24 Must-See Films at Berlinale 2024

By Pickle February 13, 2024

BERLINALE SPECIAL

CUCKOO (GERMAN)

Gretchen travels to the German Alps with her father and stepmother. In the holiday resort she discovers dark secrets. She hears strange noises and is plagued by frightening visions of a woman chasing her. Gretchen is drawn into a conspiracy. It’s about the resort’s owner’s bizarre experiments, which go back generations…

Director: Tilman Singer

Country: Germany

Producer: Markus Halberschmidt, Josh Rosenbaum, Maria Tsigka, Ken Kao, Thor Bradwell

World sales: Neon

BERLINALE SPECIAL

LOVE LIES BLEEDING (ENGLISH)

Jackie, an ambitious bodybuilder passing through Las Vegas, falls in love with the secretive gym manager Lou. But their love sparks violence, and the two become deeply entangled in Lou’s family’s network of criminal activities. After the success of Saint Maud, Love Lies Bleeding is Rose Glass’ second film. Dreamy and nightmarish at the same time, it tells of love, revenge and the magic of the endless, lonely desert roads in the USA.

Director: Rose Glass

Country: USA

Producer: Andrea Cornwell, Oliver Kassman

World sales: A24

BERLINALE SPECIAL

SASQUATCH SUNSET (WITHOUT DIALOGUE)

Very realistic in style and at the same time completely surreal in its concept, Sasquatch Sunset tells the story of a family in the wilds of North America. Sasquatch Sunset shows that you don’t need words to tell a story and that even human facial expressions are dispensable if you want to evoke compassion, laughter or tears. At once very realistic in style and completely surreal in its concept, Sasquatch Sunset can be viewed as a résumé of David and Nathan Zellner’s work.

Director: David & Nathan Zellner

Country: USA

Producer: George Rush, Lars Knudsen, Tyler Campellone, David Zellner, Nathan Zellner

World sales: Protagonist Pictures

BERLINALE SPECIAL

BEOM-JOE-DO-SI 4

THE ROUNDUP: PUNISHMENT (KOREAN)

Monster cop Ma Seok-do investigates an illegal online gambling organization. He forges an unusual alliance and starts hunting the criminals. The fourth part of the Roundup series.

Director: Heo Myeong-haeng

Country: South Korea

Producer: Yoo Young-chae, Kim Won-hoon

World sales: K-Movie Entertainment

COMPETITION

A DIFFERENT MAN (ENGLISH)

Ambitious actor Edward undergoes a radical surgical procedure to drastically change his appearance. But his new dream face quickly turns into a nightmare when he misses out on the role of his life. A Different Man is a dark and at the same time humorous thriller that delves into the dark sphere between self- perception and the perception of others.

Director: Aaron Schimberg

Country: USA

Producer: Christine Vachon, Vanessa McDonnell, Gabriel Mayers

World Sales: A24

COMPETITION

YEOHAENGJAUI PILYO

A TRAVELER’S NEEDS (KOREAN)

A woman sits in the park and plays the recorder. She says she comes from France. To earn some money, she teaches French to two Korean women. She likes to lie on rocks and seeks comfort in makgeolli, an alcoholic drink.

Director: Hong Sangsoo

Country: South Korea

Producer: Hong Sangsoo

World Sales: Finecut

COMPETITION

ANOTHER END (ENGLISH, SPANISH)

Near future: A new technology that allows the consciousness of a dead person to be implanted into a living body should help ease the pain of those left behind and buy some extra time to say goodbye.

Director: Piero Messina

Country: Italy

Producer: Nicola Giuliano, Francesca Cima, Carlotta Calori, Viola Prestieri, Paolo Del Brocco

World Sales: Newen Connect – TF1 Studio

COMPETITION

BLACK TEA (FRENCH, MANDARIN, ENGLISH, PORTUGUESE)

Aya, a young Ivorian woman, says no on her wedding day and emigrates to China. There she falls in love with Cai, the owner of a tea shop. But will their relationship endure in the face of prejudice and Aya’s turbulent past?

Director: Abderrahmane Sissako

Country: France/ Mauritania / Luxembourg / Taiwan

Producer: David Gauquié, Julien Derys, Denis Freyd, Kessen Fatoumata Tall, Jean-Luc Ormières, Charles S. Cohen

World Sales: Gaumont

COMPETITION

WITH LOVE, YOUR HILDE

FROM HILDE, WITH LOVE (GERMAN)

The film tells about the young resistance fighter against National Socialism Hilde Coppi – about a short life, about love and death. Berlin 1942. Only gradually does the inconspicuous Hilde find her place in the resistance group, which will later be called the “Red Band”. Hilde falls in love with Hans, blossoms and is happy for a summer despite the constant danger to her life.

