asadi Faezi & Zhluktenko

N/A, Jefri Nichol, Nai Djenar Maesa Ayu, Sugeng Fadillah
Sammi, Who Can Detach His Body Parts by Rein Maychaelson
IDN 2025, Berlinale Shorts
© Sinemart & Studio Rumah Kedua

Their Eyes by Nicolas Gourault
FRA 2025, Berlinale Shorts
© Don Quichotte Films

Tan Xin Yen, Lim Poh Huat, Doreen Toh, Edward Tan
Through Your Eyes by Nelson Yeo
SGP 2025, Berlinale Shorts
© Momo Film Co
“The short film is an arrow straight to the heart,” says one of the filmmakers whose work features in the current edition of Berlinale Shorts. “For me, it’s a bit like a haiku, and I love these stripped-down forms that can hold the world within them,” another responds when asked what she values most about the format. “The short form feels like a capsule that does not have to be anything else than what it is.” Berlinale Shorts is the festival’s official short film competition. It celebrates the short form and awards one of the two Golden Bears of the Berlinale. This year, the twenty selected films shine in a multiplicity of colours, explore boundaries and set new milestones in the vast field of cinematic possibilities.
The 2025 edition is rich in portraits of varying kinds. In both the fictional and documentary forms as well as in the animations, we encounter people to whom we feel very close in a matter of minutes and who will remain in our memories for a long time to come. The films establish their own individual form and content, yet common threads run through each of the programmes. Berlinale Shorts 1 examines, among other aspects, forms of control – be it in the family or by the state – and the consequences arising from them. Berlinale Shorts 2 tells tales of friendship, longing and loss, and depicts the search to find one’s own place in the world. Berlinale Shorts 3 begins with a tender abstraction of everyday gestures, drifts into the somnambulistic and ends with anger and despair – but also with a dose of humour. Mothers play a key role in Berlinale Shorts 4, as well as the question of how patriarchal structures, racism and wars affect individual lives. In Berlinale Shorts 5, bodies are dismantled in both surreal and metaphorical ways, perspectives are switched, emancipation is achieved and love blossoms.
At the screenings, each film is followed by a short interview with the director and, if present, the cast and crew. At the “Shorts Take Their Time” screenings in silent green, the audience is invited to take part in these discussions.
An exchange of ideas will also take place at the panel discussion Making (Hi)stories Visible, hosted by the Embassy of Canada. Three filmmakers from Berlinale Shorts and Forum Expanded will present their short films and provide insights into their working practices. Together, they will reflect on how they (re)write history and the cultural canon using the means of film.

Die 2025 International Short Film Jury: Jing Haase, Dascha Dauenhauer, Phạm Ngọc Lân
Audiences will have the opportunity to learn more about the members of the International Short Film Jury at Berlinale Talents where short film expert Jing Haase, director Phạm Ngọc Lân and film composer Dascha Dauenhauer will talk about themselves and their work in a playful interview format: Not Short on Answers: The International Jury of Berlinale Shorts.
And to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the Berlinale, six short film gems from the festival archive are waiting to be (re)discovered in the You and I Are Not Alone programme. Including a film starring Patti Smith and work by Justine Triet, Caroline Poggi & Jonathan Vinel, PARKing CHANce aka Park Chan-wook & Park Chan-kyong, these works feature magical creatures and nocturnal encounters, commemorate the deceased and let the screen vibrate.
“The short form knows how to hold secrets” – further declarations of love for short films and interviews with the directors can be found on the Berlinale Shorts blog as soon as each film has celebrated its premiere.
We are very much looking forward to sharing these wonderful films with you, dear audience!