It has been two decades. In other words, Berlinale Talents is celebrating its 20th birthday. Since 2003, the Berlinale’s multidisciplinary talent initiative has grown to nearly 10,000 alumni and has actively shaped the industry with this community of thirteen film trades.

From 12-17 February 2022, a new cohort of 200 Talents from over 70 countries joins the fold: connecting them digitally worldwide, we count on them to broaden our horizons and to inspire the wider film community.

The 200 Talents come from the various disciplines of film: acting, cinematography, directing, distribution, world sales, editing, film critics, production, production design, screenwriting, sound design, score composing, and audience design. 40 participants will also be developing their screenplays, from arthouse cinema to virtual reality, in the four Talents Labs.

Mariette Rissenbeek and Carlo Chatrian, the directors of the Berlinale, put it best: “Berlinale Talents is far more than a place where creative people can gather inspiration for their careers in film. Since 2003, the festival has been strengthened by the long-term development of new talent: open-minded, collaborative, involved and with a great amount of trust in the innovative power of the film community.”

“Labours of Cinema” in Focus

Though a film is presented to the public as a final, glittering creation, it is of course the product of many, and the labour and working terrain of various professions and crafts. It is the work itself that Berlinale Talents wishes to celebrate with this year’s anniversary theme “Labours of Cinema”. In Hollywood and elsewhere, the representatives of a multifaceted film community are currently campaigning for better working conditions and are striving to be heard in public. A better environment for every player in film work is becoming the new and confident “battle cry” of a younger cultural industry in which diversity, social sustainability and room for artistic freedom play important roles. Berlinale Talents is curating its programme in light of this “hands-on” spirit: placing the onus on the act of making, this year Berlinale Talents sees itself as a great factory where the live talks and workshops will provide both Talents and public audiences the pleasure of working together.

According to Berlinale Talents heads Christine Tröstrum and Florian Weghorn, “It is above all the Talents and the work of many trailblazers that has kept Berlinale Talents going for 20 years: their hunger for the unseen, for other forms of creative communities, for a new art of collaboration is an inspiration to all.

We therefore anticipate an anniversary edition that, from its home-base in Berlin, will produce much food-for-thought again: emerging filmmakers stick together and bravely look ahead to what is on the horizon – against all odds.”

Talents from Across the World

Many Talents are already successfully part of the film industry, such as German director Melanie Waelde, whose debut feature film “Naked Animals” premiered at the Berlinale, or like cross-over artist Paix Robinson, whose creations move between fashion, art, advertising, and film.

Actor Marissa Anita enjoys a career as a presenter in Indonesia while Hussina Raja, a multidisciplinary artist in film, photography, installations, and performance, chiefly addresses matters of national identity and women’s rights.

Iranian documentary filmmaker Mina Keshavarz, whose film “Silent Scream” is worthy of our attention, will participate alongside Rand Abdul Nour, a Jordanian production designer and artist, and an outspoken advocate against gender-based violence in the Arab World, are also part of this year’s multifaceted and ever-talented cohort.

The emerging Talents also give proof of their courage in their search for their own identity and responsibility as storytellers, as social sustainability in contemporary society and also in their own career prospects plays an important part to many of them.

Through their participation in Berlinale Talents, their collective goal is to conquer more space for artistic freedom or to place their works on the market with innovative concepts and as the already well-established producers, distributors or curators they are.