New films featuring Carey Mulligan, Adam Sandler, Amanda Seyfried, Jesse Eisenberg and Riley Keough are among 2024 Berlinale Specials lineup, the out-of-competition gala presentations at next year’s Berlin International Film Festival.
Spaceman, a Netflix sci-fi drama from Chernobyl director Johan Renck, starring Sandler, Mulligan, Kunal Nayyar, Isabella Rossellini and Paul Dano, will have its world premiere in the Berlinale Special gala sidebar. Sasquatch Sunset, an adventure comedy from the Zellner brothers which stars Keough, Eisenberg, Nathan Zellner, and Christophe Zajac-Denek, will screen in Berlin after its Sundance debut. Atom Egoyan’s Seven Veils, which had its world premiere in Toronto, and stars Seyfried alongside Rebecca Liddiard, Douglas Smith, Ambur Braid, and Michael Kupfer-Radecky, will also have its international premiere in the Berlinale Specials gala section.
Treasure (aka Iron Box), the 90-set English-language feature from German director Julia von Heinz (And Tomorrow The Entire World), which stars Lena Dunham and Stephen Fry as a neurotic businesswoman who takes her father, a Holocaust survivor, on a journey to Poland to make sense of her family’s past, will also have its world premiere as a Berlinale Specials gala.
Other Berlinale Specials titles included Cuckoo from German director Tilman Singer starring Hunter Schafer, Dan Stevens and Jessica Henwick; the documentary Abiding Nowhere from Taiwanese director Tsai Ming-liang (Stray Dogs); and Dostoevsky, a crime series, inspired by the works of the classic Russian writer, and created by Italian filmmakers the D’Innocenzo brothers (Bad Tales, Boys Cry).
Berlin also announced several titles for its Generations section of children and youth films, including Who by Fire from Canadian director Philippe Lesage, Elbow from German-based Aslı Özarslan, and The Major Tones, a debut feature from Argentine filmmaker Ingrid Pokropek (see full list below).
Last but not least, Berlin unveiled its official posters for 2024. Designed by Berlin-based graphic artist Claudia Schramke, the bright red and blue images show close-up details —paws, mouth, eyes and ears— of Berlin’s iconic Bear.
According to Berlinale executive director Mariëtte Rissenbeek, the image is meant to evoke an “attentive, open and approachable bear” which stands as a symbol for the Berlin festival as “an open place for our audience and the film industry.”
Oscar-winning actor Lupita Nyong’o (12 Years a Slave, Black Panther) will head up the 2024 Berlin Film Festival competition jury. The 74th Berlinale runs Feb. 15-25, 2024.
Berlinale Special Galas
Cuckoo
by Tilman Singer | with Hunter Schafer, Dan Stevens, Jessica Henwick, Marton Csókás, Jan Bluthardt
Germany 2024
Berlinale Special Gala | World premiere
Dostoevskij (Dostoevsky)
by Damiano & Fabio D’Innocenzo | with Filippo Timi, Gabriel Montesi, Carlotta Gamba, Federico Vanni
Italy 2024
Berlinale Special | World premiere | Series
Sasquatch Sunset
by David & Nathan Zellner | with Riley Keough, Jesse Eisenberg, Nathan Zellner, Christophe Zajac-Denek
USA 2024
Berlinale Special | International premiere
Seven Veils
by Atom Egoyan | with Amanda Seyfried, Rebecca Liddiard, Douglas Smith, Ambur Braid, Michael Kupfer-Radecky
Canada 2023
Berlinale Special Gala | International premiere
Spaceman
by Johan Renck | with Adam Sandler, Carey Mulligan, Kunal Nayyar, Isabella Rossellini, Paul Dano
USA 2024
Berlinale Special Gala | World premiere
Treasure
by Julia von Heinz | with Lena Dunham, Stephen Fry, Zbigniew Zamachowski
Germany / France 2024
Berlinale Special Gala | World premiere
Wu Suo Zhu (Abiding Nowhere)
by Tsai Ming-liang
Taiwan / USA 2024
Berlinale Special | World premiere | Documentary Form
Generations Titles
Beurk! (Yuck!)
by Loïc Espuche
France 2024
Generation Kplus | International premiere | Animation | Short film
Comme le feu (Who by Fire)
by Philippe Lesage | with Noah Parker, Aurélia Arandi-Longpré, Antoine Marchand-Gagnon, Arieh Worthalter, Paul Ahmarani
Canada / France 2024
Generation 14plus | World premiere
Cura sana
by Lucía G. Romero | with Roser Rendon Ena, Rasvely Lissette Donaire Restituyo, Yaneys Cabrera Ramírez, Leisam Ramos Rodríguez,
Ana Barja
Spain 2024
Generation 14plus | World premiere | Short film
Disco Afrika : une histoire malgache (Disco Afrika: A Malagasy Story)
by Luck Razanajaona | with Parista Sambo, Laurette Ramasinjanahary, Joe Lerova, Drwina Razafimahaleo, Jérôme Oza
France / Madagascar / Germany / Mauritius / South Africa / Qatar 2023
Generation 14plus | European premiere | Debut film
Ellbogen (Elbow)
by Aslı Özarslan | with Medine Karadeniz, Doğa Gürer, Jale Arikan, Haydar Şahin, Orhan Kiliç
Germany / Turkey / France 2024
Generation 14plus | World premiere
Fox and Hare Save the Forest
by Mascha Halberstad | with Rob Rackstraw, Dan Skinner, Jamie Quinn, Teresa Galagher, Sarah Madigan
Netherlands / Belgium / Luxembourg 202
Generation Kplus | World premiere | Animation
Lapso (Lapse)
by Caroline Cavalcanti | with Beatriz Oliveira, Juan Queiroz, Dora Rosa, Thayanne Lima
Brazil 2023
Generation 14plus | European premiere | Short film
Los tonos mayores (The Major Tones)
by Ingrid Pokropek | with Sofía Clausen, Pablo Seijo, Lina Ziccarello, Mercedes Halfon, Santiago Ferreira
Argentina / Spain 2023
Generation Kplus | International premiere | Debut film
Muna
by Warda Mohamed | with Kosar Ali, Raha Isse Farah, Elmi Rashid Elmi, Ahmed Nur, Meena Mohamed
United Kingdom 2023
Generation 14plus | International premiere | Short film
Obraza (Resentment | Ressentiment)
by Gleb Osatinski | with Vladyslav Baliuk, Sergey Zdoronkov, Liudmila Gnatenko, Ariana Rimkutė, Vaidotas Martinaitis
USA / Lithuania 2023
Generation 14plus | World premiere | Short film
Porzellan (Porcelain)
by Annika Birgel | with Nell Marie Haack, Liv Heleen Haack, Niklas Leifert
Germany 2024
Generation Kplus | World premiere | Short film
Sieger Sein (Winners)
by Soleen Yusef | with Dileyla Agirman, Andreas Döhler, Sherine Ciara Merai, Samira Hamieh, Fatima Hamieh
Germany 2024
Generation Kplus | World premiere
Sukoun (Amplified)
by Dina Naser | with Malak Nassar, Suhad Khatib, Nadeem Al-Rimawi, Hanna Wardeh
Jordan / Egypt 2024
Generation Kplus | World premiere | Short film