Berlinale Talents Festival Returnees 2025:
The Alumni with Work in Official Selection

Berlinale Talents alumni are making their mark once again! This year, 129 former Talents have contributed to 77 films across the 75th Berlin International Film Festival, with their work spanning every festival section— including 11 alumni involved in four films selected for the prestigious Competition programme.

Their return highlights the lasting impact of Berlinale Talents as a space for artistic and professional growth, fostering connections that extend far beyond the programme itself. We’re excited to celebrate their achievements — let’s meet this year’s returnees!

Competition

"Strichka chasu" (Timestamp) – editor Nikon Romanchenko (BT 2019)

"Mother’s Baby"– screenwriter Arne Kohlweyer (BT 2009/10), director/screenwriter Johanna Moder (BT 2019), cinematographer Robert Oberrainer (BT 2008), dialogue editor Gina Keller (BT 2018)

"Yunan" – producer Dorothe Beinemeier (BT 2006) 

"O último azul" (Blue Trail) – sound design Arturo Salazar (BT 2022) & Maria Alejandra Rojas (BT 2023), co-producer Marleen Slot (BT 2008), production design Dayse Barreto (BT 2023), producer Sandino Saravia Vinay (BT 2004) - WINNER Silver Bear Grand Jury Prize & Prize of Ecumenical Jury

Berlinale Special

"Honey Bunch"– music Andrea Boccadoro (BT 2018), director/screenwriter/producer/costume Madeleine Sims-Fewer (BT 2016)

"Kein Tier. So Wild." (No Beast. So Fierce.) – producer Jochen Laube (BT 2003/04), actor Banafshe Hourmazdi (BT 2021)

"A melhor mãe do mundo" (Best Mother in the World) – exec. producer Leonardo Mecchi (BT 2007), producer Karen Castanho (BT 2023)

"Michtav Le'David" (A Letter to David) – producer Maya Fischer (BT 2018), exec. producer Gal Greenspan (BT 2009/11), producer Alona Refua (BT 2019), screenwriter Tom Shoval (BT 2010)

"Ancestral Visions of the Future" – writer/director Lemohang Jeremiah Mosese (BT 2012/17)

"Das Deutsche Volk" – editor Stefan Oliveira-Pita (BT 2016) 

"Leibniz - Chronik eines verschollenen Bildes" (Leibniz - Chronicle of a Lost Painting) – cinematography Matthias Grunsky (BT 2003)

"Köln 75"– producer Sol Bondy (BT 2016) G

"Islands"– producer Maximilian Leo (BT 2011/12), screenwriter Blaž Kutin (BT 2006), DP Juan Sarmiento (BT 2011)

"Heldin" (Late Shift) – sound designer Gina Keller (BT 2018)

"Das Licht" (The Light) – art director Isabelle Siegrist (BT 2020)

Perspectives

"How to Be Normal and the Oddness of the Other World" – director/screenwriter Florian Pochlatko (BT 2019)

"Baksho Bondi"– production design Mausam Aggarwal (BT 2024), director/screenwriter/cinematographer Saumyananda Sahi (BT 2005)

"Little Trouble Girls"– co-producer Marina Gumzi (BT 2014)

"Mit der Faust in die Welt schlagen" Punish the world– producer/exec. producer Roxana Richters (BT 2019)

"Kung saan ang gabi'y walang hangar" (Where the Night Stands Still) – director/screenwriter/cinematographer/editor/production design/producer/exec. producer Liryc Dela Cruz (BT 2020)

"El Diablo Fuma (y guarda las cabezas de los cerillos quemados en la misma caja)" (The Devil Smokes (And Saves the Burnt Matches in the Same Box)) – producer Carlos Hernández Vázquez (BT 2018), screenwriter Ernesto Martínez Bucio (BT 2016), production designer/costume designer Ana J Bellido (BT 2015) - WINNER Best First Feature Award

"Al Mosta'mera" (Settlement) – sound design Mohamed Salah (BT 2007)

Panorama

"Den stygge stesøsteren" (Ugly Stepsister) – co-producer Mariusz Włodarski (BT 2011)

