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Berlinale 2025 Opens February 13
The world premiere of Tom Tykwer’s latest feature film, Das Licht (The Light) will open the 75th Berlin International Film Festival on February 13, 2025. Filmfestival.com reports that the German-French production Das Licht (The Light) will be presented as a Berlinale Special Gala in the Berlinale Palast. Starring the internationally acclaimed German star, Lars Eidinger (Dying, About Joan, Babylon Berlin) and the renowned actor and director, Nicolette Krebitz (A Cloud in Our House, A E I O U – A Quick Alphabet of Love), Das Licht (The Light) tells the story of the Engels family. Tim (Lars Eidinger), Milena (Nicolette Krebitz), their twins Frieda (Elke Biesendorfer) and Jon (Julius Gause) and Milena’s son Dio (Elyas Eldridge) are a family that lives more side by side than together and nothing holds them together until the housekeeper Farrah (Tala Al-Deen) enters their lives. The mysterious woman from Syria puts the Engels’ world to an unexpected test and brings to light feelings that have long been hidden. In the process, she pursues a plan all of her own that will fundamentally change the family’s life. Director and screenwriter Tom Tykwer shows the everyday life of a German middle-class family in a world that is spinning fast and has become unstable. “We knew as soon as we saw Das Licht (The Light) that we wanted to have it open the 75th Berlinale. Tom Tykwer finds beauty and joy in our often fractured and challenging world, and magically captures the essence of our modern life on screen. It is our great pleasure to welcome Tom back to the Berlinale with Das Licht,” says Festival Director Tricia Tuttle. Tom Tykwer has opened the Berlinale twice previously: in 2002 with his first international production Heaven and in 2009 with the political thriller The International. “I’m over the moon to open next year’s Berlinale with Das Licht (The Light),” says Tom Tykwer. “The Berlinale is the festival of my life. The city is my destiny. This film is my longing.”

PAFF Is Underway In Los Angeles
THE 2025 Pan African Film Festival otherwise called PAFF in LA opened-on February 4 with the highly anticipated opening night film, Magazine Dreams. The opening night will hold on February 4 at The Culver Theater in Culver City. Magazine Dreams, directed by Elijah Bynum, delves into the life of an aspiring bodybuilder struggling with the pressures of his dreams, identity, and the pursuit of self-worth. 2025 Pan African Fim Festival Ambassador Jonathan Majors delivers a powerhouse performance that has earned widespread acclaim, bringing raw emotion and intensity to a character navigating the complexities of modern life. After the opening night, PAFF announced that it is proud to continue its partnership with the Black Alliance for Just Immigration (BAJI) by hosting a special screening of select international short films, entitled, Black Immigrants: Telling Our Stories & Visioning the Future. The screening will be followed by a powerful discussion exploring the needs, challenges, and aspirations of Black immigrants. This event will also examine the deep connections between Black displacement, migration, and the systemic forces of racial capitalism and global anti-Blackness driving these issues. The festival runs until February 17th. This year’s line-up features 100+ feature length & short films that will excite, enlighten & inspire from around the African Diaspora. Additional information can be sourced at PAFF.org, or email [email protected].

More Cannes Film Festival Films Earn Laurels
THE César Academy has announced the nominations for its 50th ceremony, to be held on February 28, 2025 at the Olympia in Paris. 21 films of the Cannes film festival official selection were nominated in 22 categories: 14 nominations for The Count of Monte-Cristo by Matthieu Delaporte and Alexandre de La Patellière and 13 nominations for Beating Hearts by Gilles Lellouche. Jacques Audiard’s Emilia Pérez, which was awarded the Best Actress and Jury Prizes at the 77th Festival de Cannes, garnered 12 nominations. Souleymane’s Story, which won the Un Certain Regard Jury’s Prize and Best Actor Award in the same section last year at Cannes, received 8 nominations, as did Misericordia by Alain Guiraudie. Emmanuel Courcol’s The Marching Band received 7 nominations. Louise Courvoisier’s Holy Cow, winner of the Un Certain Regard Youth Award and Michel Hazanavicius’s The Most Precious of Cargoes were nominated 4 and 3 times respectively. Wild Diamond, Agathe Riedinger’s first film, received 2 nominations. Anora by Sean Baker (Palme d’or at the 77th Festival de Cannes), The Apprentice by Ali Abbasi, The Belle from Gaza by Yolande Zauberman, Ernest Cole, Lost and Found by Raoul Peck, Flow by Gints Zilbalodis, Jim’s Story by Arnaud and Jean-Marie Larrieu, The Kingdom by Julien Colonna, The Man Who Could Not Remain Silent by Nebojša Slijepčević (Short film Palme d’or), Savages by Claude Barras, The Seed of the Sacred Fig by Mohammad Rasoulof (Jury Special Prize), The Substance by Coralie Fargeat (Best Screenplay), and The Zone of Interest by Jonathan Glazer (Grand Prix of the 76th Festival de Cannes), each received one nomination.