Among the most heterogeneous sections of the Berlin Film Festival, Berlinale Special confirms its identity in 2026 as a place of crossing where the pleasure of the genre, author serials and political documentaries, cult cinema and works conceived as opportunities for public discussion coexist.
With 19 titles from 15 countries – including six documentaries and a series program in six titles – the section builds a porous perimeter that brings together new audiences and loyal viewers, entertainment and cultural urgencies, offering “space for dialogue” around sensitive themes and issues of the present.
The glamorous heart of the section passes through the Galas, which host world premieres and major international launches. Ulrike Ottinger business The Blood Countess (The Blood Countess), an ironic and cultured horror film, written with Elfriede Jelinek and starring Isabelle Huppert alongside Birgit Minichmayr, Lars Eidinger and Thomas Schubert: the Countess and her maid chase a red elixir and a book capable of threatening the kingdom of vampires, followed by an inspector, two vampirologists, a vegetarian nephew and his therapist. A cinephile and theatrical game that intertwines myth, parody and reflection on the narrative of power. Alongside Ottinger, Teodora Ana Mihai presents its world premiere Heysel 85a drama that returns to the Heysel Stadium tragedy of 1985: as violence erupts before the European Cup final in Brussels, the mayor’s daughter and a journalist are sucked into the heart of the event, caught between professional duty, family loyalty and moral responsibility. The Gala also welcomes the international premiere of The Only Living Pickpocket in New York Of Noah Seganstarring John Turturro and Steve Buscemi: Harry, a declining pickpocket in a changed New York, accidentally steals a hugely valuable USB stick and finds himself in a race against time with a crime family on his trail.
The European previews bring two titles of great appeal: The Weight Of Padraic McKinley (first work), with Ethan Hawke and Russell Crowe, set in Oregon in 1933, where a father separated from his daughter is forced to smuggle gold through a hostile nature in exchange for possible freedom; And Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die Of Verbinski Mountainsa sci-fi comedy starring Sam Rockwell, Juno Temple, Zazie Beetz and Michael Peña, in which a man from the future enters a Los Angeles diner to recruit the “exact” combination of people needed for a nighttime mission to save the world. The German premiere of. completes the Gala front The Testament of Ann Lee Of Here Fastvolda historical musical that tells the story of the founder of the Shakers (Amanda Seyfried), a preacher of gender and social equality, staging – through song and movement – the tension between utopia and institution.
The pop and nocturnal vocation of Berlinale Special emerges with Hair Factory Monster (Sleep No More) by Indonesian Edwina body horror with an industrial feel where in a world that pushes human beings to incessant work, a dark figure takes possession of bodies when sleep is sacrificed in the name of productivity. Saccharine Of Natalie Erika Jamespresented in its European premiere, radicalizes body horror through a disturbing metaphor: a medical student, looking for love, is persecuted by a sinister force after joining a slimming trend that involves ingesting human ashes. To complete the most nocturnal segment of Berlinale Special, the documentary The Ballad of Judas Priest Of Sam Dunn e Tom Morello which traces half a century of history of the pioneers of heavy metal, from their working-class origins in England to their entry into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, with a celebratory energy that dialogues with pop culture.
Alongside entertainment, Berlinale Special claims the strong centrality of documentary as a form of interrogation of reality. In TUTU Of Sam Pollard (special presentation, world premiere), never-before-seen archival materials and testimonies reconstruct Desmond Tutu’s rise as a voice for the oppressed, guided by faith, hope and the practice of forgiveness. Love Alberdi business a son of his own (A Child of My Own), portrait of a woman who, driven by the desire for motherhood and social pressure, fakes a pregnancy: the lie becomes complicated until it becomes a media scandal that makes it impossible to sustain the fiction. Ruth Beckermanncon WAX & GOLDstarts from a hotel in Addis Ababa built at the time of Hailé Selassie to weave together personal memories and cross stories between Ethiopia and Europe. The political investigation returns to Who Killed Alex Odeh? Of Jason Osder e William Lafi Youmans: The assassination of a Palestinian-American activist in California triggers a forty-year search that uncovers the roots of a dangerous movement that is still active.
Another cornerstone of the section is seriality, understood as a terrain for authorial experimentation and long stories. House of Yang (world premiere), German series created by Stefanie Ren and directed by Mia Spenglerbuilds a mystery spanning three times: a girl disappears in the Black Forest in 1949, another fifty years later, and in the present the ghosts of the past re-emerge in a six-episode structure. The adaptation of The spirit house (The House of the Spirits), firmato da Francisca Alegría, Fernanda Urrejola e Andrés Woodrereads the novel by Isabel Allende following three generations of Trueba women in a South American nation amidst upheavals, disasters and magic. Marc Munden brings the first television adaptation of the film to its European premiere Lord of the Flieswritten by Jack Thornewhere the innocence of a group of shipwrecked English boys slides towards ferocity. In Mint, Charlotte Regan tells a “love story” within a criminal family without shootings or trafficking: everything passes through the gaze and imagination of the daughter, desperately seeking love. It comes from Spain Ravalear (Ravalear: Not For Sale) di Pol Rodríguez e Isaki Lacuestaset in the Raval neighborhood of Barcelona: a family’s battle against eviction imposed by a real estate fund grows until it pushes them beyond all limits. Closes the serial program The Story of Documentary Film Of Mark Cousinswhich continues its historical mapping of documentary cinema, weaving together masterpieces, forgotten works and a reflection on how the genre has shaped our way of seeing the world.
[[Foto dell’articolo – Inside Berlinale Palast by Michele Faggi]
