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Cinema took over a snowy German capital on Thursday evening as the 2025 Berlin Film Festival officially kicked off with a breezy opening ceremony at the Berlinale Palast Theater.

The ceremony was much shorter than previous editions, with the bulk of the evening serving as the presentation of this year’s Honorary Bear for career achievement, which was handed to veteran actor Tilda Swinton. German filmmaker Edward Berger presented Swinton the award and she gave an impassioned, political speech to the audience inside the Palast.

“The inhumane is being perpetrated on our watch,” Swinton began her speech. “I’m here to name it without hesitation or doubt in my mind, and to lend my unwavering solidarity to all those who recognize the unacceptable complacency of our greed-addicted governments who make nice with planet wreckers and war criminals, wherever they come from.”

Swinton did not name politicians or specific conflicts but appeared to criticize U.

The Berlin International Film Festival announced its most ambitious program yet for its 75th edition, featuring new films from acclaimed directors Richard Linklater and Michel Franco among 20 world premieres.

Linklater’s “Blue Moon,” starring Ethan Hawke, and Franco’s “Dreams,” featuring Jessica Chastain, lead the competition lineup that spans 26 countries. The announcement marks a fresh start under new artistic director Tricia Tuttle, who takes over from Carlo Chatrian.

“Blue Moon,” already picked up by Sony Pictures Classics, tells the story of famous songwriter Lorenz Hart’s final days. The film features a strong cast including Margaret Qualley, Bobby Cannavale, and Andrew Scott alongside Hawke.

In “Dreams,” Franco teams up again with Chastain after their 2023 film “Memory.” The story follows a Mexican ballet dancer (Isaac Hernández) who forms a relationship with a wealthy patron played by Chastain.

“We want to get people talking about the vibrancy of film as an art form,...

Richard Linklater’s “Blue Moon,” starring Ethan Hawke and Margaret Qualley, and Michel Franco’s “Dreams” with Jessica Chastain are slated to compete at the 75th edition of the Berlin Film Festival. This year’s jury will be presided over by “May December” filmmaker Todd Haynes.

“Blue Moon,” which also stars Bobby Cannavale and Andrew Scott, is a long-gestating project which charts the final days of Lorenz Hart, half of the songwriting team Rodgers & Hart. The film has already been acquired by Sony Pictures Classics.

“Dreams” reunites Franco with Chastain following 2023’s “Memory.” The film stars Isaac Hernández as Fernando, a young ballet dancer from Mexico, who dreams of being internationally recognized and living in the U.S. Chastain plays his lover, a socialite and philanthropist.

Jessica Chastain in Michel Franco’s “Dreams”

Other notable titles on the competition roster include “Hot Milk,” the feature debut of acclaimed screenwriter Rebecca Lenkiewicz...

The Berlin Film Festival on Tuesday unveiled the full list of titles set for its official competition alongside perspective and specials sidebars.

A total of 19 films have been selected for the international competition. It’s a buzzy selection with multiple titles that have been anticipated and boast high-profile names. Highlights include Richard Linklater’s latest feature Blue Moon, starring Ethan Hawke, Margaret Qualley, Bobby Cannavale and Andrew Scott. Mexican filmmaker Michel Franco launches his latest title Dreams in competition. The film stars Jessica Chastain, Isaac Hernández and Rupert Friend. Franco last worked with Chastain on the Venice competition title Memory.

Elsewhere, Romanian filmmaker Radu Jude lands in competition with Kontinental ’25. Rebecca Lenkiewicz’s Hot Milk starring Emma Mackey, Fiona Shaw and Vicky Krieps also secures a spot alongside Hong Sangsoo’s latest What Does that Nature Say to You, and Mumblecore veteran Mary Bronstein returns as a director with If I Had Legs I’d Kick You...

The competition line-up for the 2025 Berlin International Film Festival is being announced at a press conference at 11am Cet (10am GMT).

Scroll down for line-up

New festival director Tricia Tuttle is revealing the titles for the Competition and new Perspectives strand alongside co-directors of film programming Jacqueline Lyanga and Michael Stütz.

The announcement is being live-streamed on the festival’s social channels. Watch it live above.

