The Berlin International Film Festival, better known as Berlinale, returns next month for its 75th year.
Running from February 13 until February 23, it is one of the first major festivals in a calendar year, and has traditionally served as a launching point for films from the Mena region.
Sitting as jury president at this year’s festival is American filmmaker Todd Haynes, best known for his films Safe, Carol and May December. South Korean filmmaker Bong Joon-ho’s next film, Mickey 17, is set to premiere at the festival.
This year’s event will also feature several films from the Middle East, both in the feature and short film categories. Here are the regional titles screening at the 2025 Berlinale.
Holiday
French-Lebanese filmmaker Wissam Charaf follows up Dirty Difficult Dangerous, which had its premiere at the Venice Film Festival, with Holiday. It is a coming-of-age story set in Beirut during the Lebanese Civil War.
Taking place in 1986, the film follows a boy named Chadi, 13, whose family flee the capital to live with his aunt in the south.
"It's the diary of Chadi, a 13-year-old Lebanese kid who discovers life, sexuality, love and friendship in a context of war and violence,” Charaf told Variety. The events in the film don’t unfold “in a dramatic way, but like a series of absurd and incomprehensible incidents".
The film will have its premiere in the Berlinale Co-Production Market.
Yunan
German-Syrian director Ameer Fakher Eldin's film Yunan will be competing for the Golden Bear in the festival's main competition. The film follows an exiled and depressed Arab author who travels to a remote island in the North Sea. The film stars Ali Suliman, Tom Wlaschiha and Hanna Schygulla.
Fakher Eldin, who was born in Kyiv, Ukraine, is the son of two Syrian immigrants from Golan Heights. He previously directed two short films, as well as the 2021 feature The Stranger.
Yunan will be competing in the festival's main competition.
Yalla Parkour
Palestinian filmmaker Areeb Zuaiter’s documentary Yalla Parkour is an exploration of a resilient parkour community that practices the daring sport in Gaza. The film first screened in New York in November last year, followed by a Middle East premiere at the Red Sea Film Festival in December.
Speaking to The National, Zuaiter said: “In January, we lost the Gaza parkour member Saeed Al Tattari, it was at that point when we realised we have to stop filming and show the world what Gaza looked like. We needed to show that there was life – that there were people who were trying to make life out of nothing.”
Yalla Parkour will be screened as part of the Panorama Dokumente category.
Khartoum
Five filmmakers collaborated to direct Khartoum, a documentary about five different people who managed to flee the Sudanese capital in the wake of war. The directors are Anas Saeed, Rawia Alhag, Ibrahim Snoopy Ahmad, Timeea Mohamed Ahmed with creative director and writer Philip Cox.
The film mixes real-life footage from the first day of the war, with people themselves acting out what they did, in front of a green screen, to illustrate the trials and tribulations of their experience.
Khartoum will be screening at the Sundance Film Festival before going to Berlin, and will be part of the Panorama category.
The Settlement
Egyptian director Mohamed Rashad's The Settlement will compete in the Perspectives category, which is screening 14 films by first-time directors. The film follows two brothers, aged 23 and 12, whose only compensation after their father's death is to be offered work in the factory where their father died, alongside his killer.
The Settlement makes its world premiere at the Berlinale.
Citizen-Inmate
This short film by Iranian filmmaker Hesam Eslami explores the uncomfortable experience of being constantly under surveillance by his government. The film attempts to flip the table or those surveying, creating a tense situation in society.
Eslami has previously directed three films: 20th Circuit Suspects, The Marriage Project and A Band of Dreamers and a Judge.
Citizen-Inmate will screen as part of the Berlinale Short Film Competition.
The Last Day
Mahmoud Ibrahim’s Akher Youm, or The Last Day, is a documentary about a pair of Egyptian brothers who, while moving their furniture from their childhood home (set for demolition), tune into news of Palestinian homes being destroyed and reflect on both situations.
The film will make its European premiere at the Berlinale, and will screen as part of the Forum Expanded category.
1001 Frames
Iranian-American filmmaker Mehrnoush Alia's latest project follows a group of actresses auditioning for the role of Scheherazade in A Thousand and One Nights under the watchful eye of a well-known director. The women start to realise that the director is casting for more than just the lead role.
Alia was born in Iran but moved to the US where she now directs short films, with 1001 Frames being a feature film remake of her 2015 short film Scheherazade.
1001 Frames will be making its world premiere in the Panorama category.
Beneath Which Rivers Flow
Iraqi filmmaker Ali Yahya’s short film Beneath Which Rivers Flow takes its name from a verse in the Quran. The film follows a young man named Ibrahim who lives in Southern Iraq’s marshlands with his buffalo companion. The pair are fine until it becomes clear an ecological disaster is about to upend their lives.
This is Yahya Ali’s first film behind the camera, having previously acted in two short films.
Beneath Which Rivers Flow makes its global premiere at the Berlinale and will screen as part of the Generation 14 plus category.
