35 film projects from 27 countries have been selected for the 22nd Berlinale Co-Production Market (February 15-19). Their producers will meet potential co-producers and financiers at the event, which this year will take place primarily at the Octogon, a new event location at Leipziger Platz, in order to realise the feature films as international co-productions in the coming years. Women are directing 19 of the 35 projects. There were 351 submissions for the official project selection, which represents a significant increase of over ten percent compared to the previous year.
As part of the official selection, 19 already financed feature film projects with budgets between 800,000 and five million euros will be presented by well-known international production companies. The directors of the selected projects, who have already received multiple awards, include Ayşe Polat, Tatiana Huezo, Carolina Markowicz, Wissam Charaf, Zarrar Kahn, Kirsten Tan, Radu Muntean, Kaan Müjdeci, Ainhoa Rodríguez, Andrea Staka, Miia Tervo and Maksym Nakonechnyi.
The Berlinale Directors section will be adding four new projects in the early stages of financing, whose directors are also no strangers here: Narges Kalhor's film Shahid was honoured in the Berlinale Forum just last year. Valeria Hofmann from Chile also presented Oasis as part of the MAFI Collective in Forum in 2024. Stephan Komandarev from Bulgaria, most recently winner of the Crystal Globe in Karlovy Vary 2023, made his first Berlinale appearance with his first film, Pansion za kucheta in 2001.
Two other feature film projects, Meat, a historical horror debut by Rioghnach Ni Ghrioghair from Ireland, and the drama Four Seasons in Java by director Kamila Andini from Indonesia, whose films have already won the Generation Kplus Grand Prix and a Silver Bear, are looking for partners at both the CineMart Rotterdam and the Berlinale Co-Production Market as part of the Rotterdam-Berlinale Express.
An exciting project from Cameroon, presented in co-operation with the Berlinale World Cinema Fund, shows a self-confident woman who makes a living for her family in an unconventional way in the face of traditional rural structures and the threat of terrorists: I'm Coming For You, by Cyrielle Raingou.
“The right of every person to self-determination and their own identity is a central theme that many filmmakers deal with in very different ways. Dysfunctional families and families of choice, sometimes viewed seriously but in some projects also with a lot of humour, have a strong presence. Grandmother burnout, conspiracy theories, the difficulties of virtual relationships, degenerating capitalism, cannibalism and, of course, above all, people's dreams and the desire to belong – these are some of the themes that we will see in the cinema in the coming years when these outstanding projects are realised,” says Martina Bleis, head of the Berlinale Co-Production Market.
In the Talent Project Market, organised in cooperation with Berlinale Talents, ten producers who are still at the beginning of their international careers are looking for partners for their latest projects. Here, the participants were selected from a further 203 submissions. The selection includes the new animation project by Filipino director Carl Joseph E. Papa, whose debut film was submitted for the Academy Award for Best International Feature Film. Also included are the new projects by Indian director Rohena Gera, whose film Sir was screened in the Semaine de la Critique in Cannes in 2018, and Argentinian director Ingrid Pokropek, whose debut film The Major Tones screened in Generation at the Berlinale in 2024.
New award: Gen Z Audience Award
In addition to co-production and fi