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From its first frame, How to Be Normal and the Oddness of the Other World drops us into a world where everyday routines feel as fragile as glass. Florian Pochlatko’s debut turns Pia’s struggle to reclaim a “normal” life into a cinematic puzzle, with each scrambled timeline and surreal gag like a game mechanic that shifts the rules mid-play. We meet Pia, freshly discharged from psychiatric care, wandering beneath her parents’ roof—an environment full of half-finished board games of corporate takeover and sensationalist TV news that echo her inner chaos.

The film’s pacing mirrors the unpredictability of a well-designed narrative-driven game: moments of quiet tension—a post-it–covered face at her office desk—give way to sudden fantasy bursts, whether it’s her towering monster form or covert agents tailing her down sterile hallways. These tonal swings provoke genuine emotional jolts: a flare of sympathy when Pia pauses,...

Paris-based sales outfit Alpha Violet has acquired world distribution rights to “Caravan,” a first feature by Czech director Zuzana Kirchnerová about a mother and her disabled son who embark on road trip. The film will soon premiere in Un Certain Regard at the Cannes Film Festival.

“Caravan” stars prominent Czech actor Aňa Geislerová as a mother “worn down by years of caregiving who embarks on a transformative journey through Italy with her intellectually disabled son,” according to the provided synopsis.

A personal drama, shaped by Kirchnerová’s own experience as a parent to a child with Down syndrome and autism, “Caravan” explores themes of motherhood and rebellion. The film marks Czech cinema’s return to the Cannes’ official selection after more than three decades. The last majority Czech film in the fest’s main program was Jan Švankmajer’s “Faust” in 1994.

“Despite its difficult subject, I wanted to create a film that allows for lightness,...

What does it mean to be normal? How do we define “normal” in the ever-changing contemporary world? What if the world we live in is abnormal itself? Could we ever go back to normal once we “fall off the wagon”? Austrian filmmaker Florian Pochlatko asks the same questions in his feature-length debut How to Be Normal And The Oddness of the Other World.

The protagonist Pia, played by the up-and-coming actress Luisa-Céline Gaffron, obviously did something in the past to be labelled “not normal”. We meet her just before she gets released from a mental institution to at least try to get back into “normal” life. She suffers from her disorder, but also from the prescription drugs she takes, both their effects and side effects. Her problems also include the bad break-up with her ex-boyfriend Joni (Felix Pöchhacker), her own patterns of self-destructive behaviour, including alcohol and substance abuse and her.

If you watch Austrian writer-director Florian Pochlatko’s feature film debut How to Be Normal and the Oddness of the Other World (Wie man normal ist und die Merkwürdigkeiten der anderen Welt) in the Perspectives program of the 75th Berlin International Film Festival, you may catch yourself rubbing your eyes and wondering: Is Ed Sheeran really in this movie? And how the heck did they get him?

That’s no coincidence. Pochlatko’s film, among other things, reflects on such questions as what is real and what is normal.

The movie’s cast is led by Luisa-Céline Gaffron (And Tomorrow the Entire World) and also features Elke Winkens, Cornelius Obonya, and Felix Pöchhacker, among others. And yes, the British man protagonist Pia meets is called Ned and does look a lot like Ed Sheeran. But the actor’s name is Wesley Byrne, and he is a street cleaner who lives in the Greater Manchester area.

Richard Linklater’s “Blue Moon,” starring Ethan Hawke and Margaret Qualley, and Michel Franco’s “Dreams” with Jessica Chastain are slated to compete at the 75th edition of the Berlin Film Festival. This year’s jury will be presided over by “May December” filmmaker Todd Haynes.

“Blue Moon,” which also stars Bobby Cannavale and Andrew Scott, is a long-gestating project which charts the final days of Lorenz Hart, half of the songwriting team Rodgers & Hart. The film has already been acquired by Sony Pictures Classics.

“Dreams” reunites Franco with Chastain following 2023’s “Memory.” The film stars Isaac Hernández as Fernando, a young ballet dancer from Mexico, who dreams of being internationally recognized and living in the U.S. Chastain plays his lover, a socialite and philanthropist.

Jessica Chastain in Michel Franco’s “Dreams”

Other notable titles on the competition roster include “Hot Milk,” the feature debut of acclaimed screenwriter Rebecca Lenkiewicz...

The competition line-up for the 2025 Berlin International Film Festival is being announced at a press conference at 11am Cet (10am GMT).

Scroll down for line-up

New festival director Tricia Tuttle is revealing the titles for the Competition and new Perspectives strand alongside co-directors of film programming Jacqueline Lyanga and Michael Stütz.

The announcement is being live-streamed on the festival’s social channels. Watch it live above.

Screen will update this page with the titles as they are announced. Refresh the page for latest updates.

As previously announced, the festival will open with Tom Tykwer’s Special Gala out of competition selection The Light.

Roland Teichmann, director of the Austrian Film Institute (AFI), has shared more details of the institute’s ambitious new funding programme for first and second features.

The Talent Lab scheme is being launched in collaboration with the Vienna Film Fund under its director Christine Dollhofer.

It aims to “identify interesting young filmmakers from all over the country whether they come from film school or not…this is the strategy to look for new talent from all over the place,” said Teichmann.

The €2.8m scheme offers emerging teams the opportunity to create their first and second feature films within “a structured...