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Berlinale2026: Our critical diary

This year, the Berlinale will take place from February 12 to 22, 2026.

We will be providing a critical review of the event.

In order to follow our impressions of the films live during this new edition, in addition to our Twitter and Facebook social media accounts (and our YouTube channel, where we post our interviews and recordings of press conferences), we will be offering critical reviews.

The rating scale used is as follows:

–         very bad film
*         average film
**       good film
***     very good film
****   excellent film
***** masterpiece

At the Sea by Kornél Mundruczó

A film by Kornél Mundruczó
With: Amy Adams, Murray Bartlett, Chloe East, Brett Goldstein, Dan Levy, Jenny Slate, Rainn Wilson, Henry Eikenberry, Naheem Garcia
Our rate: ★★
After a long rehabilitation, Laura returns to her family at their beach…
Our Review

Dao by Alain Gomis

A film by Alain Gomis
With: Katy Correa, D’Johé Kouadio, Samir Guesmi, Mike Etienne, Nicolas Gomis, Fara Baco Gomis, Poundo Gomis
Our rate: ★★
A family weaves the threads of a heritage that travels between worlds. Joy…
Our Review

Dust by Anke Blondé

A film by Anke Blondé
With: Jan Hammenecker, Arieh Worthalter, Éric Godon, Dima Savyan, Thibaud Dooms, Janne Desmet, Verona Verbakel, Armin Mola, Fania Sorel, Koen Verledens
Our rate: ★★
When Belgian tech visionaries Luc and Geert learn that their fraud will hit…
Our Review

Flies by Fernando Eimbcke

A film by Fernando Eimbcke
With: Teresa Sánchez, Bastián Escobar, Hugo Ramírez, Enrique Arreola
Our rate: ★★★
Olga lives a strictly regulated life without attachments in a vast apartment …
Our Review

Home Stories by Eva Trobisch

A film by Eva Trobisch
With: Frida Hornemann, Eva Löbau, Rahel Ohm, Peter René Lüdicke, Max Riemelt, Gina Henkel, Florian Lukas, Ida Fischer, Florian Geißelmann, Thomas Schubert
Our rate: ★
As a contestant in a singing casting show, Lea is asked by the TV team who…
Our Review

Josephine by Beth de Araújo

A film by Beth de Araújo
With: Mason Reeves, Channing Tatum, Gemma Chan, Philip Ettinger, Syra McCarthy, Eleanore Pienta, Dana Millican, Michael Angelo Covino, Stefanie Estes, Michael X. Sommers
Our rate: ★★
After eight-year-old Josephine accidentally witnesses a crime in Golden Gate …
Our Review

My Wife Cries by Angela Schanelec

A film by Angela Schanelec
With: Vladimir Vulević, Agathe Bonitzer, Birte Schnöink, Pauline Rebmann, Ben Carter, Clara Gostynski, Thorbjörn Björnsson, Laure-Lucille Simon, Theodore Vrachas, Ninel Skrzypczyk
Our rate: ★★★
A normal working day on a construction site. Thomas, a 40-year-old crane…
Our Review

Nightborn by Hanna Bergholm

A film by Hanna Bergholm
With: Rupert Grint, Seidi Haarla, Pamela Tola, Pirkko Saisio, Rebecca Lacey, John Thomson
Our rate: –
With dreams of starting a perfect family, Saga and her British husband Jon…
Our Review

Nina Roza by Geneviève Dulude-De Celles

A film by Geneviève Dulude-De Celles
With: Galin Stoev, Ekatarina Stanina, Sofia Stanina, Chiara Caselli, Christian Bégin, Michelle Tzontchev, Mart Lachev, Nikolay Mutafchiev, Svetlana Yancheva, Maria-Radena Bozhkova
Our rate: ★★
A viral video of an 8-year-old Bulgarian artist catches the eye of a major…
Our Review

Queen at Sea by Lance Hammer

A film by Lance Hammer
With: Juliette Binoche, Tom Courtenay, Steven Cree, Florence Hunt, Anna Calder-Marshall, Michelle Jeram, Elizabeth Rushbrook, Noah Hunt Basden
Our rate: ★★
As advanced dementia erodes an older woman’s ability to communicate her inner…
Our Review