"Ato noturno" (Night Stage) – producer Jessica Luz (BT 2016), sound designer Tiago Bello (BT 2013), cinematographer Luciana Baseggio (BT 2020), production design Manuela Falcão (BT 2019), director/scriptwriter/producer Marcio Reolon (BT 2017), director/screenwriter/producer Filipe Matzembacher (BT 2016), editor Germano de Oliveira (BT 2016)

"Sorda" (Deaf) – music Aránzazu Calleja (BT 2014), cinematography Gina Ferrer (BT 2007) - WINNER Cicae Art Cinema Award & Panorama Audience Award Feature Film 

"The Heart Is a Muscle" - producer/screenwriter/director Imran Hamdulay (BT 2022), exec. producer Adam Thal (BT 2004) - WINNER Prize of the Ecumenical Jury

"Paul" – producer Hany Ouichou (BT 2015)

"Dreamers" – producer Emily Morgan (BT 2013), editor Arttu Salmi (BT 2012)

"Bajo las banderas, el sol" (Under the Flags, the Sun) – director/screenwriter/production design/producer/exec. producer Juanjo Pereira (BT 2023), editor Manuel Embalse (BT 2022) - WINNER Prize of The Fipresci Jury

"Hysteria" – actor Mehdi Meskar (BT 2017) - WINNER Label Europa Cinemas

"Other People's Money" – cinematography Clemens Baumeister (BT 2011) 

"Olmo" – screenwriter/director Fernando Eimbcke (BT 2003/15) 

"Bedrock" – editor Omar Elhamy (BT 2017/22), exec. producer Anna Gawlita (BT 2017)

"Confidente" – co-screenwriter/co-director Guillaume Giovanetti (BT 2005), co-screenwriter/co-director/producer Çağla Zencirci (BT 2006)

"Begyndelser" (Beginnings) – producer/co-producer Erik Glijnis (BT 2017), producer Katrin Pors (BT 2008)

"Listy z Wilczej" (Letters from Wolf Street) – screenwriter & cinematography Arjun Talwar (BT 2016), co-producer Gregor Streiber (BT 2008), editor Bigna Tomschin (BT 2016)

"Queerpanorama" – sound design Cyrus Tang  (BT 2019)

Generation

"Zhi Wu Xue Jia" (Botanist) – producer Shan Zuolong (BT 2011/17) - WINNER The Grand Prix of The International Jury For The Best Film (Kplus)

"Fantas"– editor Xi Feng (BT 2020)

"Village Rockstars 2"– co-producer Eva Blondiau (BT 2015), co-producer Fran Borgia (BT 2014)

"Ne réveillez pas l'enfant qui dort" (Don't Wake the Sleeping Child) – producer Chloé Ortolé (BT 2024) - WINNER The Special Prize of The International Jury For the Best Short Film (14plus)

"Sunshine" – editor Benjamin Tolentino (BT 2014), director Antoinette Jadaone (BT 2014), exec. producer/co-producer Bianca Balbuena (BT 2012), production design Eero Yves Francisco (BT 2023) - WINNER Crystal Bear for The Best Film (14plus)

"Daye: Seret Ahl El Daye" (The Tale of Daye’s Family) – director Karim El-Shenawy (BT 2014)

"Paternal Leave" – cinematography Carolina Steinbrecher (BT 2022), producer Cécile Tollu-Polonowski (BT 2016) - WINNER Prize of AG Kino - Gilde - Cinema Vision 14plus

"A natureza das coisas invisíveis" (Nature of Invisible Things) – co-producer Rebeca Gutiérrez Campos (BT 2016), cinematographer Francisca Sáez Agurto (BT 2021), editor Marina Kosa (BT 2021)

"Zirkuskind" (Son of the Circus) – co-writer/cinematography/director Julia Lemke (BT 2013) - SPECIAL MENTION (Crystal Bear for The Best Film)

"Only on Earth" – music Roger Goula (BT 2011), director Robin music Roger Goula (BT 2011), director Robin Petré (BT 2022), DoP María Goya Barquet (BT 2021)

