Berlinale's 35 Co-Production Market projects include Tatiana Huezo's ‘Galerna'

The festival's Forum Special and Expanded strands also unveiled

By Ben Dalton 9 Jan 2025

Berlinale's 35 Co-Production Market projects include Tatiana Huezo's ‘Galerna'
A ‘Crocodile Rock' teaser image; Source: Yung Hua Chen

The Berlinale’s Co-Production Market has selected 35 feature projects for its 2025 edition, including new works from Tatiana Huezo, Kirsten Tan and Stephan Komandarev.

The 35 projects hail from 27 countries, and will participate in the market to find financing and production partners. The Berlinale has also programmed its Forum Special and Forum Expanded strands.

Scroll down for the full list of titles

Salvadoran-Mexican filmmaker Huezo will participate with her new project Galerna, produced by Mexico’s Pimienta Films. Huezo’s first fiction feature Noche de Fuego won a special mention in Un Certain Regard at Cannes 2021, and was Mexico’s entry for the international feature Oscar.

Singaporean director Tan participates with Crocodile Rock, a co-production between Singapore’s Momo Film Co. and the US’ 10minuteslater Films. The film will explore the underground lesbian club culture of 1990s Singapore; it was presented at the Busan Asian Project Market last year. Tan’s debut feature Pop Aye won awards at Sundance, Rotterdam and Zurich in 2017.

Bulgarian filmmaker Komandarev takes part in the ‘Berlinale Directors’ strand of the market, with The Block Universe. Komandarev has previously directed 11 features, most recently Blaga’s Lessons, which won the Crystal Globe for best film at Karlovy Vary in 2023.

19 of the 35 projects are directed by women, with 351 total submissions for this year’s market. The 22nd Co-Production Market will run from February 15-19, at the Octogon in Leipziger Platz. Cash prizes include a new €5,000 Gen Z audience award.

“The industry currently talks a lot about audience development and how to reconnect with the younger generations,” said Tanja Meissner, director of Berlinale Pro which runs the market, of the new award. “To me the logical next step is to involve not only (co)producers but also representatives of the target audience in the creative process of film conception. Intergenerational exchange is crucial in order to validate our events through fresh perspectives and to keep the future of our co-production market vibrant and culturally relevant”.

Previous festival titles to come through the market include Golden Bear winners Alcarràs and Bad Luck Banging Or Loony Porn, and last year’s competition entry My Favourite Cake.

Forum titles

The theme for the Forum Special this year is ‘Open Wounds, Open Words’, with a selection of films that focuses on ‘the younger generation and the impact of norms, inequality and injustice’, according to the festival.

Six world premieres are among the eight Special titles, including Vibeke Lokkeberg’s The Long Road To The Director’s Chair, a documentary featuring Lokkerberg’s previously-lost footage of the 1973 First International Women’s Film Seminar.

Celebrating its 20th anniversary this year, the Forum Expanded section features 24 works from 21 countries, including both films and video art installations. Titles include Alternative Monument For Germany, which has the German title Alternatives Dnekmal fur Deutschland [ADfD] - an augmented reality installation commemorating migration from queer, feminist and migrant perspectives. Last year’s Berlinale drew controversy due to the invitation of members of the right-wing Alternative for Germany [Alternatives fur Deutschland, AfD] political party to the opening ceremony, with the invitations ultimately rescinded.

Berlinale Co-Production Market Project Selection 2025

  • Konbini (d: Pedro Collantes), Aquí y Allí Films, Spain
  • Holiday (d: Wissam Charaf), Aurora Films, France
  • The Funeral (d: Carolina Markowicz), Biônica Filmes, Brazil
  • 30 Days of Summer (d: Anastasiia Solonevych), Bosonfilm, Ukraine
  • Ibicaba - Visions of Paradise (d: Andrea Štaka), Cinédokké & Okofilm Productions, Switzerland
  • Suffering Is Optional (d: Zarrar Kahn), CityLights Media & LBG Films, Canada
  • Happy Days (d: Floor van der Meulen), Keplerfilm, Netherlands
  • Girl, Don’t Play (d: Ainhoa Rodríguez), Les films du Worso, France & Tentación Cabiria, Spain
  • Crocodile Rock (d: Kirsten Tan), Momo Film Co., Singapore & 10minuteslater Films, USA
  • Men and Days (d: Arnau Vilaró), Nanouk Films, Spain
  • A Place in the World (d: Ayşe Polat), NiKo Film, Germany
  • Galerna (d: Tatiana Huezo), Pimienta Films, Mexico
  • Keep Her Quiet (d: Franz Böhm; co-director: Suli Kurban), Schubert, Germany
  • A Few Miles South (d: Ben Pearce), Stop Gap Films, Ireland & New Europe Productions, Poland
  • The Earth Is Flat – I Flew Around and Saw It (d: Maksym Nakonechnyi), Tabor, Ukraine
  • Lende (d: Katy Lena Ndiaye), Tact Production, France
  • The Magic Hour (d: Radu Muntean), Tangaj Production, Romania
  • Dreamgirl (d: Kaan Müjdeci), Tato Film & Asteros Film, Turkey
  • You Crazy Thing (d: Miia Tervo), Yellow Film & TV, Finland

Berlinale Directors projects:

  • The Block Universe (R: Stephan Komandarev), Argo Film, Bulgaria & 42Film, Germany
  • Daemon (R: Valeria Hofmann), Máquina, Chile
  • The Inverted Well (R: Narges Kalhor), Michael Kalb Filmproduktion, Germany

World Cinema Market project

  • I’m Coming For You (d: Cyrielle Raingou), Je Capture Ma Réalité, Cameroon & Seera Films, Germany

Rotterdam-Berlinale Express

  • Meat (d: Rioghnach Ni Ghrioghair), Fantastic Films, Ireland
  • Four Seasons In Java (d: Kamila Andini), Forka Films, Indonesia

Talent Project Market

  • The Illusions (d: Ingrid Pokropek), 36 Caballos (p: Ivan Moscovich), Argentina
  • The Sun Sees Everything (d: Wissam Tanios), Abbout Productions (p: Christian Eid), Lebanon
  • March 14th (d: Alberto Gross Molo), Contraria Media (p: Laura Egidos Plaja), Spain
  • All That We Could Be (d: Rohena Gera), Marianne Productions (p: Alice Bloch), France
  • Death in Torrevieja (d: Adriana Arratia), Nakamura Films & Maqueta Films (p: Araceli Isaac Delso), Spain
  • Sentimental Fail Club (d: Jasmin Baumgartner), Ostblok (p: Dominic Spitaler), Austria
  • Hum (d: Don Josephus Raphael Eblahan), Prima Materia Pictures (p: Hannah Schierbeek), USA/Philippines
  • Sentinel (d: Carl Joseph E. Papa), Project 8 Projects (p: Geo Lomuntad), Philippines
  • The Serpent (d: Diogo Hayashi), Quarta-feira Filmes (p: Julia Alves), Brazil
  • A Certain Type (d: Christoffer Lossius), Skala (p: Louise Beyer), Norway

Company Matching Programme:

  • Cinema Inutile, USA & Japan
  • Fünferfilm, Germany
  • KawanKawan Media, Indonesia
  • Lava Films, Poland
  • Yetu (Un)limited, Senegal, Nigeria, Kenya & Ghana

This story originally appeared on KFTV's sister site Screen

Latest news & features

Promote your services with KFTV

Choose from three profile types - Basic, Silver and Gold

Create Profile

We offer a range of display advertising opportunities.

Learn More