All the guests of Berlin Critics’ Week 2026
All the guests of Berlin Critics’ Week 2026
The guests and moderators for Critics’ Week 2026 have been finalized. We expect to welcome almost all of the directors featured in the program as participants in the festival’s discussions and debates, as well as around 35 international further guests from various fields and disciplines. An overview of all guests is now available on our website.
Berlin Critics’ Week is a film festival but also a laboratory in which to experiment with different forms of discussing film, as we have done since its inception. This year, we are continuing the practice established at last year’s Critics’ Week of employing different debate formats. More information can be found in the debate glossary on our website (or in our press release from January 7). In addition to our cinema evenings, we look forward to welcoming guests and hosting discussions as part of the four events in our thematic focus, “Argue Against, Argue Again”, as well as to a bar talk at our pub cinema kick-off on February 8.
All the guests and debates in detail:
Pub Cinema: Die Bierverweigerin & Die Bettwurst
Sunday, February 8
8 p.m. – Café Neues Ufer (Hauptstraße 157, 10827 Berlin)
Even before the official start of the festival, we’ll kick off Critics’ Week with a screening in a local pub. As we did last year, we will be showing Rosa von Praunheim’s 1971 cult film Die Bettwurst – a small tribute to the filmmaker, who passed away at the end of 2025. The feature will be preceded by the new short film Die Bierverweigerin, which Jan Eilhardt made with the Filmbrigade Volkssolidarität. After the screening, filmmaker Katharina Lüdin will once again host an interactive bar talk: all attendees can write their questions and thoughts about the film on beer mats for discussion. The event will take place at Café Neues Ufer, which in the 1970s was the first café in Europe for gays and lesbians that, with its large windows facing the street, was visible to passersby.
Opening Event: Argue Against, Argue Again – The Limits and Potentials of Debate Culture
Monday, February 9
7 p.m. – Akademie der Künste (Pariser Platz 4, 10117 Berlin)
The official start of Critics’ Week will be marked by an event at the Akademie der Künste on Pariser Platz dedicated to our thematic focus, which concerns debate culture. The evening boasts an impressive list of guests. After a welcome address by Berlinale director Tricia Tuttle, filmmaker Heinz Emigholz, a long-standing member of the Akademie, will give an introductory keynote speech, to be followed by a discussion moderated by Amina Aziz on the concept of ‘debate culture’ and the practice of debating. The participants will be philosopher Heidi Salaverría, who is currently researching the connection between debate and salsa dancing, among other things, and Hengameh Yaghoobifarah, a writer and editor known for their sharp-tongued texts and emphatic public statements. After a break, we will bring together Frédéric Jaeger, Canan Turan, and Cem Kaya, filmmakers and critics who are eager to engage in discussion, with seasoned rhetoric professionals Dario Werner and Susanna Wirthgen to debate the concept of criticism itself. Artist and debate format developer Martin Muth will stage and moderate the debate as a playful exchange with the audience, accompanied by music from Stephan Wortmann.
Schedule for the Opening Event:
Doors: 6:30 p.m.
7 p.m.
Welcome by the Berlin Critics’ Week collective
Welcome address by Tricia Tuttle (festival director, Berlinale)
Keynote by Heinz Emigholz (filmmaker, member of Akademie der Künste)
7:30 p.m.
Discussion between Heidi Salaverría (philosopher, professor of art theory and artistic practice) and Hengameh Yaghoobifarah (writer/editor), moderated by Amina Aziz (freelance journalist).
Break: 8:35 p.m.
9:05 p.m.
Debate performance, staged and moderated by Martin Muth (debate format developer, moderator, artist) with music by Stephan Wortmann
Guests: Frédéric Jaeger (filmmaker, co-founder and former artistic director of Berlin Critics’ Week), Cem Kaya (filmmaker), Canan Turan (independent film scholar, script consultant, curator), Dario Werner (German Debating Championships runner-up) and Susanna Wirthgen (finalist in German Debating Championships 2025, political scientist and economist)
Reception: 10:15 p.m.
