The Berlin International Film Festival has revealed the competition slate for its 76th edition, assembling a lineup that leans into emotional risk, political unease and intimate human drama, while quietly flexing serious star power. From Riley Keough and Callum Turner to Channing Tatum, Amy Adams and Juliette Binoche, this year’s Berlinale positions itself as a meeting point between global auteurs and recognisable faces, without sacrificing its reputation for bold, questioning cinema.
Now in her second year as artistic director, Tricia Tuttle continues to reshape the festival’s identity, blending socially engaged filmmaking with character-driven stories that feel both urgent and personal. The 2026 selection suggests a competition less interested in spectacle and more drawn to fractures: within families, nations, marriages and identities.
Among the most talked-about titles is Karim Aïnouz’s “Rosebush Pruning,” a contemporary satire set inside a wealthy American family retreating into isolation at a Spanish villa. Led by Riley Keough, Callum Turner, Elle Fanning and Pamela Anderson, the film dissects inherited privilege and buried guilt as long-suppressed truths about a mother’s death surface. It marks Aïnouz’s return to Berlinale territory with a sharper, more caustic edge.
Another high-profile entry is “Josephine,” directed by Beth de Araújo and starring Channing Tatum and Gemma Chan. The psychological drama follows parents grappling with the fallout after their young daughter witnesses a violent crime. Rather than leaning into procedural mechanics, the film reportedly focuses on the emotional aftershocks, examining how trauma reshapes family dynamics and erodes a sense of safety.
Opening the competition announcements earlier this season was Kornél Mundruczó’s “At the Sea,” featuring Amy Adams as a former dancer confronting identity and suppressed trauma after leaving rehab. The film continues Mundruczó’s exploration of emotional extremity, following his Oscar-nominated “Pieces of a Woman,” and places Adams in one of the festival’s most performance-driven roles.
European cinema heavyweights are also well represented. Juliette Binoche stars opposite Tom Courtenay in “Queen at Sea,” a quiet but devastating exploration of dementia, care and autonomy within a long marriage. Sandra Hüller leads “Rose,” Markus Schleinzer’s stark 17th-century-set drama about suspicion, faith and belonging in an isolated Protestant village. Both films underscore Berlinale’s long-standing interest in moral ambiguity and restraint over sentimentality.
Several Berlinale regulars return with new work. Angela Schanelec presents “My Wife Cries,” a minimalist portrait built around a single destabilising moment in an otherwise ordinary day. Fernando Eimbcke follows up his Berlin success with “Moscas (Flies),” a black-and-white chamber piece about quiet disruption and unexpected intimacy.
İlker Çatak reunites with the festival through “Yellow Letters,” a politically charged drama examining state pressure and personal compromise in contemporary Turkey.
The lineup also stretches geographically and stylistically. Alain Gomis’ “Dao” moves between France and Guinea-Bissau, weaving themes of migration, family and ritual.
Anthony Chen closes his acclaimed “Growing Up” trilogy with “We Are All Strangers,” while Mahamat-Saleh Haroun returns with “Soumsoum, the Night of the Stars,” a mystical coming-of-age story rooted in destiny and belief.
Animation finds a place in competition with Yoshitoshi Shinomiya’s “A New Dawn,” a debut feature that blends myth, memory and artistry around a fireworks factory on the brink of closure. Meanwhile, genre edges surface in Hanna Bergholm’s “Nightborn,” a domestic nightmare starring Rupert Grint that twists parental anxiety into something far darker.
Documentary form is also present through “YO Love Is a Rebellious Bird,” a deeply personal project chronicling a decade-long bond between filmmaker Anna Fitch and her late friend Yo, reconstructed through memory, scale models and performance.
Beyond competition, Berlinale’s Perspectives section continues its mission to spotlight debut filmmakers. Highlights include Ashley Walters’ “Animol,” set inside a young offender institution and featuring Stephen Graham, and “A Prayer for the Dying,” a Western-inflected survival drama starring Johnny Flynn and John C. Reilly. Across the section, emerging voices tackle adolescence, political violence, isolation and moral awakening with striking confidence.
The festival will open with Shahrbanoo Sadat’s “No Good Men,” a romantic comedy set in a Kabul newsroom during Afghanistan’s democratic period, and Wim Wenders will preside over the international jury, succeeding Todd Haynes.
While last year’s Berlinale leaned heavily on headline-grabbing premieres, the 2026 edition disperses its star presence more evenly across sections, from Competition to Panorama and Special Gala. That balance appears deliberate, reinforcing Berlin’s identity as a festival where celebrity presence serves the films rather than the other way around.
The 76th Berlin International Film Festival runs from February 12 to 22, 2026, promising a program defined less by noise and more by resonance, where quiet devastation, political tension and human fragility take center stage.
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