Dedicated to the theme “Mistakes”, the approximately 100 workshops, talks and film screenings at Berlinale Talents (February 9-14) will not only spotlight the productive handling of mistakes and minor catastrophes, but also focus on the deliberate decision to “do things wrong” as an aesthetic experiment, a creative force of renewal, and a wilful rebellion of art against the norm.

The official program at the HAU Hebbel am Ufer invites renowned festival guests, jury members as well as international film experts – among them Charlotte Rampling, Roberto Saviano, David Lowery, Tendo Nagenda (VP of Original Film at Netflix), the indie adult filmmaker Erika Lust, the Golden Bear winner Adina Pintilie, the Oscar contender Guy Nattiv and many more – to engage with the Berlin audience.

Berlinale Talents will once again present current trends and discourse also from inside the different fields of work, including the sound designer Peter Albrechtsen and Foley Artist Heikki Kossi, who bring sound for documentary films to life using real props, or the puppet- and prop builder Simon Weiße, who presents his miniature work for Wes Anderson films (both Wednesday). Interdisciplinarity remains a core theme of Berlinale Talents, when the cinematographer, editor and production designer of the new series M – A City Searches for a Murderer provide insights into their collaboration and experts from the UN to the „Mayor of Skid Row“ try to come up with “alternate histories” to counter the mainstream narrative in a “Live World Building Session” (both on Monday). Research methods (Monday) and interview conducting techniques (Tuesday) for fiction and documentary films are as much part of the program as interactive web series from the Lebanon (Monday).

In addition to its 25 public talks Berlinale Talents offers alumni screenings of Systemsprenger (System Crasher)(Competition), Chão (Landless)(Forum), Knives and Skin (Generation), Buoyancy and Screening Shorts (Generation and Berlinale Shorts films) followed by Q&A’s with the respective alumni.