Director: Andreas Dresen

Country: Germany

Producer: Claudia Steffen, Christoph Friedel, Prof. Regina Ziegler

World Sales: Beta Cinema

COMPETITION

GLORIA! (ITALIAN)

Venice in 1800: What happens when a newly invented “music machine” that everyone calls “Pianoforte” appears in an old music school? Will it be the vehicle to freedom for five blossoming young musicians? Gloria! is about the imagination and talent of all the many female composers who, like pressed flowers, are hidden away in the pages of history.

Director: Margherita Vicario

Country: Italy

Producer: Valeria Jamonte, Manuela Melissano, Carlo Cresto-Dina, Paolo del Brocco, Rai Cinema

World Sales: Rai Cinema International

COMPETITION

L’EMPIRE

THE EMPIRE (FRENCH)

Opal Coast, Northern France. Something is happening in a tranquil, picturesque fishing village: a special baby is born. A child so unique and peculiar that he starts a secret war between good and evil alien forces.

Director: Bruno Dumont

Country: France

Producer: Jean Brehat, Bertrand Faivre

World Sales: Memento International

COMPETITION

LA COCINA (SPANISH)

Lunchtime at The Grill in New York, there’s no money in the cash register. All cooks without papers are interviewed. Pedro is the main suspect. Upset over his girlfriend’s abortion, he plans to stop the kitchen assembly line once and for all. La Cocina is based on the play of the same name by Arnold Wesker and is a tragicomic homage to the often invisible people who prepare our food.

Director: Alonso Ruizpalacios

Country: Mexico

Producer: Ramiro Ruiz, Gerardo Gatica, Alonso Ruizpalacios, Lauren Mann, Ivan Orlic

World Sales: HanWay Films

COMPETITION

SHAMBHALA (TIBETAN, NEPALI)

In a polygamous village community in the Himalayas, the pregnant Pema is under surveillance after her main partner disappears. Accompanied by her second husband, she goes looking for him. A journey that becomes a journey of self-discovery. Pema becomes increasingly engrossed in a spiritual search for meaning, in which every step brings her closer to self-knowledge and self- liberation.

Director: Min Bahadur Bham

Country: Nepal / France / Norway / Hong Kong, China / Turkey / Taiwan / USA / Qatar

Producer: Debaki Rai

World Sales: Best Friend Forever

COMPETITION

SMALL THINGS LIKE THESE (ENGLISH)

1985, New Ross, Ireland. Family father Bill Furlong works as a coal dealer. An encounter at the local monastery forces him to come to terms with the silence of the city community, which is under the control of the church, and with his past. Based on the novel of the same name by Claire Keegan.

Director: Tim Mielants

Country: Ireland / Belgium

Producer: Alan Moloney, Cillian Murphy, Catherine Magee, Matt Damon, Drew Vinton

World Sales: FilmNation on behalf of Artists Equity

BERLINALE SPECIAL

SPACEMAN (ENGLISH)

Astronaut Jakub has been on a space mission for months. He suspects that his wife will not be waiting for him when he returns, and in desperation he seeks advice from a mysterious creature that is hidden deep inside the spaceship. Based on the novel “Spaceman of Bohemia: A Brief History of Bohemian Space Travel” by Jaroslav Kalfar.

Director: Johan Renck

Country: USA

Producer: Michael Parets, Channing Tatum, Reid Carolin, Peter Kiernan, Tim Headington, Lia Buman, Max Silva

World Sales: Netflix

BERLINALE SPECIAL

SUPERSEX (ITALIAN)

Loosely based on the life and memoirs of Rocco Siffredi, Supersex looks at the hidden sides of a porn star: childhood, family and origins, his relationship with love and the reasons for pursuing a career in the sex industry. The series tells about a life in the porn industry, about sex, passion and also about death. She examines how masculinity is constructed and which questions of desire and power still dominate the relationship between men and women today.

Director: Matteo Rovere, Francesco Carrozzini, Francesca Mazzoleni

Country : Italy

Producer: Lorenzo Mieli, Matteo Rovere, Lorenzo Sportiello

World Sales: Netflix

BERLINALE SPECIAL

TREASURE (GERMANY)

In the early 1990s, the New York music journalist Ruth went on a tour with her father Edek, who is a Holocaust survivor, through his home country of Poland. The journey of two New Yorkers through post-socialist Poland impressively shows that reconnecting with a painful past does not necessarily have to be painful.

