Berlinale 2026 – Booker Prize winning author Arundhati Roy heads to festival with new print of film she starred in…
As the 76th Berlin Film Festival gets underway (February 12-22) there is a strong South Asian presence in the selection of films…
By Suman Bhuchar
THERE are many world premieres and this festival is open to the public.
Berlinale, as it is known, features contributions from regional cinema, restored classics and emerging voices in the talents section (see different article) and also has short film categories.
One of the highlights of the next 11 days will also be the presentation of an honorary Golden Bear to Michelle Yeoh.
Opening Film – Berlinale Special Gala
‘No Good Men’
THIS is a romantic comedy from Afghanistan by writer-director Shahrbanoo Sadat. It also features her in the main role as camerawoman, ‘Naru’ who is the only camerawoman at Kabul’s main TV station.
Set in 2021, she believes there are no good men left in Afghanistan, until she meets colleague ‘Qodrat’ (Anwar Hashimi) who offers her a career opportunity. Sparks fly…
This is Sadat’s third film – after ‘The Orphanage’ (2019) and ‘Wolf and Sheep’. It created history when it premiered in Cannes in 2016 – being the first time an Afghan director had ever screened there. We interviewed her – see the link below.
‘No Good Men’ – screenings February 12-14
https://www.berlinale.de/en/2026/programme/202613960.html
World Premiere Berlinale Classics
‘In Which Annie Gives it Those Ones’
TOP OF OUR list is the 4K restored version of the cult Indian film ‘In Which Annie Gives it Those Ones’, directed by Pradip Krishen and scripted by Arundhati Roy and featuring her in the film.
It was originally made in 1989 as an English language television film (made for Indian state channel Doordarshan) and is partly inspired by Roy’s own experiences of studying architecture.
The plot revolves around an architectural student Anand Grover (‘Annie’) played by Arjun Raina who gets into trouble for making fun of the Principle, nicknamed Yam Doot (or ‘Messenger of Death’ – according to Indian mythology) played by Roshan Seth.
It also has early appearances of two actors who are household names in India now – Manoj Bajpayee and Bollywood megastar Shah Rukh Khan – what’s not to like!
The film was restored by the Film Heritage Foundation (FHF) at L’Immagine Ritrovata’s lab (in Bologna, Italy) in association with the director Pradip Krishen, using the 16 mm camera negative deposited by the director at the NFDC-National Film Archive of India and a 35 mm print preserved at the FHF.
The first screening will be on February 16 with Arundhati Roy, Krishen, Roy, and Shivendra Singh Dungarpur all expected to be in attendance
https://www.berlinale.de/en/2026/programme/202605965.html
World Premiere Generation K Plus
‘Not a Hero’
REGULAR RIMA DAS returns to the festival with her latest, ‘Not a Hero’.
This Assamese, Hindi and English language film is suitable for anyone aged 10 and over and deals with friendships and belonging. Mivan, eleven, moves from the city to his ancestral home in the village, learning to navigate new experiences. “Without recourse to grand gestures, the film observes the gentle transformation of a child – and of adults who rediscover what they have long left behind,” chimes the Berlinale guide.
Das’ ‘Village Rockstars 2’ featured at the festival last year and ‘Bulbul Can Sing’ got a special mention for Generation 14plus films in 2018. ‘Village Rockstars’ in 2017 brought her to international attention and she has won more than 75 awards around the globe.
‘Not a Hero’ screens from Saturday (February 14) until February 22.
https://www.berlinale.de/en/2026/programme/202610128.html
World Premiere Forum
‘Members of the Problematic Family’
THIS is debut feature film from R. Gowtham, who is a Tamil poet and translator and has helmed documentaries before this – this his first full length foray into fiction.
A young man, Prabha (A.ra. Ajith Kumar) dies in mysterious circumstances. His mother, Shanthi (Kanchana), uncle Sellam (Karuththadayan) and other extended family members converge for the funeral rites and grieve over the departed.
But who exactly is Prabha and how genuine is the grief? This is an insight into dysfunctional families with an incisive anthropological eye at those in their darkest moments.
