The 76th version of the Berlin Film Festival opens on Thursday, that includes productions from over 80 international locations and with German movie legend Wim Wenders presiding over this 12 months’s jury.

AFP sat down with competition director Tricia Tuttle, who’s in her second 12 months on the helm, for a look-ahead at Europe’s first massive cinema competition of the 12 months.

Here are 5 issues to anticipate from this 12 months’s competition, which runs till February 22.

‘Reflecting worldwide cinema’

Of greater than 200 movies proven throughout the 10-day competition, 22 will compete for the coveted Golden Bear, which was gained final 12 months by the drama “Dreams” from Norwegian director Dag Johan Haugerud.

In assembling this 12 months’s numerous program, Tuttle mentioned that “the guiding principle was to reflect where international cinema is right now”.

She mentioned that she had observed “family and intimacy under pressure, questions of care, power, belonging, and the experience of living between worlds” as themes working by means of this 12 months’s choice.

“Many of the films look at how private lives are shaped by larger political and social forces.”

The competition will even honor Malaysian actor Michelle Yeoh — who gained one of the best actress Oscar in 2023 for “Everything Everywhere All at Once” — with a lifetime achievement award.

Spotlight on girls administrators

As in 2025, girls directed a lot of the movies being screened on the competition. Among these within the official competitors, 9 out of twenty-two have been directed by girls, the next proportion than on the Cannes or Venice festivals.

“One thing that is encouraging for me is the number of second and third time female film-makers who have made strong work,” Tuttle mentioned.

The opening movie, “No Good Men”, is itself the third feature-length movie from Afghan director Shahrbanoo Sadat.

“It’s about Afghan women’s experience, which you wouldn’t see if it wasn’t for Shahrbanoo’s work,” Tuttle mentioned.

Sadat fled her house nation following the Taliban takeover in 2021 and now lives in Hamburg.

American movies stay elusive

In distinction to Cannes or Venice, which frequently appeal to Oscar contenders, Berlin doesn’t function as many large-scale U.S. productions and the sprinkle of stardust that always accompanies them.

“Some of the biggest authored films of the year, those sort of commercial-arthouse crossover films, haven’t launched out of festivals this year,” Tuttle famous, maybe in a nod to titles equivalent to “One Battle After Another”, “Sinners” and “Marty Supreme”.

For such movies, which might simply value greater than $100 million to make, producers and distributors are more and more eager on controlling all elements of a movie’s launch.

“Festivals can be busy, noisy places where you might not get the cut-through that you want,” based on Tuttle — to not point out working the danger of destructive critiques from critics.

The period of co-productions

This 12 months’s competition will notably function European co-productions with financing from a number of international locations.

According to Tuttle, “there’s an opportunity right now for Europe, for European producers to work together” because the business extra broadly continues to fracture.

She cites the instance of Joachim Trier’s “Sentimental Value”, nominated for 9 Oscars, which is a co-production between Norway, Denmark, France and Germany.

“Sentimental Value is a film that is made by many countries in terms of investment, but it’s very much the work of an author and a really important filmmaker,” mentioned Tuttle.

Streaming platforms nearly absent

Unlike in Venice, the place three Netflix-produced movies entered the official competitors, the giants of the streaming world are comparatively marginal in Berlin.

“There’s real value to be had in theatrical exhibition, not just because there’s money to be made there … but also, for us as movie fans, it’s the best way to see a film,” mentioned Tuttle.

The solely Netflix movie at this 12 months’s Berlinale will function within the “Special Presentation” part — exterior of the official competitors.

“Un hijo proprio” (“A Child of My Own”) is a documentary-length function telling the story of a Mexican lady who invents a being pregnant in an try to flee strain from her household to have a baby.

© 2026 AFP

Sean Astin has taken on the presidency of the SAG-AFTRA at a very perilous time for the actors union, and for Hollywood. There’s the specter of human actors being changed by synthetic intelligence. The ongoing upheavals of streaming. Studio consolidation and realignment.

Nearly three years in the past, the actors launched a four-month strike, securing some protections and better wages. And on Monday, negotiations on a brand new three-year contract with studio and streamers are already starting once more.

So what actor would need this position?

