Opening Gala | Wednesday 1 July 2026 | International Premiere

BLAISE
directed by Dimitri Planchon & Jean-Paul Guigue
France, 2026, 83 min
Animation, Comedy
Cast:
Léa Drucker, Jacques Gamblin, Timéo and Nina Blanc-Francard

Synopsis:
The Sauvage family is desperate to be loved. Carole knows her employees hate her and is determined to win them over at any cost. Jacques has never worked a day in his life and doesn’t feel respected. As for their 16 y.o introverted son Blaise, who lacks a personality, he always goes along with everyone and agrees to everything… So much so that when he meets this girl, Josephine, he politely embarks on a revolutionary, violent, and completely impromptu crusade.

Festival Selections:
World Premiere ACID Cannes 2026, Annecy 2026 Competition
“The funniest film at Cannes” (Premiere) / “As absurd as it is exhilarating” (Le Monde)

The screening of BLAISE will be preceded by:

FOLLOWERS (Germany, 2025, 9 min)
Directed by Matias Boettner
Cast: Laura Rees
Synopsis: An influencer’s followers start appearing in her house.

Wednesday 1 July 2026 | 19:00 (FOLLOWERS + BLAISE)
Sputnik Kino (Hasenheide 54/5th floor, 10967 Berlin)

Closing Film | Sunday 5 July 2026 | 17:00

HEYSEL 85
directed by Teodora Ana Mihai
Belgium / Germany, 2026, 91 min
Cast: Violet Braeckman, Matteo Simoni, Josse De Pauw, Fabrizio Rongione, Paolo Calabresi, Bobby Schofield, Ben Segers

Synopsis:
When violence erupts before the 1985 European Cup Final between Liverpool and Juventus at Brussels’ Heysel Stadium, killing 39 people, the mayor’s daughter and a journalist with Italian roots are drawn into the heart of the tragedy, caught between professional duty, family loyalty, and moral responsibility.

Festival Selections: World Premiere Berlinale 2026

Sunday 5 July 2026 | 17:00
Sputnik Kino

German Premiere | Thursday 2 July 2026

RIDE OR DIE
directed by Josalynn Smith
US, 2025, 85 mins
Women, LGBTQIA+, Romance, Thriller, Narrative, Expressions of Black Freedom
Cast: Briana Middleton, Stella Everett, Cody Kostro, Eisa Davis
Festival Selections: World Premiere Tribeca Film Festival

When Paula (Briana Middleton), a young Midwesterner who dreams of a fresh start in California, runs into Sloane (Stella Everett), her secret high school crush who has her demons, the chemistry is electric. What starts as a casual reunion between two high school classmates quickly evolves into something deeper when they make a spontaneous decision to road-trip across the country together. However, unforeseen consequences make their journey more perilous, transforming their whirlwind romance into a tense thriller.

Beautifully shot and anchored by outstanding performances from Middleton and Everett, Josalynn Smith’s directorial debut deftly navigates the couple’s romance, equal parts sexy and nurturing, establishing the deep bond the two feel for each other quickly. Grounded and engaging, the film is a very exciting debut

The screening of RIDE OR DIE will be preceded by:

Yellow Canary (Germany, 2026, 11 min)
Directed by Izel Elif
Cast: Fabienne-Deniz Hammer, Cenk Bayram Babaoglu, Veronika Strauch, Gizem Kaya, Derya Celikkol, Anna Holmes

Synopsis: Leyla, born in Berlin, moves back and forth between the city’s voices and the echoes of her Turkish roots. Through a series of fleeting encounters across the city and with her grandmother’s words accompanying her, the question of belonging grows stronger – along with the quiet hope of finding herself.

Thursday 2 July 2026 | 19:00 (YELLOW CANARY + RIDE OR DIE)
Sputnik Kino (Hasenheide 54/5th floor, 10967 Berlin)

Preview Screening | Friday 3 July 2026

EVERY LINE BECOMES A CIRCLE
Directed by Lynnette Luis, Christopher Leete, Ottilie Maters
Documentary, Germany, 2026, 50 min
Cast: Inge Besgen, Tino Besgen

At 93, German artist Inge Besgen looks back on a remarkable life shaped by resilience, creativity, and self-determination. Defying the expectations placed on women in post-war Germany, she embarked on a transformative journey of self-discovery at the age of 50 and pursued her dream of becoming an artist despite repeated rejection.

