The Berlin International Film Festival – also known as the Berlinale – is regarded as Europe’s largest audience festival and is a key meeting place for the international film industry.
No Good Men Opens the Festival
This year’s Berlinale is opened by the German–Danish film No Good Men, directed by Afghan filmmaker Shahrbanoo Sadat. The film follows Naru, the only female camera operator at Kabul TV, who is convinced that there are no good men in Afghanistan. When she and reporter Qodrat are sent on an assignment shortly before the Taliban’s return to power, an unexpected connection emerges, forcing her to reconsider her beliefs.
Katja Adomeit has co-produced for Adomeit Film, Virginie Surdej is the cinematographer, and Anne Gry Friis Kristensen and Sigrid D.P.A. Jensen are responsible for sound. Camera Film handles Danish theatrical distribution.
Lust World Premiere in Forum
The Bulgarian–Danish film Lust, directed by Ralitza Petrova, has been selected for the Berlinale’s Forum programme, where it will have its world premiere.
The film centres on Lilian, a probation officer who keeps both others and herself at a distance. When she is confronted with her late father’s outstanding debts, she slips back into destructive patterns. Her meeting with Alex, who works with Shibari bondage, becomes a turning point where past traumas begin to loosen their grip – but the question remains whether Lilian can find her way back to herself.
Danish producer Eva Jacobsen has produced the film for Snowglobe, and Reel Pictures is responsible for distribution in Danish cinemas.
Two Danish Children’s Films in the Running for a European Award
The Danish children’s films Mira by Marie Limkilde and Honey by Natascha Arthy have both received the European Children’s Film Association Feature Award, respectively at the Black Nights Film Festival’s children’s programme Just Film in Tallinn, Estonia, and at the Nordic region’s largest children and youth festival, BUFF, in Malmö, Sweden.
As a result, the films are nominated for the ECFA Award for Best European Children’s and Youth Feature Film 2025, presented by ECFA. In total, 12 children’s films, selected at 15 European children’s film festivals throughout the year, compete for the overall award.
See all nominated children’s films on ECFA’s website
Three Danes in the Visitors Programme
Three Danish producers are participating in the Berlinale Visitors Programme, which targets producers without extensive international experience but with ambitions to build networks and gain insight into the international film market.
The Danish participants are:
• Thor Hampus Bank, GotFat Productions
• Sophie Elina Hahn, Adomeit Film
• Hanna Kristine Rosland Andersen, Swulli Film
Five Danes Selected for Berlinale Talents
From 13 to 18 February, Berlinale Talents brings together 200 filmmakers from around the world for an intensive programme of talks, workshops and public debates under the theme “Creating (and) Confusion – Cinema, Chaos and the Power of Discomfort.” The 200 participants were selected from 3,438 applications from 120 countries and represent 15 different professional fields within film.
Five Danish film professionals are among those selected:
• Uri Kranot, Director & Screenwriter
• Nicolas Nørgaard Staffolani, Director & Editor
• Seyhmus Altun, Director & Screenwriter
• Ömer Sami, Director & Screenwriter
• Anne Dammegaard Søllested, Producer
Read more about Berlinale Talents at berlinale-talents.de.
European Film Market
The Danish Film Institute will also be present at the European Film Market, together with the other Nordic countries at a joint stand for The Five Nordics, the umbrella organisation for the five Nordic countries’ international collaboration on promoting Nordic films and talent. Read more about The Five Nordics and this year’s Nordic presence in Berlin here
At the stand, festival consultants will hold meetings to promote Danish films to international festivals. This includes the three Danish films being screened at the European Film Market: HJEM by Marijana Jankovic (Nordisk Film Production), MUMBO JUMBO by Karsten Kiilerich & Stine Marie Buhl (A-film), and PARADIS by Marie Sødahl (Nordisk Film Production).
Overview of Nordic market screenings in Berlin
