12 Must-See Movies at the 2025 Berlin Film Festival

The Berlin Film Festival celebrates its 75th year with new leadership and fresh new cinema from around the world. New artistic director and former BFI London Film Festival leader Tricia Tuttle joins co-directors of programming Jacqueline Lyanga and Michael Stütz to help reposition the Berlinale’s profile among the great global film festivals and lure bigger-name filmmakers in the process.

That’s begun to pay off already this year, with new films from Germany’s own Tom Tykwer (supernatural opening night family drama epic “The Light”), Ira Sachs (“Peter Hujar’s Day”), Michel Gondry (“Maya, Give Me a Title”), Michel Franco (“Dreams”), Radu Jude (“Kontinental ’25”), Richard Linklater (“Blue Moon”), Hong Sangsoo (“What Does That Nature Say to You”), Lucile Had?ihalilovi? (“The Ice Tower”), and of course Bong Joon Ho (“Mickey 17”) sprinkled throughout the sections.

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Meanwhile, Todd Haynes heads up the jury, which also includes filmmaker Nabil Ayouch, costume designer Bina Daigeler, actor Fan Bingbing, director Rodrigo Moreno, Los Angeles Times film critic Amy Nicholson, and director/actor/screenwriter Maria Schrader (Germany). They’ll look at 19 films in the main competition to decide on who wins the Golden Bear and other prizes. Last year’s Golden Bear winner was “Dahomey,” directed by Mati Diop, which was Oscar-shortlisted for the 2025 Best Documentary Feature Oscar and repped Senegal in the International Feature race.

Last year, the Berlinale awarded its equivalent of a Best Actor prize to Sebastian Stan for “A Different Man,” which had played Sundance previously. He’s now an Oscar nominee for “The Apprentice,” but it never hurts to have two movies in your pocket. A similar path could follow for Rose Byrne, who gives a career performance in “If I Had Legs, I’d Kick You,” which also premiered at Sundance.

Below, we round up 12 films worth checking out across the sections. The festival runs February 13-23, with the awards taking place Saturday, February 22.

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