STEILVORLAGE: Fiction Contract & Worry Time
Tuesday, February 10
8 p.m. – Hackesche Höfe Kino
The first night of this year’s Critics’ Week official film program is not only about the films themselves, but will also feature a post-screening debate that encompasses the festival’s curatorial process. In our STEILVORLAGE debate format, a member of the selection committee—in this case, the American film critic Eileen Jones, of Jacobin magazine—will join the evening’s guests on stage to discuss the films screened—here, Worry Time and Carolyn Lazard’s Fiction Contract—and the rationale behind pairing them. Jones will be in conversation with Tom Brennan, director of Worry Time, and Emma Paetz, the screenwriter and lead actress.
Moderator: Till Kadritzke
HALBWISSEN: Turgaud
Wednesday, February 11
8 p.m. – Hackesche Höfe Kino
Our moderator, the film critic and cultural studies scholar Anne Küper, has a very special task ahead of her on Wednesday. She doesn’t know that Adilkhan Yerzhanov’s new film Turgaud will be shown that evening, nor does she know the identities of the discussion panellists: award-winning actress Tolganay Talgat, who was one of the leads in Yerzhanov’s The Plague at the Karats Village (2016); curator and Slavic studies scholar Rebecca Heiler, director of the goEast Festival; and filmmaker, artist, and writer Benjamin Heisenberg, who is also co-editor of the film magazine Revolver. Faced with an uninformed moderator, these three panellists must first agree on what kind of film they have seen before they can uncover its many layers. Adilkhan Yerzhanov and his team will support the panel from the audience—and may even gain new insights into their own film.
Moderator: Anne Küper
RUDELKRITIK: Hinterlegte Nummern & One Minute Is an Eternity for Those Who Are Suffering
Thursday, February 12
8 p.m. – Hackesche Höfe Kino
On Thursday, a whole pack of critics will be on hand to discuss the films of the evening, being Farina Mietchen’s documentary Hinterlegte Nummern and One Minute Is an Eternity for Those Who Are Suffering by Fábio Rogério and Wesley Pereira de Castro. RUDELKRITIK will feature scriptwriter and costume designer Freya Herrmann who, with Vera Klocke, hosts the pop culture and politics podcast Fashion the Gaze, film scholar and critic Elena Meilicke, who writes regularly for the film magazine Cargo, and film critic Olivia Popp, who writes for Cineuropa, among other outlets, and is particularly interested in decolonial and queer perspectives. This pack of critics is led by Hamburg-based filmmaker Oliver Bassemir, who was a guest at the 2020 Critics’ Week with his film [Bordeaux], ma bile.
Moderator: Oliver Bassemir
Argue Against, Argue Again: Israel Palestine on Swedish TV 1958-1989
Friday, February 13
8 p.m. – Hackesche Höfe Kino
On Friday evening, we will host a film night dedicated to our thematic focus, beginning with a screening of Göran Hugo Olsson’s monumental archival film Israel Palestine on Swedish TV 1958-1989, a three-and-a-half-hour examination of Swedish public television’s coverage of the Middle East conflict. Afterwards, there will be a discussion with Göran Hugo Olsson in which he will talk about his work on the film, as well as its reception since its premiere at Venice in 2024. The discussion will be led by freelance author and curator Irit Neidhardt, who has been exploring the relationship between cinema and the Arab world in various ways since the 1990s.
Moderator: Irit Neidhardt
Workshop: Media Coverage of the Middle East Conflict
Saturday, February 14
10 a.m.–2 p.m. – Sinema Transtopia (Lindower Str. 20/22, Haus C 13347 Berlin)
On Saturday morning, we invite you to a workshop led by Irit Neidhardt and based on Göran Hugo Olsson’s Israel Palestine on Swedish TV 1958-1989, which will focus on media coverage of the Middle East conflict. Applications to participate are still being accepted; information can be found on our website. Besides insights by Göran Hugo Olsson and television producer Lars Säfström, author and editor Daniel Bax will give a keynote speech on recent developments in Middle East reporting. An additional presentation on journalistic practice is planned.
