Incrementally, the 71st Berlin International Film Festival continues to announce selected titles within its programs. Recently, the Berlin fest announced the selections belonging to the categories: Berlinale Series, Shorts, Forum/Forum Extended, Generation and Retrospective. The German held festival states on its official website that its programs will be publicized in increments, with programs entitled Encounters, Panorama and Perspektive Deutsches Kino (Perspectives on German Cinema) to be unveiled on February 10th. On the 11th, the festival selections will be announced in their entirety during a video presentation held by festival management with an introduction by executive director Mariette Rissenbeek. Artistic director Carlo Chatrian will then present the entries for the Competition and the Berlinale Special.

The programs within the festival are as follows: Competition (centerpiece films), Berlinale Special (panel/discussions), Series, Encounters (new cinematic visions), Berlinale Shorts, Panorama (contemporary film that’s explicitly queer, feminist, and political (Berlin)), Forum and Forum Expanded (“socio-artistic discourse” (Berlin)), Generation (“contemporary films exploring the lives and worlds of children and teenagers”), Perspectives on German Cinema, and Retrospective (Berlinale Classics and Homage). 

Berlin International 2020 was one of the last and only film festivals to be held in-person before COVID-19 lockdown took effect in mid-March, but this year things will look a little different. The festival will be held in two stages. The first will be an entirely virtual event (mainly for international viewing) held March 1-5, 2021. The second stage will be an in-person festival in Berlin between June 9-20th. This stage will include red-carpet and gala events. The 2021 competition will be judged by a six-person jury made up of past recipients of Berlinale’s Golden Bear for best film.

So far, the lineup looks to be a well-rounded and diverse selection of international films. Like many other world-famous film festivals, including Sundance, Berlin is looking to expand on representation and diversity. The festival is known to include both well and lesser known filmmakers from all over the world in pursuit of showcasing truly innovative content from a multitude of backgrounds and cultures.

Berlin Film Festival Programs and Entries (announced thus far):

Berlin Series

Entre hombres (Amongst Men) by Pablo Fendrik ARG 2020

Ich und die Anderen (Me and the Others) by David Schalko AUT, DEU 2021

It’s a Sin by Peter Hoar GBR 2020

Os últimos dias de Gilda (The Last Days of Gilda) by Gustavo Pizzi BRA 2020

Philly D.A. by Ted Passon, Yoni Brook USA 2020

Snöänglar (Snow Angels) by Anna Zackrisson SWE, DNK 2021

Berlin Shorts

Al motociclista no le cabe la felicidad en el traje (Motorcyclist’s Happiness Won’t Fit Into His Suit) by Gabriel Herrera MEX 2021

Les Attendants (The Men Who Wait) by Truong Minh Quý FRA, IDN, SGP 2020

Blastogenese X (Blastogenesis X) by Conrad Veit, Charlotte Maria Kätzl DEU 2020

Deine Strasse (Your Street) by Güzin Kar CHE 2020

Easter Eggs by Nicholas Keppens BEL, FRA, NLD 2020

Das Glitzern im Barbieblut (Glittering Barbieblood) by Ulu Braun DEU 2021

International Dawn Chorus Day by John Greyson CAN 2021

A Love Song in Spanish by Ana Elena Tejera FRA, PAN 2020

Luz de Presença (A Present Light) by Diogo Costa Amarante PRT 2021

More Happiness by Livia Huang USA 2021

Nanu Tudor (My Uncle Tudor) by Olga Lucovnicova BEL, PRT, HUN 2020

One Hundred Steps by Bárbara Wagner, Benjamin de Burca DEU, FRA 2021

One Thousand and One Attempts to Be an Ocean by Wang Yuyan FRA 2020

Rehearsal by Michael Omonua NGA 2021

Si t’as un coeur (Young Hearts) by Émilie Vandenameele FRA 2021

Strange Object by Miranda Pennell GBR 2020

Vadim na progulke (Vadim on a Walk) by Sasha Svirsky RUS 2021

Ventana (Window) by Edgar Jorge Baralt USA 2021

Xia Wu Guo Qu Le Yi Ban (Day Is Done) by Zhang Dalei CHN 2021

Zonder Meer by Meltse Van Coillie BEL 2020

Generation

Beans by Tracey Deer CAN 2020

Cryptozoo by Dash Shaw USA 2021

Ensilumi (Any Day Now) by Erster Schnee by Hamy Ramezan FIN 2020

Una escuela en Cerro Hueso (A School in Cerro Hueso) by Betania Cappato ARG 2021

Fighter by Jéro Yun KOR 2020

From the Wild Sea by Robin Petré DNK 2021

Han Nan Xia Ri (Summer Blur) by Han Shuai CHN 2020

Jong chak yeok (Short Vacation) by Kwon Min-pyo, Seo Hansol KOR 2020

Last Days at Sea by Venice Atienza PHL, TWN 2021

La Mif (The Fam) by Fred Baillif CHE 2021

Mission Ulja Funk by Barbara Kronenberg DEU, LUX, POL 2021

Nelly Rapp – Monsteragentin (Nelly Rapp – Monster Agent) by Amanda Adolfsson SWE 2020

