2025 | Meet the Sections | Competition
The Breadth of Cinema

The films in the 2025 Competition

Andranic Manet
Ari by Léonor Serraille
FRA, BEL 2025, Competition
© Geko Films - Blue Monday Productions - ARTE France - PICTANOVO - Wrong Men - 2025

Margaret Qualley, Ethan Hawke
Blue Moon by Richard Linklater
USA, IRL 2025, Competition
© Sabrina Lantos / Sony Pictures Classics

William Lebghil, Michel Blanc, Ethan Chimenti, Dominique Reymond, Aurélien Gabrielli
La cache | The Safe House by Lionel Baier
CHE, LUX, FRA 2025, Competition
© Véronique Kolber

Jessica Chastain
Dreams by Michel Franco
MEX 2025, Competition
© Teorema

Ella Øverbye, Selome Emnetu
Drømmer | Dreams (Sex Love) by Dag Johan Haugerud
NOR 2024, Competition
© Motlys

Ha Seongguk, Kwon Haehyo
Geu jayeoni nege mworago hani | What Does that Nature Say to You by Hong Sangsoo
KOR 2025, Competition
© Jeonwonsa Film Co.

Emma Mackey, Vicky Krieps
Hot Milk by Rebecca Lenkiewicz
GBR 2025, Competition
© Nikos Nikolopoulos / MUBI

Rose Byrne
If I Had Legs I’d Kick You by Mary Bronstein
USA 2024, Competition
© Logan White / © A24

Eszter Tompa
Kontinental ’25 by Radu Jude
ROU 2025, Competition
© Raluca Munteanu

Anika Bootz
El mensaje | The Message | Die Nachricht by Iván Fund
ARG, ESP, URY 2025, Competition
© Iván Fund, Laura Mara Tablón, Gustavo Schiaffino / Rita Cine, Insomnia Films

Marie Leuenberger
Mother’s Baby by Johanna Moder
AUT, CHE, DEU 2025, Competition
© FreibeuterFilm

Reflet dans un diamant mort | Reflection in a Dead Diamond by Hélène Cattet, Bruno Forzani
BEL, LUX, ITA, FRA 2025, Competition
© Cattet-Forzani

Wang Shang, Zhang Chuwen
Sheng xi zhi di | Living the Land by Huo Meng
CHN 2025, Competition
© Floating Light (Foshan) Film and Culture

Strichka chasu | Timestamp by Kateryna Gornostai
UKR, LUX, NLD, FRA 2025, Competition
© Oleksandr Roshchyn

Marion Cotillard
La Tour de Glace | The Ice Tower by Lucile Hadžihalilović
FRA, DEU 2025, Competition
© 3B-Davis-Sutor Kolonko-Arte

Denise Weinberg
O último azul | The Blue Trail by Gabriel Mascaro
BRA, MEX, CHL, NLD 2025, Competition
© Guillermo Garza / Desvia

Laeni Geiseler
Was Marielle weiß | What Marielle Knows by Frédéric Hambalek
DEU 2025, Competition
© Alexander Griesser

Liu Haocun, Wen Qi
Xiang fei de nv hai | Girls on Wire by Vivian Qu
CHN 2025, Competition
© L'Avventura Films

Georges Khabbaz, Hanna Schygulla
Yunan by Ameer Fakher Eldin
DEU, CAN, ITA, PSE, QAT, JOR, SAU 2025, Competition
© 2025 Red Balloon Film, Productions Microclimat, Intramovies
The films in this year’s Competition showcase the breadth of cinema and offer fascinating glimpses into different lives, ways of seeing the world and crafting cinema. There are intimate dramas that ask audiences to understand human fragilities and strengths; gentle comedies that are introspective, soul-searching and humanist, and also the sharpest, blackest satires; films that pay homage to cinematic greats and films that use the art form’s fullest canvas. Each of these singular works shows filmmakers from around the world at the top of their craft.
Argentina’s Iván Fund uses black and white cinematography and intimately framed shots to draw audiences into the delicate drama of El mensaje (The Message). The scope and scale of Sheng xi zhi di (Living the Land) from China’s Huo Meng is visually and narratively epic.
Beautiful character portraits are found in France’s Ari from Léonor Serraille, Richard Linklater’s US-set Blue Moon, Hong Sangsoo’s South Korean Geu jayeoni nege mworago hani (What Does that Nature Say to You) and in Ameer Fakher Eldin’s Yunan, from Germany.
Movie-making, visual magic and fantasy imbue the French film La Tour de Glace (The Ice Tower) from director Lucile Hadžihalilović, as well as Hélène Cattet and Bruno Forzani’s Belgian Reflect dans un diamant mort (Reflection in a Dead Diamond), with homage and mystery. Vivian Qu’s Chinese film Xiang fei de nv hai (Girls on Wire) is also partially set in the world of making movies with the added elements of crime, sisterhood and even a nod to the Wuxia tradition.
The unexpected and at times surreal events of Brazil’s O último azul (The Blue Trail) from Gabriel Mascaro, and American Mary Bronstein’s If I had Legs I’d Kick You are in no way similar but are equally brilliant and engaging. The boundaries of the unnatural are also traversed in unexpected ways in Austria’s Mother’s Baby from Johanna Moder and Was Marielle weiß (What Marielle Knows) from Germany’s Frédéric Hambalek.
What it means to love is explored in Michel Franco’s Dreams from Mexico, Dag Johan Haugerud’s Drømmer (Dreams [Sex, Love]) from Norway and in Rebecca Lenkiewicz’s Hot Milk from the United Kingdom. Viewed from another angle, the Swiss film La cache (The Safe House) from Lionel Baier, Radu Jude’s Romanian Kontinental ‘25 and Kateryna Gornostai’s Ukrainian documentary Strichka chasu (Timestamp), translate this question into an exploration of the complexity of the affections that one can hold for one’s home, one’s city and one’s country, respectively.
From these deserving ranks, we look forward to discovering what Todd Haynes and his International Jury picks as the winners of Berlinale Golden and Silver Bears.