Screen will update this page with the titles as they are announced. Refresh the page for latest updates.

As previously announced, the festival will open with Tom Tykwer’s Special Gala out of competition selection The Light.

Mubi has announced its lineup of streaming offerings for next month and amongst the highlights are a Ricky D’Ambrose double bill, including his new film The Cathedral, as well as a trio of films by Maurice Pialat, Gaspar Noé’s Vortex, David Osit’s Mayor, Paul Thomas Anderson’s The Master, an expansion of their Tilda Swinton series, and more.

Also including films by Tsai Ming-liang, Sky Hopinka, Nacho Vigalondo, Anton Corbijn, and more check out the lineup below and get 30 days free here.

September 1 – Classical Period, directed by Ted Fendt | Ted Fendt Focus

September 2 – 2 Days in New York, directed by Julie Delpy

September 3 – Timecrimes, directed by Nacho Vigalondo

September 4 – Małni – Towards the Ocean, Towards the Shore, directed by Sky Hopinka

September 6 – Mayor, directed by David Osit

September 7 – Friendship’s Death, directed by Peter Wollen | The One and Only: Tilda Swinton

September 8 – Hideous, directed by Yann Gonzalez | Brief Encounters

September 9 – The Cathedral,...

Thai director Apichatpong Weerasethakul has crafted a trance-like tale of a woman haunted by strange sounds in Colombia

On the eve of what would have been David Bowie’s 75th birthday, Tilda Swinton told me that she had always considered him to be her spiritual “cousin”. Nowhere is this connection clearer than in Floria Sigismondi’s 2013 video for The Stars (Are Out Tonight), in which Bowie and Swinton play a suburban couple haunted by their alien-like alter egos – the ghosts of fame. Significant, too, that one of Swinton’s early starring roles saw her playing an extraterrestrial visitor in Friendship’s Death (1987), a film that could easily have been titled The Woman Who Fell to Earth.

Like Bowie, Swinton has always possessed an uncanny ability to meld the natural and the supernatural – the down-to-earth and the out-of-this-world. That’s a quality put to perfect use in the latest film from the Thai maestro Apichatpong Weerasethakul.

Get in touch to send in cinephile news and discoveries. For daily updates follow us @NotebookMUBI.NEWSChameleon StreetThe New York Film Festival has announced an excellent selection for its Revivals section. The roster includes restorations of Mira Nair's Mississippi Masala, John Carpenter's Assault on Precinct 13, Sarah Maldoror's Sambizanga, Wendell B. Harris Jr.'s Chameleon Street, and Michael Powell's Bluebeard's Castle. The 2021 Locarno Film Festival has come to an end, with Indonesian filmmaker Edwin's Vengeance Is Mine, All Others Pay Cash winning the Golden Leopard. For a full list of this year's award winners, read here. Recommended VIEWINGAhead of premiere, a trailer for the latest Spike Lee joint: the four-part documentary series NYC Epicenters: 9/11 → 2021 ½. The series, which captures twenty years of New York City history from the perspective of its citizens, will premiere on HBO Max August 22. Cinema Guild has released a trailer for Matías Piñeiro's Isabella.

Does life imitate art? Honor Swinton Byrne with her mother Tilda Swinton as mother and daughter in Joanna Hogg’s The Souvenir: Part II part of Cannes Directors’ Fortnight Photo: Courtesy of Cannes Directors' Fortnight The unmistakeable Tilda Swinton, of the porcelain complexion, willowy frame and punkish hair-dos, has been akin to Cannes Film Festival royalty for years.

This year of all years is no exception with Swinton, 60, appearing in a record five high-profile titles -Joanna Hogg’s The Souvenir: Part II as part of the Directors’ Fortnight, as well as Competition contenders Apichatpong Weerasethakul’s Memoria and Wes Anderson’s The French Dispatch. She makes additional appearances in Cannes Classics presentations of Peter Wollen’s 1987 Friendship’s Death as an extra-terrestrial named Friendship and in The Storms Of Jeremy Thomas, Mark Cousins’s road trip from London to Cannes to interview the Oscar-wining film-maker.

Swinton also has another rather important...