Blending archival footage, contemporary interviews, and Inge’s vibrant artwork, Every Line Becomes A Circle traces the path of a woman who refused to let age or convention define her. An inspiring portrait of artistic awakening, freedom, and the courage to reinvent oneself.

Preceded by

DECISIONS (Germany, 2025, 2 min)
Directed by Lisa Brandt, Kira Rosendahl
Cast: Aaliyah Lynch

Ida makes decisions every day – big and small. She chooses her lunch, decides on a new career or a new flat. Her life is self-determined and free. But she owes it all to a single, courageous decision: She has freed herself from a violent relationship.

Friday 3 July 2026 | 19:00 (DECISIONS + EVERY LINE BECOMES A CIRCLE)
Sputnik Kino (Hasenheide 54/5th floor, 10967 Berlin)

Shorts Programme | Saturday 4 July 2026 | 19:00
Sputnik Kino (Hasenheide 54/5th floor, 10967 Berlin)

Berlin Film Week proudly presents six
short films featuring the best of contemporary cinema:

Jamais la nuit (16 min)
I Promise You Violence (9 min)
Normal (10 min) – World Premiere
Ball Lightning (12 min)
On Home and Otherness (16 min)
Where Were We? (4 min ) 

Detailed programme:

Jamais la nuit
Italy, 2026, 16 min
Directed by Alberto Mangiapane, Chiara Napoleoni
Cast: Clément Roussier, Liah O’Prey
Synopsis: Within the walls of an apartment Gaspar & Jeanne share the last moments before their farewell. When Gaspar leaves the house, Jeanne faces a feeling of nostalgic regret, melancholy, and the knowledge that she is expecting a daughter. Aware that she can no longer hold that place, she tries to bring back a memory, a moment experienced or perhaps only imagined.

I Promise You Violence
Mexico, 2025, 9 min
Documentary, Animation
Directed by Juan Maria Leon
Synopsis: A romanticized childhood, teenage years clouded by confusion and violence, and an adulthood shaped by the need to make peace with the past. I Promise You Violence is a short film drawn from my personal memories of coming of age during the war on drugs in Michoacán, Mexico. Not as a story that has ended, but as one that persists, not as a chapter long closed, but as a presence that lingers, a wound we learn to live alongside.

Normal
France, 2026, 10 min, World Premiere
Directed by Lara Panah-Izadi
Cast: Benjamin Siksou, Thais Dumas
Synopsis: Normal, a hypersensitive man, literally lives through everything he feels. To survive the violence of his emotions, he decides to protect himself but risks missing out on what really moves him.

Ball Lightning
USA, 2025, 12 min
Documentary, Animation
Directed by Catriona Trina Baker
Synopsis: Ball Lightning is the true story of a refugee who fled the personal and social effects of Soviet run East Germany after the end of WWII and immigrated to the United States in the 1960s. The story is told through the eyes of the surrogate daughter that she raised after she was forced to give away her own infant daughter as the iron curtain rose. Gusta serves as an example of survival, kindness and the fortitude of human resilience. The film is dedicated to her lost daughter, Esther, a reminder that the children separated from families because of war are never forgotten by those who love them.

On Home and Otherness
Germany, 2025, 16 min
Documentary
Directed by Laura Russ
Cast: Guillem Camprodon Pujol, Helga Zeike, Eva Riccio, Mariana Palacio, Matteo Stefani
Synopsis: “On Home and Otherness” is a personal essay film about travel, belonging, and human connection. Moving through different countries and everyday gathering spaces, the filmmaker reflects on why some places invite openness while others resist it. The film explores “third places” (spaces beyond home and work where community quietly forms) through personal footage and intimate encounters with those who host and inhabit them. As the journey unfolds, a realization emerges: while traveling and recognizing oneself in others is a privilege, communities cannot survive on movement alone. Belonging requires presence, care, and the decision to stay.

Where Were We?
India, 2025, 4 min
Animation
Directed by Suresh Eriyat
Synopsis: What begins as an awkward encounter unfolds into a surreal micro-odyssey. Drifting through an ocean of objects, memories, and associations, the film transforms the everyday into something wondrous, dissolving the boundaries between the world around us and the worlds we carry within.