Ninjababy by Yngvild Sve Flikke NOR 2021

Stop-Zemlia by Kateryna Gornostai UKR 2021

Tabija (The White Fortress) by Igor Drljača CAN, BIH 2021

Forum

À pas aveugles (From Where They Stood) by Christophe Cognet FRA, DEU 2021

Anmaßung (Anamnesis) by Chris Wright, Stefan Kolbe DEU 2021

Doch rybaka Tzarevna (Scaling) by Uldus Bakhtiozina RUS 2020

Esquí (Ski) by Manque La Banca ARG, BRA 2021

The First 54 Years – An Abbreviated Manual for Military Occupation by Avi Mograbi FRA, FIN, ISR, DEU 2021

Garderie nocturne (Night Nursery) by Moumouni Sanou BFA, FRA, DEU 2021

The Inheritance by Ephraim Asili USA 2020

Jai jumlong (Come Here) by Anocha Suwichakornpong THA 2021

Juste un mouvement (Just A Movement) by Vincent Meessen BEL, FRA 2021

Mbah Jhiwo Mbah Jhiwo (Ancient Soul) by Alvaro Gurrea ESP 2021

No táxi do Jack (Jack’s Ride) by Susana Nobre PRT 2021

Qué será del verano (What Will Summer Bring) by Ignacio Ceroi ARG 2021

A River Runs, Turns, Erases, Replaces by Shengze Zhu USA 2021

Sichuan hao nuren (The Good Woman of Sichuan) by Sabrina Zhao CAN 2021

Ste. Anne by Rhayne Vermette CAN 2021

Taming the Garden by Salomé Jashi CHE, DEU, GEO 2021

La veduta luminosa (The Luminous View) by Fabrizio Ferraro ITA, ESP 2021

Forum Expanded

13 Ways of Looking at a Blackbird by Ana Vaz PRT 2020

After Life followed by Red Impasto Jar by Jonna Kina FIN 2021

Ahorita (Frames) by Angelika Levi DEU 2021

All of Your Stars are But Dust on my Shoes by Haig Aivazian LBN 2021

Autotrofia by Anton Vidokle ITA 2020

Bicentenario by Pablo Alvarez Mesa CAN, COL 2020

Black Bach Artsakh by Ayreen Anastas, Rene Gabri Republic of Artsakh 2021

Black Beauty: For a Shamanic Cinema by Grace Ndiritu  GBR, ESP, BEL 2021

Böse zu sein ist auch ein Beweis von Gefühl (Fury is a Feeling Too) by Cynthia Beatt DEU 1983

The Coast by Sohrab Hura IND 2020

Jole dobe na (Those Who Do Not Drown) by Naeem Mohaiemen IND, JPN, SWE 2020

Kapita by Petna Ndaliko Katondolo USA 2020

“Le-deu-pil-teo-ga Cheol-hoe-doeb-ni-da.” (“The red filter is withdrawn.”) by Minjung Kim KOR 2020

Lost on Arrival by PolakVanBekkum NLD 2020

May June July by Kevin Jerome Everson USA 2021

Medicine and Magic by Thirza Cuthand CAN 2020

Mudança (Upheaval) by Welket Bungué DEU, PRT 2020

Night for Day by Emily Wardill PRT, AUT 2020

Ploy by Prapat Jiwarangsan THA, SGP 2020

Saba’ sanawat hawl delta al-neel (Seven Years Around the Nile Delta) by Sharief Zohairy EGY 2020

Se hace camino al andar (The Path is made by Walking) by Paula Gaitán BRA 2021

The Song of the Shirt by Kerstin Schroedinger DEU 2020

Songs of the Shirt by Kerstin Schroedinger DEU 2020

Sous le masque blanc: le film qu’Haesaerts aurait pu réaliser (Under the White Mask: The Film That Haesaerts Could Have Made) by Matthias De Groof BEL 2020

Voices and Shells by Maya Schweizer DEU 2020

The Wake by The Living and the Dead Ensemble HTI, FRA, GBR 2021

Zahlvaterschaft (Fatherland) by Moritz Siebert DEU 2021

The Zama Zama Project by Rosalind Morris USA, ZAF, CAN 2020