“In my imagination, growing up, I would want to have been in a place of consequence,” he informed The Associated Press in an interview in his workplace on the guild’s Los Angeles headquarters. “And so to have the opportunity to be in a role, leading a union of 160,000 people at this moment of consequence when there’s turmoil, when there’s fear and uncertainty and danger, this is exactly where I want to be.”

Astin, an elected board member throughout the strike who left his mark as a fiery rally speaker, gained the presidency in September, changing the outgoing Fran Drescher.

As an actor, the now-54-year-old is named the chief of a scrappy band of children in 1985’s “The Goonies,” an aspiring soccer participant with endless grit in 1993’s “Rudy,” and Samwise Gamgee, Frodo Baggins’ steadfast bestie within the “Lord of the Rings” trilogy.

He’s a SAG lifer, turning into a member as a younger boy in 1981. His mom, Oscar winner Patty Duke, who died in 2016, was president of the guild from 1985 to 1988, earlier than it added the -AFTRA in a 2012 merger.

His father, John Astin, now 95, is greatest recognized for taking part in Gomez on “The Addams Family.” His brother Mackenzie Astin is a toddler star turned journeyman actor who just lately had a three-episode arc on “The Pitt.”

Sean Astin mentioned he hopes to get actors like his brother, who rely closely on small ongoing funds for visitor roles, to have streaming residuals pay in addition to they do for broadcast TV.

“I can’t wait to be at a Thanksgiving or a Christmas with him and nudge him and say, ‘Hey, how’s your residuals doing?’” he mentioned.

Astin mentioned he has motive to consider the brand new talks will not begin with actors and their employers at one another’s throats.

“They came in last time provoking the fight,” he mentioned, referring to the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers. “They wanted the strike. No question in my mind. I was in those rooms every single day. They’re sending much different signals now. They’re sending signals of wanting stability, of wanting to work as partners again.”

The AMPTP mentioned in a press release to the AP that the group representing studios and streamers regarded “forward to working collaboratively with our partners at SAG-AFTRA as we commence formal bargaining.”

“By taking the time to thoughtfully engage on the challenges confronting our industry, we are optimistic that, together, we can reach a fair deal that reflects our shared commitment to supporting our industry’s talented performers and promoting long-term stability,” the assertion mentioned.

Astin mentioned the guild will not yield any of the bottom it gained in 2023, whether or not it’s wage will increase or requiring knowledgeable consent for using actors’ likenesses by way of AI. and which means they’ll’t disarm prematurely — putting is just not out of the query, regardless of the lingering pains from final time.

“There’s only one real tool available to a labor union in a negotiation, and that’s saying no,” Astin mentioned. “We reserve the right to say no again if we need to.”

On March 1, the guild will maintain the world’s most glamorous union assembly, the newly renamed Actor Awards, the place high-profile members like Leonardo DiCaprio and Emma Stone are nominated. But the overwhelming majority of appearing members do not even make the roughly $27,000 a yr required to qualify for guild medical health insurance. And Astin represents the guild’s full membership — together with online game actors, puppeteers, broadcast journalists and TV announcers. He’s spent a lot of his time since his election — and lots earlier than that — studying the precise issues of, for instance, stunt drivers or actors who reside in Minnesota or New Mexico.

“I will say to everybody, I’m gonna fight as hard for you as anybody has ever fought for you, for your issue,” he mentioned. “People say, ‘You can’t fight for everybody equally.’ I say, ‘Yes, I can.’”

A speech Samwise offers in “The Two Towers” — “There’s some good in this world, Mr. Frodo. And it’s worth fighting for” — turned an Astin rallying cry throughout the strike.

He mentioned that he may draw from his different characters for traits he should embody now.

“The qualities that make Rudy special — determination, grit, inspiration, aspiration — whatever is a part of that thing that makes him, makes his story touch the lives of so many people, is the part of myself that I want to pour into this job on behalf of my members,” he mentioned.

And then there’s Mikey from “The Goonies.”

“If you think of ‘The Goonies,’ ‘The Goonies’ is about saving their home,” he mentioned. “It’s fun, there’s a pirate ship, but it’s about a group of friends who don’t want to be overtaken by industrialists. Maybe that’s the most important one.”

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