Rose by Markus Schleinzer

A film by Markus Schleinzer
With: Sandra Hüller, Caro Braun, Marisa Growaldt, Godehard Giese, Robert Gwisdek, Maria Dragus, Annalisa Hohl, Augustino Renken, Maurice Leonard, Emma Bahlmann
Our rate: ★
In the turmoil of the Thirty-Years’ War, a mysterious soldier appears in a…
Our Review

Rosebush Pruning by Karim Aïnouz

A film by Karim Aïnouz
With: Callum Turner, Riley Keough, Jamie Bell, Lukas Gage, Elena Anaya, Tracy Letts, Elle Fanning, Pamela Anderson, Lolo Herrero, Teo Jansen
Our rate: ★★★
In a Spanish villa, American siblings Jack, Ed, Anna and Robert wallow in…
Our Review

Salvation by Emin Alper

A film by Emin Alper
With: Caner Cindoruk, Berkay Ateş, Feyyaz Duman, Naz Göktan, Özlem Taş, Eren Demirbaş, Mehmet Selim Akgul, Hichi Demi
Our rate: ★★
In a remote village, an exiled clan returns, reviving a decades-old land…
Our Review

Wolfram by Warwick Thornton

A film by Warwick Thornton
With: Deborah Mailman, Eloise Hart, Hazel May Jackson, Pedrea Jackson, Thomas M. Wright, Erroll Shand, Joe Bird, Matt Nable, John Howard, Ferdinand Hoang
Our rate: ★★
1930s Australia, the colonial frontier. Two swaggering outlaws roll into a…
Our Review

Yellow Letters by İlker Çatak

A film by İlker Çatak
With: Özgü Namal, Tansu Biçer, Leyla Smyrna Cabas, İpek Bilgin, Şiir Eloğlu, Eray Egilmez, Yusuf Akgün, Kerem Can, Aziz Çapkurt, Marco Kühn
Our rate: ★★
The marriage of Derya and Aziz is under pressure after losing their jobs…
Our Review

A Prayer for the Dying by Dara Van Dusen

A film by Dara Van Dusen
With: Johnny Flynn, John C. Reilly, Kristine Kujath Thorp, Gustav Lindh, Hilton Pelser, Andrew Whipp, Daniel Weyman, David Ganly, Peter Adame, Radka Caldová
Our rate: ★
In 1870 Friendship, Wisconsin, a small town of Scandinavian settlers still…
Our Review

Heysel 85 by Teodora Ana Mihai

A film by Teodora Ana Mihai
With: Matteo Simoni, Violet Braeckman, Josse De Pauw, Ben Segers, Fabrizio Rongione, Bobby Schofield, Jeroen Van der Ven, Dominique Dauwe, Jonathan Sawdon, Emanuela Ponzano
Our rate: ★
When 39 people are killed prior to the European Cup at the Brussels Heysel…
Our Review

Only Rebels Win by Danielle Arbid

A film by Danielle Arbid
With: Hiam Abbass, Mahamat Amine Benrachid, Shaden Fakih, Charbel Kamel, Alexandre Paulikevitch, Sami Dekhissi, Rubis Ramadan
Our rate: ★★
Suzanne and Osmane meet in crisis-ridden Beirut. Osmane is a young Sudanese…
Our Review

The Testament of Ann Lee by Mona Fastvold

A film by Mona Fastvold
With: Amanda Seyfried, Lewis Pullman, Thomasin McKenzie, Matthew Beard, Christopher Abbott, David Cale, Stacy Martin, Scott Handy, Jeremy Wheeler, Tim Blake Nelson
Our rate: ★★★
An epic fable about religious leader Ann Lee, the founding leader of the…
Our Review

Truly Naked by Muriel d’Ansembourg

A film by Muriel d’Ansembourg
With: Caolán O’Gorman, Andrew Howard, Safiya Benaddi, Alessa Savage, Lyndsey Marshal, Juliet Aubrey, Cameron King, Hana Hrzic, Kate Kennedy, Helena Braithwaite
Our rate: ★★
An introverted teen Alec, who has only ever experienced sex through the lens …
Our Review

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