BERLINALE TALENTS 2026 EMBRACES THE CHAOS OF CINEMA
words by PHOEBE GIBSON-DOUGALL
The Mexican writer César Cruz once said, “art should comfort the disturbed and disturb the comfortable,” a maxim that mirrors one of greatest dilemmas that creatives face—how does one grapple with discomfort and approach complexity in their work? This question is the central theme at the heart of Berlinale Talents’ 2026 programme, titled ‘Creating (and) Confusion — Cinema, Chaos and the Power of Discomfort.’
image courtesy of BERLINALE
Now in its 24th edition, Berlinale Talents is Berlin International Film Festival’s acclaimed talent development program which brings together 200 emerging filmmakers and film professionals for an intensive development programme at the heart of the festival.
Each year the programme is devised around a key theme, a provocative starting point intended to stimulate dialogue and deeper exploration. This year Berlinale Talents embraces the ambiguity and complexity of our world and shines a spotlight on the creative potential that can emerge out of embracing this reality with the theme ‘Creating (and) Confusion – Cinema, Chaos and the Power of Discomfort’.
The programme runs for five days and allows its filmmakers to examine the genesis of their creative ideas and personal insights, and to confront that they are rarely born from apparently clear and simple situations, but rather from open and complex conditions, encounters and questions.
Berlinale Talents programme management duo Tobias Pausinger and Nikola Joetze elaborate: “The discomfort of confusion often leads to an inner search for answers, and it can drive creative thinking. In cinema, filmmakers create tension and ambiguity through editing, rhythm, and sound. Paradoxically, this very confusion requires precise decisions in framing, tempo, and form. A good story, a good film, widens perspectives and provokes thought and is most satisfying when it shows us something new about the world. 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 programme’s key visual, designed by Berlin-based duo Ada Favaron and Imad Gebrael, reflects this year’s theme through abstraction, and explores the fragmented, chaotic nature of perception and the continuous flow of the creative process. In this way, they reflect the ambiguous world behind the scenes of filmmaking, where ideas circulate freely and collective understanding emerges from shared exploration.
2026 also sees Berlinale Talents find its home at a new venue, Berlin’s Radialsystem. As a space for art and creative collaboration, the former pumping station on the banks of the Spree is an ideal venue for the interdisciplinary and international talent development programme of the Berlin International Film Festival—and the perfect place to bring together emerging filmmakers and major stars of the festival on a more personal level.
