Berlinale Talents Announces the Location and Visuals for its 2026 Theme, “Creating Confusion”
- Chinyere Ibeh
- 6 days ago
- 4 min read
The talent development program will celebrate the ambiguity within cinema in its annual event for up-and-coming filmmakers.
Berlinale Talents will celebrate the courage to resist easy answers in its 2026 theme, “Creating (and) Confusion — Cinema, Chaos, and the Power of Discomfort.”
The program helps up to 200 emerging filmmakers, putting them in the same space as one another and industry veterans. It serves as not only a networking event, but an almost weeklong convention featuring workshops, project development, and public talks.
“We so look forward to inviting 200 Talents from all over the world to Berlin — to engage with and explore these ideas together, and to create a space for experimentation, failure, and new beginnings,” the program’s duo, Tobias Pausinger and Nikola Joetze, said in the press release.
The theme, “Creating (and) Confusion,” highlights the ways filmmakers craft confusion, surprise and suspense through their editing. Such confusion requires precision through pacing, framing, and scripting.
“A good story refuses a simple truth. It offers multiple angles, activating audiences to reflect and interpret,” per the press release. “Sometimes the caused sensation of confusion stems from unfamiliarity — language, references, cultural logic — revealing our own limitations.”
The key visual for the upcoming event came from the minds of graphic design duo Ada Favaron and Imad Gebrael. Their visual explores the fragmented, chaotic nature of perception and the continuous flow of the creative process, according to the press release.
Starting in 2026, Berlinale Talents will take place in Berlin’s Radialsystem. The renovated former pumping station along the Spree River serves as a fitting home for the interdisciplinary talent program. Radialsystem has been used for expansive performances since 2006, notably serving as a place for the arts and collaborative action.
“We are pleased to welcome Berlinale Talents to Radialsystem for the first time,” Matthias Mohr, Radialsystem’s Artistic Director and Managing Director, said. “The intensive exchange between filmmakers from many different areas of film production breaks down genre boundaries and opens up new perspectives.”
Mohr notes that Radialsystem is situated in Berlin’s historical and cultural landscape, serving as a place for artistic and collaborative activity.
The management duo for Berlinale Talents, Nikola Joetze and Tobias Pausinger, share their enthusiasm for the upcoming edition of the program.
“Last year’s journey into the art of listening revealed a truth we cannot ignore: our world resounds with noise, a chorus of clashing voices, opinions, and messages that can at times overwhelm. It feels only natural, then, to carry that exploration forward into the realm of confusion,” the duo said via the press release. “For Berlinale Talents 2026, we choose to embrace this state not with apprehension, but with optimism and creativity.”
Berlinale Talents 2026 will happen from February 13 to February 18, bringing the new class of emerging filmmakers to the Berlin film scene. The program is part of Berlinale Pro, a union of the European Film Market, Berlinale Co-Production Market, and the World Cinema Fund.
The program will feature public events that will connect audiences to leading figures in the film industry. Previous guests include Lupita Nyong’o, Martin Scorsese, and Kristen Stewart.The talent development program will celebrate the ambiguity within cinema in its annual event for up-and-coming filmmakers.
Berlinale Talents will celebrate the courage to resist easy answers in its 2026 theme, “Creating (and) Confusion — Cinema, Chaos, and the Power of Discomfort.”
The program helps up to 200 emerging filmmakers, putting them in the same space as one another and industry veterans. It serves as not only a networking event, but an almost weeklong convention featuring workshops, project development, and public talks.
“We so look forward to inviting 200 Talents from all over the world to Berlin — to engage with and explore these ideas together, and to create a space for experimentation, failure, and new beginnings,” the program’s duo, Tobias Pausinger and Nikola Joetze, said in the press release.
The theme, “Creating (and) Confusion,” highlights the ways filmmakers craft confusion, surprise and suspense through their editing. Such confusion requires precision through pacing, framing, and scripting.
“A good story refuses a simple truth. It offers multiple angles, activating audiences to reflect and interpret,” per the press release. “Sometimes the caused sensation of confusion stems from unfamiliarity — language, references, cultural logic — revealing our own limitations.”
The key visual for the upcoming event came from the minds of graphic design duo Ada Favaron and Imad Gebrael. Their visual explores the fragmented, chaotic nature of perception and the continuous flow of the creative process, according to the press release.
Starting in 2026, Berlinale Talents will take place in Berlin’s Radialsystem. The renovated former pumping station along the Spree River serves as a fitting home for the interdisciplinary talent program. Radialsystem has been used for expansive performances since 2006, notably serving as a place for the arts and collaborative action.
“We are pleased to welcome Berlinale Talents to Radialsystem for the first time,” Matthias Mohr, Radialsystem’s Artistic Director and Managing Director, said. “The intensive exchange between filmmakers from many different areas of film production breaks down genre boundaries and opens up new perspectives.”
Mohr notes that Radialsystem is situated in Berlin’s historical and cultural landscape, serving as a place for artistic and collaborative activity.
The management duo for Berlinale Talents, Nikola Joetze and Tobias Pausinger, share their enthusiasm for the upcoming edition of the program.
“Last year’s journey into the art of listening revealed a truth we cannot ignore: our world resounds with noise, a chorus of clashing voices, opinions, and messages that can at times overwhelm. It feels only natural, then, to carry that exploration forward into the realm of confusion,” the duo said via the press release. “For Berlinale Talents 2026, we choose to embrace this state not with apprehension, but with optimism and creativity.”
Berlinale Talents 2026 will happen from February 13 to February 18, bringing the new class of emerging filmmakers to the Berlin film scene. The program is part of Berlinale Pro, a union of the European Film Market, Berlinale Co-Production Market, and the World Cinema Fund.
The program will feature public events that will connect audiences to leading figures in the film industry. Previous guests include Lupita Nyong’o, Martin Scorsese, and Kristen Stewart.
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