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European Film Market & Co-Production Market

35 film projects from 27 countries have been selected for the 22nd Berlinale Co-Production Market (February 15-19). Their producers will meet potential co-producers and financiers at the event, which this year will take place primarily at the Octogon, a new event location at Leipziger Platz, in order to realise the feature films as international co-productions in the coming years. Women are directing 19 of the 35 projects. There were 351 submissions for the official project selection, which represents a significant increase of over ten percent compared to the previous year.

As part of the official selection, 19 already financed feature film projects with budgets between 800,000 and five million euros will be presented by well-known international production companies. The directors of the selected projects, who have already received multiple awards, include Ayşe Polat, Tatiana Huezo, Carolina Markowicz, Wissam Charaf, Zarrar Khan, Kirsten Tan, Radu Muntean, Kaan Müjdeci, Ainhoa Rodríguez, Andrea Staka, Miia Tervo and Maksym Nakonechnyi.

The Berlinale Directors section will be adding four new projects in the early stages of financing, whose directors are also no strangers here: Narges Kalhor's film Shahid was honoured in the Berlinale Forum just last year. Valeria Hofmann from Chile also presented Oasis as part of the MAFI Collective in Forum in 2024. Stephan Komandarev from Bulgaria, most recently winner of the Crystal Globe in Karlovy Vary 2023, made his first Berlinale appearance with his first film, Pansion za kucheta in 2001.

Two other feature film projects, Meat, a historical horror debut by Rioghnach Ni Ghrioghair from Ireland, and the drama Four Seasons in Java by director Kamila Andini from Indonesia, whose films have already won the Generation Kplus Grand Prix and a Silver Bear, are looking for partners at both the CineMart Rotterdam and the Berlinale Co-Production Market as part of the Rotterdam-Berlinale Express.

An exciting project from Cameroon, presented in co-operation with the Berlinale World Cinema Fund, shows a self-confident woman who makes a living for her family in an unconventional way in the face of traditional rural structures and the threat of terrorists: I'm Coming For You, by Cyrielle Raingou.

“The right of every person to self-determination and their own identity is a central theme that many filmmakers deal with in very different ways. Dysfunctional families and families of choice, sometimes viewed seriously but in some projects also with a lot of humour, have a strong presence. Grandmother burnout, conspiracy theories, the difficulties of virtual relationships, degenerating capitalism, cannibalism and, of course, above all, people's dreams and the desire to belong – these are some of the themes that we will see in the cinema in the coming years when these outstanding projects are realised,” says Martina Bleis, head of the Berlinale Co-Production Market.

In the Talent Project Market, organised in cooperation with Berlinale Talents, ten producers who are still at the beginning of their international careers are looking for partners for their latest projects. Here, the participants were selected from a further 203 submissions. The selection includes the new animation project by Filipino director Carl Joseph E. Papa, whose debut film was submitted for the Academy Award for Best International Feature Film. Also included are the new projects by Indian director Rohena Gera, whose film Sir was screened in the Semaine de la Critique in Cannes in 2018, and Argentinian director Ingrid Pokropek, whose debut film The Major Tones screened in Generation at the Berlinale in 2024.

New award: Gen Z Audience Award

In addition to co-production and financing partners, there are also several coveted prizes to be won by the projects: the new Gen Z Audience Award, endowed with 5,000 euros and sponsored by the Franco-German Youth Office (DFJW/OFAJ). With this prize, a Franco-German jury of film students will select one of the Berlinale Co-Production Market projects that it considers particularly attractive for young cinema-goers between the ages of 20 and 28. Other prizes include the prestigious Eurimages Co-production Development Award worth 20,000 euros, the VFF Talent Highlight Award worth 10,000 euros for a newcomer project from the Talent Project Market and the arteKINO International Prize worth 6,000 euros, as well as the World Cinema Fund Audience Strategies Award, which consists of target group-orientated advice.

Tanja Meissner, Director Berlinale Pro*, who initiated the new Gen Z Audience Award, comments: “The industry currently talks a lot about audience development and how to reconnect with the younger generations. 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”.

Company matching

Five companies will be presented alongside the projects in the so-called Company Matching programme: Cinema Inutile from the USA and Japan, Fünferfilm from Germany, Lava Films from Poland, KawanKawan Media from Indonesia, and Yetu (Un)limited as a pan-African studio from Senegal, Nigeria, Kenya and Ghana. The 600 participants of the event can also request individual meetings with these companies in order to exchange ideas about project slates or to network on a structural level.

The next stage involves the Berlinale Co-Production Market team organising over 1,500 one-on-one meetings during the Berlinale, enabling the selected projects’ producers and companies to meet with potential international co-producers, representatives of world sales companies, TV broadcasters, funding organisations, streaming platforms, film distributors and other financing partners from all over the world.

Over 390 films have already been made from Berlinale Co-Production Market projects, including the Golden Bear winners Alcarràs (2022) and Bad Luck Banging or Loony Porn (2021). Last year, films such as My Favourite Cake by Maryam Moghaddam and Behtash Sanaeeha (Berlinale Competition), Generation Grand Prix winner Comme le feu by Philippe Lesage, and Don't Cry, Butterfly!, winner of Critics' Week in Venice and produced by Momo Film Co, among others, celebrated their success.

Ato Noturno (Night Stage) by the two TEDDY Award winners Marcio Reolon and Filipe Matzembacher, a film that was looking for partners in 2021, has already been announced for the Berlinale in 2025. Jimpa by Sophie Hyde with Olivia Colman and John Lithgow, a project from the 2022 Berlinale Co-Production Market, will premiere at Sundance at the end of January.

The Official Selection of Projects of Berlinale Co-Production Market 2025 and Information on the Berlinale Co-Production Market.

The Berlinale Co-Production Market is a Berlinale Pro* initiative of the Berlin International Film Festival and it is supported by MDM - Mitteldeutsche Medienförderung and the Creative Europe - MEDIA Programme of the European Union, as well as the FFA - German Federal Film Board. Another cooperation partner and main venue is the Berlin House of Representatives.

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January 9, 2025