Director: Julia von Heinz

Country: Germany

Producer: Fabian Gasmia, Julia von Heinz, Lena Dunham, for Good Thing Going

World Sales: Film Nation Entertainment

COMPETITION

KEYKE MAHBOOBE MAN

MY FAVORITE CAKE (FARSI)

70-year-old Mahin lives alone. She decides to give up her lonely pursuits and reactivate her love life and opens her heart to a new love. A spontaneous encounter turns into a surprising, unforgettable evening.

Director: Maryam Moghaddam, Behtash Sanaeeha

Country: Iran / France / Sweden / Germany

Producer: Gholamreza Mousavi, Behtash Sanaeeha, Etienne de Ricaud, Peter Krupenin, Christopher Zitterbart

World sales: Totem Films

COMPETITION

THE DEVIL’S BATH (GERMAN)

Upper Austria in 1750. The young married Agnes finds no place in her husband’s world. A shocking act seems to be the only way out. Deep psychogram of a woman, based on historical court records. The Devil’s Bath gives women from the rural milieu, the invisible and unheard of that time, a voice and shows their hard everyday life, determined by religious dogmas and taboos that still have an impact today. The film is based on historical court records from a harrowing, previously unexplored chapter of European history.

Director: Veronika Franz, Severin Fiala

Country: Austria / Germany

Producer: Ulrich Seidl

World sales: Playtime

COMPETITION

STERBEN

DYING (GERMAN)

Mother Lissy, father Gerd, son Tom and daughter Ellen: The members of the Lunies family are estranged from each other. Confronted with death, they meet each other again.

Director: Matthias Glasner

Country: Germany

Producer: Jan Krüger, Ulf Israel, Matthias Glasner

World Sales: The Match Factory

GENERATION

LAST SWIM (ENGLISH, FARSI)

An ambitious Iranian-British teenager sets off on a journey through London with her friends on the day the A-level exam results are announced, while secretly wrestling with a life-changing decision.

Director: Sasha Nathwani

Country: United Kingdom

Producer: Campbell Beaton, Nisha Mullea, Helen Simmons, Bert Hamelinck, Sorcha Shephard, James Isilay

HOMAGE

THE DEPARTED (ENGLISH)

Boston, Massachusetts. A gangster is chosen to infiltrate the police, while a young police officer goes undercover into the world of the Irish mafia. When the two moles discover each other’s identities, the battle begins.

Director: Martin Scorsese

Country: USA

Producer: Brad Pitt, Brad Gray, Graham King

World Sales: Park Circus

RETROSPECTIVE

THE ENDLESS NIGHT (GERMAN)

A dozen passengers are stuck at Berlin’s Tempelhof Airport for one night due to fog. The largely improvised ensemble film condenses a collage of their encounters and conversations into a realistic portrait of society.

Director: Will Tremper

Country: Federal Republic of Germany

Producer: Will Tremper

PANORAMA

I SAW THE TV GLOW (ENGLISH)

Teenager Owen makes his way through life in the suburbs. One day, a classmate introduces him to the supernatural world of a mysterious late-night television show. In the pale light of the television images, Owen’s perception of reality becomes increasingly cracked.

Director: Jane Schoenbrun

Country: USA

Producer: Ali Herting, Emma Stone, Dave McCary, Sarah Winshall, Sam Intili

World Sales: A24

PANORAMA

MY NEW FRIENDS (FRENCH)

Lucie is a forensics specialist for the police. Since her partner’s death, she has led a withdrawn life. One day a young couple moves into the house next door with their little daughter. As Lucie gets to know the three better and becomes friends with them, she finds out that the father, Yann, is an anti- police activist with a long criminal record. Lucie finds herself caught in a moral conflict between her professional ethics and her need to support this family. Your certainties begin to falter.

Director: André Téchiné

Country: France

Producer: Sylvie Pialat, Benoît Quainon

World Sales: Pyramid International

PANORAMA

THE OUTRUN (ENGLISH)

After excessive years in London, Rona returns to her Scottish homeland to leave her difficult past behind her. Surrounded by the raw natural beauty of the Orkney Islands, she searches for healing. Nora Fingscheidt’s adaptation of Amy Liptrot’s autobiographical bestseller looks at Rona’s downward spiral in London and her time in a strict rehab program in harrowing flashbacks. However, the focus of the film is her liberation from personal demons through connection with the nature of her childhood home.