‘Members of the Problematic Family’ screens February 18, 20 & 22
https://www.berlinale.de/de/2026/programm/202606749.html
World premiere Panorama
‘Lali’
DIRECTOR Sarmad Sultan Khoosat’s film ‘Lali’ is described as a “comic tale where the living share a restless world with the ghosts”.
Set in Pakistan, Zeba (Mayma Shajaffar) is a newly married bride to Sajawal (Channan Hanif) but is haunted by a mysterious past she cannot explain. Her husband is similarly tormented.
Zeba finds refuge and solace with two women: her fiery mother-in-law, Sohni Ammi, (Farazeh Syed) whose sharp tongue masks a big heart, and her taciturn neighbour, Bholi, (Rasti Farooq) whose gaze radiates a singular wisdom.
Khoosat is well-known in Pakistan and was a producer behind ‘Joyland’ which premiered in Cannes in 2023 and won many global admirers for its style and renewed attention for that country’s burgeoning independent art-driven filmmakers.
So where is this story heading, is it towards ‘Fire’ by Deepa Mehta or ‘Duvidha’ by Mani Kaul? Get your ticket and find out!
‘Lali’ – Punjabi with English subtitles from Saturday (February 14, 19, 21, and 22).
https://www.berlinale.de/de/2026/programm/202606456.html
World Premiere – Forum Documentary
‘Flying Tigers’
DIRECTOR and screenplay writer, Madhushree Dutta has crafted a personal film – ‘Flying Tigers’ that weaves threads containing memory, war, ecology and infrastructure.
Inspired by an intimate conversation with her Alzheimer’s-affected mother who tells her: “Close the windows. The tiger is coming. I can smell it! “as the illness triggers a fragment of memory to surface in an old woman’s mind”.
Dutta follows this trail back to the times of World War II. In the north-eastern state of Assam, in 1942, the US Army had implemented the first air bridge across the Himalaya, to send military aid to Kunming in China, carried out by the special air force unit Flying Tiger.
In the course of this research, Dutta and her friend, Chinese media scholar, You Mi, discover a common moment of history between two countries with closed borders. They are joined by Assamese writer Purav Goswami, driven by his interest in landscape, soil and terrain.
‘Flying Tigers’ from February 16, 17, 18 and 21
https://www.berlinale.de/en/2026/programme/202610591.html
Forum Special screening
‘Frauen in Berlin’ (‘Women in Berlin’)
THIS screening pays homage to the work of filmmaker Chetna Vora (1958-1987) who was an Indian-exchange student who was studying at the Academy of Film and Television in Postsdam-Babelsberg in East Berlin.
She interviewed the local women and Frauen in Berlin is an ethnographic portrait of their daily lives in the GDR, having children, and working. It was confiscated by the University and almost destroyed but a secret VHS version survived which has now been restored.
‘Frauen in Berlin’ (‘Women in Berlin’) screens February 14 & 20
https://www.berlinale.de/en/2026/programme/202608894.html
Forum Expanded World Premiere
‘A Circle as the Center of the Whole’
MADE by artist, Uttkarsh this short film approaches the city of Delhi as a site excavated by history, ideology and the act of remembrance itself.
‘A Circle as the Center of the Whole’ screens February 15 & 16
https://www.berlinale.de/en/2026/programme/202610757.html
Generation K Plus World Premiere
‘Abracadabra’
AS PART of the strand of Short Films 2, ‘Abracadabra’ is a short film by Amay Mehrishi and is a London Film School graduation project.
On a routine school bus ride home, 12-year-old Agastya is left adrift when his best friend, Naman, suddenly chooses to sit elsewhere. What seems like a small rejection spirals into a quiet storm of self-doubt, longing & guilt.
‘A Circle as the Center of the Whole’ from February 18, 19, 20, 21 and 22
https://www.berlinale.de/en/2026/programme/202612319.html
NB – If you are attending as a professional delegate, be aware: the public audience will have access to all screenings (excluding press screenings) throughout the festival. The final day on February 22, is called Audience Day, where all the tickets will be available from February 9 at reduced prices to public audience.
All pictures Courtesy of ©Berlinale 76
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