Berlinale Talents 2026   How the Berlinale Strengthens Film Criticism

Berlinale Talents will once again in 2026 invite emerging creatives from around the world and provide an important platform for networking, dialogue, and knowledge exchange. Film criticism is also moving into the spotlight — with Vedant Srinivas from India among the participants. Yet there, as in many places, this discipline is noticeably under pressure.

Every year, on the sidelines of hosting the world’s foremost public film festival, Berlinale invites up-and-coming film professionals from across the world into its fold. The international talent development programme, Berlinale Talents, handpicks a remarkable diversity of creatives from different walks of filmmaking. This year, 200 talents specialising in direction, cinematography, curation, costume design, music composition, photography, acting, and film criticism will take part in the week-long programme.

A Space for Exchange and Experimentation

The young professionals will gather at the Radialsystem in Berlin, a former pumping station transformed into an art space, where they will collaborate in workshops and partake in panel discussions. The Talents programme also serves as a tremendous networking opportunity, with Berlinale Talents Lab hosting alumni projects and the Talent Project Market spotlighting alumni who are seeking production partners.

One of the crucial fields in the programme highlights is film criticism. This year, seven critics from Bulgaria, Ghana, India, Nepal, South Africa, the UK and the US are part of the cohort. Among them is Vedant Srinivas, an Indian film critic and journalist whose interdisciplinary skill sets include programming and curation.

Visibility for a Niche Field

While preparing for his time at the Berlinale, Srinivas said he is looking forward to taking part in exciting in-person sessions and watching films as well as forging deep and lasting bonds with the mentors and other Talents participants. As Talents is one of the premier networking platforms in the Berlinale ecosystem, it is Srinivas’s hope that the opportunity will lead to future collaborations.

“I'm quite happy and grateful to be recognised,” Srinivas said. “Curation and criticism are niche fields, and aren't usually accorded the rigour, attention, and respect they deserve. So it's quite heartening to know that I'll be participating in Talents as an emerging programmer and critic.”

Film Criticism Under Pressure

With journalism and film criticism under pressure worldwide and with countries like India offering no formal education in the field, Srinivas says the overall situation is undoubtedly concerning. “This shift is something that the Humanities as a whole is undergoing, with disciplines like film studies perhaps bearing the full brunt of it. But equally to blame is an outdated mindset of discipline-specific knowledge,” he added.

It’s a sad reality that film criticism can no longer be treated as a full-time profession – newspapers aren’t hiring critics anymore and freelance critics aren’t finding trusted avenues for their writing. Srinivas noted that one might now have to move across multiple disciplines and fields, seeking out connections that “fly in the face of siloed wisdom.”

Yet trained critics are a crucial component of a functioning society. Without their analysis and interpretation of films as an art form, audiences risk being ill-informed.

Strengthening Critical Voices in the Global Film Industry

“I keep going back to something that Foucault said in the context of criticism, a kind of criticism that 'would try not to judge but to bring an oeuvre, a book, a sentence, an idea to life; it would light fires, watch the grass grow, listen to the wind, and catch the sea foam in the breeze and scatter it. It would multiply not judgements but signs of existence,” Srinivas said.

He sees this as a testament to the rich interdisciplinary vision of the Talents programme, in which all film-related disciplines from direction, cinematography, and editing to costume design and curation are treated on a par.

At this point, Srinivas draws attention to one of the key strengths of festivals:“It is to the credit of festivals like the Berlinale, Locarno, and even the Gent Festival that young critics, programmers, and industry professionals from all over the world are able to spend time with and learn from industry stalwarts. Kudos again to Talents for making this happen, and I look forward to attending both the programme and the festival.”

February 2026