The Tale of Daye’s Family
Produced by Egypt and Saudi Arabia, Karim El Shenawy’s film tells the story of Daye, a 14-year-old Nubian albino child with a golden voice. Daye is enamoured by his idol, Egyptian singer Mohamed Mounir. Daye’s family, seeing the boy’s talent, decide to travel to Cairo to audition for The Voice.
El Shenawy has been directing short and feature films since 2012, directing six episodes of the Kuwaiti Netflix series The Exchange.
The Tale of Daye’s Family is making its European debut and will be screening as part of the Generation 14 plus category.
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Specs
Engine: 51.5kW electric motor
Range: 400km
Power: 134bhp
Torque: 175Nm
Price: From Dh98,800
Available: Now
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Cofe
Year started: 2018
Based: UAE
Employees: 80-100
Amount raised: $13m
Investors: KISP ventures, Cedar Mundi, Towell Holding International, Takamul Capital, Dividend Gate Capital, Nizar AlNusif Sons Holding, Arab Investment Company and Al Imtiaz Investment Group
Specs
Engine: Duel electric motors
Power: 659hp
Torque: 1075Nm
On sale: Available for pre-order now
Price: On request
2018 ICC World Twenty20 Asian Western Regional Qualifier
Saturday results
Qatar beat Kuwait by 26 runs
Bahrain beat Maldives by six wickets
UAE beat Saudi Arabia by seven wickets
Monday fixtures
Maldives v Qatar
Saudi Arabia v Kuwait
Bahrain v UAE
* The top three teams progress to the Asia Qualifier
MATCH INFO
Azerbaijan 0
Wales 2 (Moore 10', Wilson 34')
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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Our legal consultant
Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants
It Was Just an Accident
Director: Jafar Panahi
Stars: Vahid Mobasseri, Mariam Afshari, Ebrahim Azizi, Hadis Pakbaten, Majid Panahi, Mohamad Ali Elyasmehr
Rating: 4/5
MOUNTAINHEAD REVIEW
Starring: Ramy Youssef, Steve Carell, Jason Schwartzman
Director: Jesse Armstrong
Rating: 3.5/5
2025 Fifa Club World Cup groups
Group A: Palmeiras, Porto, Al Ahly, Inter Miami.
Group B: Paris Saint-Germain, Atletico Madrid, Botafogo, Seattle.
Group C: Bayern Munich, Auckland City, Boca Juniors, Benfica.
Group D: Flamengo, ES Tunis, Chelsea, Leon.
Group E: River Plate, Urawa, Monterrey, Inter Milan.
Group F: Fluminense, Borussia Dortmund, Ulsan, Mamelodi Sundowns.
Group G: Manchester City, Wydad, Al Ain, Juventus.
Group H: Real Madrid, Al Hilal, Pachuca, Salzburg.
More coverage from the Future Forum
Milestones on the road to union
1970
October 26: Bahrain withdraws from a proposal to create a federation of nine with the seven Trucial States and Qatar.
December: Ahmed Al Suwaidi visits New York to discuss potential UN membership.
1971
March 1: Alex Douglas Hume, Conservative foreign secretary confirms that Britain will leave the Gulf and “strongly supports” the creation of a Union of Arab Emirates.
July 12: Historic meeting at which Sheikh Zayed and Sheikh Rashid make a binding agreement to create what will become the UAE.
July 18: It is announced that the UAE will be formed from six emirates, with a proposed constitution signed. RAK is not yet part of the agreement.
August 6: The fifth anniversary of Sheikh Zayed becoming Ruler of Abu Dhabi, with official celebrations deferred until later in the year.
August 15: Bahrain becomes independent.
September 3: Qatar becomes independent.
November 23-25: Meeting with Sheikh Zayed and Sheikh Rashid and senior British officials to fix December 2 as date of creation of the UAE.
November 29: At 5.30pm Iranian forces seize the Greater and Lesser Tunbs by force.
November 30: Despite a power sharing agreement, Tehran takes full control of Abu Musa.
November 31: UK officials visit all six participating Emirates to formally end the Trucial States treaties
December 2: 11am, Dubai. New Supreme Council formally elects Sheikh Zayed as President. Treaty of Friendship signed with the UK. 11.30am. Flag raising ceremony at Union House and Al Manhal Palace in Abu Dhabi witnessed by Sheikh Khalifa, then Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi.
December 6: Arab League formally admits the UAE. The first British Ambassador presents his credentials to Sheikh Zayed.
December 9: UAE joins the United Nations.