"Pohádky po babičce" (Tales from the Magic Garden) – producer Kolja Saksida (BT 2006/07)

Berlinale Shorts

"Sammi, Who Can Detach His Body Parts" – cinematographer Batara Goempar (BT 2016)

 "Élő kövek" (Living Stones) – production design Zsófia Tasnádi (BT 2019)

"Rückblickend Betrachtet" (In Retrospect) – director/screenwriter/producer Daniel Asadi Faezi (BT 2021)

"Tant qu’il nous reste des fusils à pompe" (As long as shotguns remain) – producer Lou Chicoteau (BT 2016)

"Vita Lakamaya" – sound designer Midori Hirano (BT 2008)

"Their Eyes" – editor Felix Rehm (BT 2018)

"Through Your Eyes" – producer Si En Tan (BT 2020/22), cinematographer Lincoln Yeo (BT 2024), editor Armiliah Aripin (BT 2022)

"Children's Day" – music Wey Yinn Teo (BT 2022)

"Dar band" (Citizen-Inmate) – director/screenwriter/producer Hesam Eslami (BT 2018)

Forum

"Cadet" ­­­– director/screenwriter Adilkhan Yerzhanov (BT 2014)

"Der Kuss des Grashüpfers" (Kiss of the Grasshopper) – producer Eva Blondiau (BT 2015), co-producer Adolf El Assal (BT 2006/23)

"Batim" (Houses) – producer Elad Gavish (BT 2009)

"Mes fantômes arméniens" (My Armenian Phantoms) – music Cynthia Zaven (BT 2004)

"Sirens Call" – exec. producer Claus Herzog-Reichel (BT 2020)

"Queer as Punk" – co-producer Mandy Marahimin (BT 2020)

"La memoria de las mariposas" (Memory of Butterflies) – exec. producer/co-producer Ico Costa (BT 2014) - WINNER Prize of The Fipresci Jury & SPECIAL MENTION (Berlinale Documentary Award)

"Minimals in a Titanic World" – director Mbabazi Philbert Aimé (BT 2020), editor Kivu Ruhorahoza (BT 2009), actor Aline Amike (BT 2024), sound Jean Bosco (BT 2013/14), exec. producer Ishimwe Karemangingo Samuel (BT 2020) 

"Holding Liat" – cinematography/producer Yoni Brook (BT 2009) - WINNER Berlinale Documentary Award & Prize of The Ecumenical Jury

"Vaghachipani" (Tiger's Pond) – producer Jeremy Chua (BT 2017)

"Punku" – director Juan Daniel Fernández Molero (BT 2011), cinematography Johan Carrasco Monzón (BT 2023), music Carlos Gutierrez Quiroga (BT 2015)

"After Dreaming" – sound design Arturo Salazar (BT 2022) & Maria Alejandra Rojas (BT 2023)

"Underground" – producer Ryohei Tsutsui (BT 2013/18)

Forum Expanded

"Zizi (ou oração da jaca fabulosa)" (Zizi (or Praying to a Fabulous Tree)) – director/producer/screenwriter/production design Felipe M. Bragança (BT 2017), producer/exec. producer Marina Meliande (BT 2015), editor Karen Black (BT 2021)

"Al Basateen"(The Orchards) – director/screenwriter Antoine Chapon (BT 2021), producer/exec. producer Thomas Hakim (BT 2020)

"Wilfred Buck’s Star Stories" – director/producer Lisa Jackson (BT 2005)

"Spetsialna Operatsiia" (Special Operation) – exec. producer Lyuba Knorozok (BT 2022)

"Pidikwe" (Rumble) – director/screenwriter/producer Caroline Monnet (BT 2016)

"J-N-N" – director/screenwriter/cinematographer/producer/editor Ginan Seidl (BT 2018), co-producer Jonas Matauschek (BT 2018/21)"J-N-N" – director/screenwriter/cinematographer/producer/editor Ginan Seidl (BT 2018), co-producer Jonas Matauschek (BT 2018/21)

"Purple Sea" – director Khaled Abdulwahed (BT 2015)