The Berlinale Shorts section once again asserts itself as a vital laboratory for cinematic invention, presenting 21 films from 20 countries, all world premieres, competing at the Berlinale (12–22 February).

This year’s programme is marked by an intriguing interplay between magic and defiance, as filmmakers explore how individuals push back against imposed roles, rigid systems and historical weight through imagination, intimacy and formal audacity. As head of Berlinale Shorts Anna Henckel-Donnersmarck notes, “This quiet yet unwavering defiance of the protagonists turns out to be a recurring theme in this year’s edition. It is also striking that many of the films incorporate magical powers into their stories.”

Magic in its many guises enters the selection. Animation sends love rockets hurtling through the cosmos in Cosmonauts by Leo Černic, while Unidentified Nonflying Objects (UNO) by Sasha Svirsky (Vadim on a Walk, Berlinale Shorts 2021) imagines reality seeping through supposedly stable systems like organic matter. Elsewhere, extraordinary gifts become both burden and liberation, from the boy who can bring fighter jets down with his thoughts in Someday a Child by Marie-Rose Osta to the queer, spell-casting adolescent at the heart of Stallion and a Crystal Ball by Christian Avilés.

Documentary and hybrid forms play an equally central role, frequently engaging with archives, personal histories and political fault lines. Films such as Shot Reverse Shot by Romanian filmmaker Radu Jude and Adrian Cioflâncă (who have already worked together in The Exit of the Trains [+lee también:
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Across the programme, portraits of women, men and children emerge who refuse to remain confined by expectation. They rewrite their own narratives, whether through love stories reshaped by censorship, as in TAXI MOTO by Gaël Kamilindi (didy), or through the quiet refuge found in an ode to a beloved cat in Henry is a Girl Who Likes to Sleep by Marthe Peters (Baldilocks, Berlinale Shorts 2024).

The awards for Berlinale Shorts, including the Golden Bear for Best Short Film, the Silver Bear Jury Prize (Short Film) and the Berlinale Shorts CUPRA Filmmaker Award, will be announced at the official award ceremony on 21 February.

Here is the full list of films:

Chuuraa – Evgenia Arbugaeva (UK)
Stallion and a Crystal Ball – Christian Avilés (Spain)
Kontrewers – Zuza Banasińska (Netherlands/Poland/France)
Miriam – Karla Condado (Mexico)
Time to Go – Renzo Cozza (Argentina)
Cosmonauts – Leo Černic (Slovenia/Italy)
Souls of Fouta – Alpha Diallo (France/Senegal)
Flim Flam – Siegfried A Fruhauf (Austria)
Graft Versus Host – Giorgi Gago Gagoshidze (Germany/Georgia)
Yuragim – Varia Garib, Kirill Komar (Austria/Uzbekistan)
Shot Reverse Shot – Radu Jude, Adrian Cioflâncă (Romania)
TAXI MOTO – Gaël Kamilindi (Switzerland/France)
With a Kind Regard – Pavel Mozhar (Germany)
Someday a Child – Marie-Rose Osta (France/Romania/Lebanon)
Henry is a Girl Who Likes to Sleep – Marthe Peters (Belgium)
Kleptomania – Jingkai Qu (China)
Incident on the Mountain – Savunthara Seng (Cambodia)
An Accident – Angelika Spangel (Austria)
Unidentified Nonflying Objects (UNO) – Sasha Svirsky (Germany)
A Woman’s Place is Everywhere – Fanny Texier (USA)
Les juifs riches – Yolande Zauberman (France)