Tilda Swinton has said she’s “very grateful” for a renewed discourse around her casting as The Ancient One in “Doctor Strange” — a hot topic for representation in Hollywood that re-emerged last month when Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige expressed regret at casting her in a role that was portrayed by an elderly Tibetan man in the graphic novels, but written for a woman in the movie.

In May, Feige told Men’s Health magazine that the controversy over the 2016 film was a “wake-up call to say, ‘Well, wait a minute, is there any other way to figure it out? Is there any other way to both not fall into the cliché and cast an Asian actor?’ And the answer to that, of course, is yes.”

In a wide-ranging interview with Variety, Swinton said she wasn’t previously aware of Feige’s comments, but that she is “very, very grateful that he said that.

Cannes Classics

Mark Cousins‘ documentary “The Storms Of Jeremy Thomas,” following the legendary “The Last Emperor” and “Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence” producer’s annual drive to Cannes, will be the pre-opener at the Cannes Classics selection this year.

Restored titles this year include “Friendship’s Death” by Peter Wollen, starring Tilda Swinton; “F For Fake” by Orson Welles; “Mulholland Drive” by David Lynch (2001 U.S.); “I Know Where I’m Going!” by Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger; and “The Double Life Of Véronique by Krzysztof Kieślowski”.

The section will also celebrate the work of actor/director Bill Duke with a screening of “The Killing Floor” (1985); Japanese actor and filmmaker Kinuyo Tanaka’s “Tsuki Wa Noborinu”; Spanish actor and filmmaker Ana Marisca’s “El Camino” from 1964; French maven Marcel Camus’ “Orfeu Negro” and Italian master Roberto Rossellini’s “Francesco, Giullare Di Dio”.

Oscar Micheaux, the first African-American director in the history of U.

The Cannes Film Festival has unveiled the lineup for its 2021 Cannes Classics section. Made up of a selection of restored prints, the roster also includes new documentaries that explore the history of cinema. Among the offerings is Mark Cousins’ pre-opening doc, The Storms Of Jeremy Thomas, which covers a yearly drive with the British producer from London to Cannes. Cousins and Thomas will be in town for the presentation. (Scroll down for the full Cannes Classics list.)

Restored titles include David Lynch’s 2001 Mulholland Drive; 1945’s I Know Where I’m Going! by Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger; Krzysztof Kieślowski’s 1991 drama The Double Life Of Véronique; Orson Welles’ F For Fake from 1973; and Friendship’s Death by Peter Wollen which features Tilda Swinton’s first role.

Among the special events are a tribute to director and actor Bill Duke who will present his 1985 The Killing Floor which premiered at Critics...

Tilda Swinton to attend restored screening of Peter Wollen’s 1987 UK film Friendship’s Death.

Two documentaries from Mark Cousins and restored films from Kinuyo Tanaka, Oscar Micheaux, and Orson Welles will screen in Cannes Classics, announced on Wednesday (June 23).

Cousins’ The Story Of Film: A New Generation and The Storms Of Jeremy Thomas, a profile of the celebrated British producer, are among a documentary line-up that incudes Buñuel, Un Cineasta Surrealista from Javier Espada, and All About Yves Montand by Yves Jeuland.

The roster of restored narrative films includes David Lynch’s 2001 Mulholland Drive, Japanese actor-filmmaker Kinuyo Tanaka’s (pictured) The Moon Has Risen,...

Back in 1987, the actor had to alternate between keeping her mouth dry and swigging lager. All for art, of course

Tilda Swinton, whose earliest London memory was of being denied an ice cream by her nanny in Kensington Gardens, was living out of a suitcase in Chelsea when I met her in late 1987.

"I'm a sponger, I'm afraid," she claimed over coffee and biscuits. She had three films out and her "one-man play" at Edinburgh had been a hit. She had long lustrous red hair and almost neon green eyes. The muse of Derek Jarman, that year she'd performed the final scene for his The Last of England, which "after a light lunch in Docklands", involved dancing beside a bonfire in a wedding dress. She'd then cut it apart with shears, torn off its rosebud and tried to eat it.

Swinton had also been in Jarman's section of the 10-director operatic movie Aria.