Berlinale Selection 2026

Berlinale Selection 2026 is the seventh edition of the film series presenting current German cinema in Cyprus organized by the Goethe-Institut Cyprus. This year a selection of six films that were at the Berlinale 2025, 2024 and 2023 will be shown on the big screen in Cyprus, at Pantheon in Nicosia from 5 to 8 February 2026. The screenings are taking place with the support of the Friends of Cinema Society.

This film series brings together six striking works — Knochen und Namen (Bones and Names), Tandem – in welcher Sprache träumst du? (Langue Étrangère), Köln 75, Shahid, Roter Himmel (Afire), and Mit der Faust in die Welt schlagen (Punching the World) — each exploring identity, vulnerability, and the search for belonging from sharply different angles. What unites them is an intimate focus on individuals caught in moments of transition: artists questioning their craft, young people confronting inherited histories, or communities negotiating the boundaries of culture and memory.

Bones and Names and Afire both examine creative lives under pressure, though one leans into playful metacinema while the other unfolds as a tense, sun-drenched chamber piece. Tandem and Shahid turn toward questions of language, migration, and self-definition, yet their tones diverge—one gentle and introspective, the other politically charged and urgent. Köln 75 and Punching the World revisit the past, tracing youthful rebellion and social upheaval, but with contrasting energies: documentary reflection versus raw, fictionalized coming-of-age.

Together, these films form a mosaic of contemporary German language cinema—bold in form, emotionally precise, and deeply curious about how people become who they are. They invite us to witness lives in motion, shaped by love, tension, and the stories we choose to tell.

The film selection offers a glimpse into different sections of the Berlinale from the last three years (Special Gala 2025, Forum 2024, Competition 2024 and 2023, Perspectives 2025 and 2023).