UPDATE (16 January 2025): The festival's opening film, Shahrbanoo Sadat’s No Good Men, is being added to the Berlinale Special section (read news).

The 76th Berlin International Film Festival (12 – 22 February) has unveiled the line-up for its Berlinale Special section, which comprises of a total of 19 works from 15 countries, including six documentary films and a strong series programme. Designed as a bridge between glamour, genre, politics and public debate, Berlinale Special continues to function as a meeting point between filmmakers and audiences, with space for dialogue and discovery. An opening film announcement is still to come.

Among the Berlinale Special Galas are several high-profile premieres. Seasoned German filmmaker Ulrike Ottinger (Ticket of No Return) returns with The Blood Countess, a horror-tinged, playful take on vampiric mythologies and led by Isabelle Huppert (see the news). Belgian-Romanian filmmaker Teodora Ana Mihai (winner of the Grand Prize at the Warsaw Film Festival with Traffic [+lee también:
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The series strand is particularly rich this year, ranging from literary adaptations to original genre concepts. Highlights include Marc Munden’s first television adaptation of William Golding’s dystopian classic Lord of the Flies; a reimagining of Isabel Allende’s The House of the Spirits by Chile’s Francisca Alegría; and House of Yang, a six-part German horror mystery created by Stefanie Ren. The programme also welcomes new chapters of Mark Cousins’ ongoing exploration of non-fiction cinema with The Story of Documentary Film.

Late-night screenings promise visceral thrills and pop-cultural energy. Indonesian filmmaker Edwin and Australian director Natalie Erika James both contribute body-horror-inflected works, while metal icons take centre stage in The Ballad of Judas Priest, directed by Canadian filmmaker Sam Dunn and American guitarist Tom Morello former member of Rage Against the Machine and Audioslave.

Documentary filmmaking remains a central pillar of Berlinale Special, with new works from Maite Alberdi (The Mole Agent [+lee también:
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The list of selected titles:

Berlinale Special Gala

No Good Men – Shahrbanoo Sadat (Germany/France/Norway/Denmark/Afghanistan) (opening film)
The Testament of Ann Lee [+lee también:
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The Weight – Padraic McKinley (Germany/USA)
Heysel 85 – Teodora Ana Mihai (Belgium/Netherlands/Germany)
The Blood Countess – Ulrike Ottinger (Austria/Luxembourg/Germany)
The Only Living Pickpocket in New York – Noah Segan (USA)
Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die – Gore Verbinski (Germany)

Berlinale Special Presentation

A Child of My Own – Maite Alberdi (Mexico)
WAX & GOLD – Ruth Beckermann (Austria)
Who Killed Alex Odeh? – Jason Osder, William Lafi Youmans (USA)
TUTU – Sam Pollard (UK)

Berlinale Special Midnight

The Ballad of Judas Priest – Sam Dunn, Tom Morello (USA)
Saccharine – Natalie Erika James (Australia)
Sleep No More – Edwin (Indonesia/Singapore/Japan/Germany/France)

Berlinale Special Series

The House of the Spirits – Francisca Alegría (Chile, series)
The Story of Documentary Film – Mark Cousins (UK, series)
Lord of the Flies – Marc Munden (UK, series)
Mint – Charlotte Regan (UK, series)
House of Yang – Stefanie Ren (Germany, series)
Ravalear: Not For Sale – Pol Rodríguez (Spain, series)