Panel Discussion: Controversies in Film Culture
Saturday, February 14
3:30 p.m. – Sinema Transtopia (Lindower Str. 20/22, Haus C 13347 Berlin)
Also at Sinema Transtopia, on Saturday afternoon there will be another event dedicated to our thematic focus, “Argue Against, Argue Again – The Limits and Potential of Debate Culture”. Together with four influential voices in European film culture, we want to talk about the significance of controversies about cinema: Ruth Beckermann is known for her sometimes controversial documentaries; Peter Bradshaw has been chief film critic for The Guardian since 1999 and reports weekly on cinema and festival premieres; Emilie Bujès has been director of the Visions du Réel documentary film festival in Nyon since 2017, where important debates on the ethics of non-fiction cinema take place annually; and Romanian filmmaker Radu Jude is known for his satirical films, in which he examines the repressed parts of his country’s political history.
Moderator: Dennis Vetter
REAKTIONSZEIT: Mag Mag & Arguments in Favor of Love
Saturday, February 14
8 p.m. – Hackesche Höfe Kino
Our Valentine’s Day selection is all about love—and ghosts. Yuriyan Retriever’s J-horror variation Mag Mag is about a ghost who both loves and kills, while the animated ghosts in Gabriel Abrantes’ short Arguments in Favor of Love circle the subject of love in their conversations. After the screening, we invite you to a debate in the REAKTIONSZEIT format. First, moderator Kristina Aschenbrennerová will speak with our guests, film educator and author Florian Höhr and Spanish critic, curator, and horror film expert Daniela Urzola. Then, Mag Mag’s director will join the conversation herself: Japanese comedian Yuriyan Retriever, who has made a name for herself internationally through her appearances on the TV show America’s Got Talent.
Moderator: Kristina Aschenbrennerová
BRÜCKENSCHLAG: Loynes & Justa
Sunday, February 15
8 p.m. – Hackesche Höfe Kino
On Sunday evening, our BRÜCKENSCHLAG format explicitly highlights what has been the guiding principle of the festival since the beginning: looking beyond the boundaries of film culture. After the screening of Loynes and Justa, the directors of the two films, Dorian Jespers and Teresa Villaverde, will meet a pair of guests chosen specifically for their expertise outside the film industry: historian and author Edna Bonhomme, who in her latest book, A History of the World in Six Plagues, examines the history of epidemic diseases and how they have exacerbated existing social inequalities, and artist Beate Gütschow, who explores recent technical developments in photography in her work and teaches at the Cologne Academy of Media Arts.
Moderator: Amos Borchert
PUBLIKUMSJOKER: Beautiful and Neat Room & Hugs & Kisses
Monday, February 16
8 p.m. – Hackesche Höfe Kino
A special experiment is coming up on Monday evening: In our PUBLIKUMSJOKER format, audience members are invited to pose questions and give their opinions not only at the end of the discussion, but from the very beginning. Two volunteers will be randomly selected to take part in the post-screening discussion, alongside Austrian filmmaker and visual artist Maria Petschnig, who processes her experiences living in a shared apartment in New York in her film Beautiful and Neat Room, and artist and musician Marc Richter aka Neue Deutsche Kunst, who fed AI programs surreal prompts to create Hugs & Kisses.
Moderator: Dennis Vetter
STEILVORLAGE: Desire Lines & If You Don’t Like It, Look Away
Tuesday, February 17
8 p.m. – Hackesche Höfe Kino
Our closing night brings us full circle: returning to the debate format of the first film night, STEILVORLAGE, a member of the selection committee will once again join the post-screening discussion to talk about the films of the night but also how they were chosen. This time, Argentine film critic Lucía Salas, who has been involved in the program selection for Critics’ Week for several years, will take on this role. She will join Dane Komljen, director of Desire Lines, and Margaux Fournier, director of the documentary If You Don’t Like It, Look Away, as well as director and author Martha Mechow, who works at the intersection of theater, film, and visual arts. This final debate will be moderated by film critic Dana Linssen, who headed the Critics’ Choice section of the International Film Festival Rotterdam for many years.
Moderator: Dana Linssen
Please direct interview requests to our press contact Gloria Reményi.
Critics’ Week 2026 will take place from February 9 to 17. The film program starts on Tuesday, February 10 at Hackesche Höfe Kino.
All the guests of the Berlin Critics’ Week 2026
Program overview for Critics’ Week 2026
Press kit: Download
Press contact: Gloria Reményi, presse@wochederkritik.de
Copyright Photo: Tabita Hub