15/02/2026 - BERLINALE 2026: An overview of select acquisitions, sales, new films and more unveiled at the European Film Market, taking place from 12-18 February

Aimee Lou Wood and Johnny Flynn in The Idiot(s) by Malgorzata Szumowska and Michal Englert (© Nowhere Sp. z.o.o.)

This article will be updated regularly during the Berlinale's European Film Market, taking place from 12-18 February.

The Match Factory has unveiled the first image from The Idiot(s), a new film by critically acclaimed, award-winning Polish filmmakers Malgorzata Szumowska and Michal Englert, which is co-written by Szumowska and Englert together with Kasper Bajon and Bríd Arnstein. The directorial duo is known for his previous films Never Gonna Snow Again [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Małgorzata Szumowska and Mi…
film profile] and Woman of... [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Małgorzata Szumowska, Micha…
film profile], both screened in competition in Venice, as well as English-language survival Infinite Storm [+see also:
film review
film profile]. The film stars actors Aimee Lou Wood, Johnny Flynn, Vicky Krieps and Christian Friedel.

Rai Cinema International Distribution has announced Perfect Strangers [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] director Paolo Genovese’s next film, Il rumore delle cose nuove, has just wrapped filming. The film based on the 2023 novel of the same name by Genovese himself, which centres on three families, has secured deals in Hungary (Vertigo Media), Poland (Aurora), former Yugoslavia (Kino Mediteran), as well as Greece and Cyprus (Dream Films). [Screen Daily]

Be For Films has launched pre-sales for A Woman’s Life (La Vie d'une femme), the second feature by Charline Bourgeois-Tacquet after Anaïs in Love [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Charline Bourgeois-Tacquet
film profile] (unveiled in Cannes Critics’ Week in 2021). Currently in post-production, the film stars Léa Drucker and Mélanie Thierry in the lead roles. The screenplay centres on the head of a surgical department in Paris and on a novelist who comes to observe her at work for a book, and who increasingly takes up space in her life… Produced by Les Films Pelléas, co-produced by Arte France Cinéma, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Cinéma and the Belgian company Versus Production, the feature will be released in France by Pyramide. [Variety]

Mk2 Films has added to its line-up Nagi Notes, the next film by Japanese director Kôji Fukada (Cannes Première last year with Love on Trial, in competition at Venice in 2022 with Love Life [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Kōji Fukada
film profile], Un Certain Regard Jury Prize in 2016 with Harmonium [+see also:
trailer
film profile]), produced by Hassaku Labs and the French company Survivance, with Star Sands, Momo Film Co. and Wonderstruck. The screenplay explores the friendship between two women bound by art, memory and family. [Variety]

Charades has added to its line-up (read news) the US slasher In a Violent Nature 2 by Nathaniel Wilson and the animated film Pesta by Hanne Berkaak, which is being steered in production by the Norwegian company Mikrofilm with Knudsen Pictures (Germany) and Rosalie Films (France). [Variety]

Reinvent Yellow has boarded international sales on The Catch, an elevated horror feature directed by Irish director Jo Southwell and starring Jonathan Rhys Meyers and Ben Miles. Currently in pre-production and set to shoot shortly, the film marks Southwell’s feature debut following her work on BBC’s Call the Midwife (2024). [Screen Daily]