Fifa Club World Cup:
When: December 6-16
Where: Games to take place at Zayed Sports City in Abu Dhabi and Hazza bin Zayed Stadium in Al Ain
Defending champions: Real Madrid
World Cup warm-up fixtures
Friday, May 24:
- Pakistan v Afghanistan (Bristol)
- Sri Lanka v South Africa (Cardiff)
Saturday, May 25
- England v Australia (Southampton)
- India v New Zealand (The Oval, London)
Sunday, May 26
- South Africa v West Indies (Bristol)
- Pakistan v Bangladesh (Cardiff)
Monday, May 27
- Australia v Sri Lanka (Southampton)
- England v Afghanistan (The Oval, London)
Tuesday, May 28
- West Indies v New Zealand (Bristol)
- Bangladesh v India (Cardiff)
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
BUNDESLIGA FIXTURES
Friday (all kick-offs UAE time)
Hertha Berlin v Union Berlin (10.30pm)
Saturday
Freiburg v Werder Bremen (5.30pm)
Paderborn v Hoffenheim (5.30pm)
Wolfsburg v Borussia Dortmund (5.30pm)
Borussia Monchengladbach v Bayer Leverkusen (5.30pm)
Bayern Munich v Eintracht Frankfurt (5.30pm)
Sunday
Schalke v Augsburg (3.30pm)
Mainz v RB Leipzig (5.30pm)
Cologne v Fortuna Dusseldorf (8pm)
If you go...
Etihad Airways flies from Abu Dhabi to Kuala Lumpur, from about Dh3,600. Air Asia currently flies from Kuala Lumpur to Terengganu, with Berjaya Hotels & Resorts planning to launch direct chartered flights to Redang Island in the near future. Rooms at The Taaras Beach and Spa Resort start from 680RM (Dh597).
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Mina Cup winners
Under 12 – Minerva Academy
Under 14 – Unam Pumas
Under 16 – Fursan Hispania
Under 18 – Madenat
The biog
Favourite book: Animal Farm by George Orwell
Favourite music: Classical
Hobbies: Reading and writing
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Get inspired
Here are a couple of Valentine’s Day food products that may or may not go the distance (but have got the internet talking anyway).
Sourdough sentiments: Marks & Spencer in the United Kingdom has introduced a slow-baked sourdough loaf dusted with flour to spell out I (heart) you, at £2 (Dh9.5). While it’s not available in the UAE, there’s nothing to stop you taking the idea and creating your own message of love, stencilled on breakfast-inbed toast.
Crisps playing cupid: Crisp company Tyrells has added a spicy addition to its range for Valentine’s Day. The brand describes the new honey and chilli flavour on Twitter as: “A tenderly bracing duo of the tantalising tingle of chilli with sweet and sticky honey. A helping hand to get your heart racing.” Again, not on sale here, but if you’re tempted you could certainly fashion your own flavour mix (spicy Cheetos and caramel popcorn, anyone?).
ELIO
Starring: Yonas Kibreab, Zoe Saldana, Brad Garrett
Directors: Madeline Sharafian, Domee Shi, Adrian Molina
Rating: 4/5
Visa changes give families fresh hope
Foreign workers can sponsor family members based solely on their income
Male residents employed in the UAE can sponsor immediate family members, such as wife and children, subject to conditions that include a minimum salary of Dh 4,000 or Dh 3,000 plus accommodation.
Attested original marriage certificate, birth certificate of the child, ejari or rental contract, labour contract, salary certificate must be submitted to the government authorised typing centre to complete the sponsorship process
In Abu Dhabi, a woman can sponsor her husband and children if she holds a residence permit stating she is an engineer, teacher, doctor, nurse or any profession related to the medical sector and her monthly salary is at least Dh 10,000 or Dh 8,000 plus accommodation.
In Dubai, if a woman is not employed in the above categories she can get approval to sponsor her family if her monthly salary is more than Dh 10,000 and with a special permission from the Department of Naturalization and Residency Dubai.
To sponsor parents, a worker should earn Dh20,000 or Dh19,000 a month, plus a two-bedroom accommodation
Water waste
In the UAE’s arid climate, small shrubs, bushes and flower beds usually require about six litres of water per square metre, daily. That increases to 12 litres per square metre a day for small trees, and 300 litres for palm trees.
Horticulturists suggest the best time for watering is before 8am or after 6pm, when water won't be dried up by the sun.
A global report published by the Water Resources Institute in August, ranked the UAE 10th out of 164 nations where water supplies are most stretched.
The Emirates is the world’s third largest per capita water consumer after the US and Canada.
Company%20profile
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Teams
Pakistan: Sarfraz Ahmed (captain), Mohammad Hafeez, Sahibzada Farhan, Babar Azam, Shoaib Malik, Asif Ali, Shadab Khan, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Usman Khan Shanwari, Hasan Ali, Imad Wasim, Faheem Ashraf.
New Zealand: Kane Williamson (captain), Corey Anderson, Mark Chapman, Lockie Ferguson, Colin de Grandhomme, Adam Milne, Colin Munro, Ajaz Patel, Glenn Phillips, Seth Rance, Tim Seifert, Ish Sodhi, Tim Southee, Ross Taylor.
