It's almost time, Berlinale Talents 2025 is right round the corner and we cannot wait to welcome everyone to Berlin. From its inception, the principal goal of Berlinale Talents has been to bring people together, across crafts and professions, cultures, boundaries and borders. It is a goal we stand by today and continue to strive for. That is why this year we invite our around 200 Talents, industry guests and public audiences to not only visit us, but also to be active participants in that endeavour, to engage, explore new ideas, broaden horizons and welcome new narratives; to listen to each other, courageously.

There is no question that the world is a place of dissonance; it seems so now more than ever. We are living through a moment in history where issues can often seem black and white, where the loudest voice often wins simply because it drowns the others out. It is with this in mind that we chose our theme for the year; to celebrate the diversity of our narratives and histories, to share a multitude of voices and stories, to invite fresh sounds into our orbits. We want Berlinale Talents to be a brave space to listen in, where we approach each other with courage, respect and curiosity in order to understand one another better, to embrace the existence of ambiguity, and come out stronger for it.

In these times, we feel listening needs courage, from the news in the morning to discussions on personal levels, and at all the strata in between. We extend our sincere sympathies to the innocent victims of violence in ongoing conflicts, from the population of Gaza and the West Bank to the Israeli hostages, the wider Middle East, as well as Ukraine, Sudan, the Congo, and many other affected regions across the world. The suffering that has occurred, the senseless death and destruction that continues every day, is horrifying, as is the war mongering that causes it and any discrimination and rhetoric that enables it. We feel solidarity with all the filmmakers who are currently unable to create because they are struggling to survive or hindered by oppression.

Let’s come together to listen intently, embrace diversity, and continue to express ourselves with this beautiful craft and art-form. Let’s have an innovative and inspirational week together, we owe it to our friends who cannot be with us this year but who we hopefully welcome in the future.

Nikola Joetze & Tobias Pausinger