Change of Date, Thematic Focus, Writing Workshop, Design Campaign
Change of Date, Thematic Focus, Writing Workshop, Design Campaign
New dates for Critics’ Week: February 9–17, 2026
Thematic focus on debate culture
Writing workshop in January and February 2026 (application deadline: December 22, 2025)
The upcoming edition of Critics’ Week will for the first time begin before the Berlinale, kicking off on Monday, February 9, with an opening event at Akademie der Künste in Pariser Platz. This year’s film screenings will take place from February 10 to 17, 2026, at Hackesche Höfe Kino. The theme of Critics’ Week 2026, “Argue Against, Argue Again,” is dedicated to the idea of a culture of debate. And, for the second time, Critics’ Week is offering a writing workshop for authors.
Thematic Focus 2025:
Argue Against, Argue Again – The Limits and Potentials of Debate Culture
The much-vaunted culture of debate in Germany appears to be in poor shape. Public discourse, it is often said, has become so toxic, the divisions so entrenched and stereotyping of any opposition so rigid, that a genuine culture of debate is now seriously under threat. But what do we actually mean by a culture of debate? Why has it become endangered, and why is it worth defending anyway?
In the cultural scenes of many countries, the willingness to engage openly and constructively with disagreement seems to be waning. This tendency has only further intensified since October 7, 2023. Increasingly, nuance is claimed only for one’s own position and perception, while the opposing side is accused of simplification, polemics, or shortsightedness. And yet, despite widespread agreement that communication is failing, the number of issues that urgently demand debate continues to grow—in politics and in the media, as in the fields of art and culture.
In light of current upheavals in the cultural sector, we will be discussing the idea of a culture of debate and its importance to inevitable social negotiations—in the film industry and beyond—during Critics’ Week 2026, under the title “Argue Against, Argue Again.” We want to ask: What does criticism have to do with debate? After all, Critics’ Week was founded on the belief that debate is necessary and productive, but can also be enjoyable and cultivate empathy. Film festivals and the film world more broadly need critical intervention in order to raise questions of representation and power and to present the aesthetic possibilities of cinema in all their diversity. We advocate for public, controversial reflection and discussion that has an impact on the world and seeks to change it. In doing so, Critics’ Week also wants to invite voices from beyond cinema to join the debate: in our events around the thematic focus, representatives from fields including activism, civil society, and politics will meet with festival organizers, filmmakers, and critics to argue about cinema and the world.
Four events of the upcoming Critics’ Week will deal with this focus.
Events of the thematic focus
As part of our opening event on February 9 at Akademie der Künste, the philosopher Heidi Salaverría, who is currently researching the connection between conflict and salsa dancing, among other topics, will discuss the idea of debate culture with Hengameh Yaghoobifarah, a writer and editor known for their sharp-tongued texts and emphatic public statements. The discussion will be moderated by the journalist Amina Aziz, who is also guest editor of this year’s Critics’ Week magazine. Afterwards, we will bring filmmakers and critics together with seasoned rhetoric professionals to use the best arguments to shed light on conflicting perspectives on the concept of criticism itself—within the profession, in art, as a means of communication, and as a philosophical stance. Artist and debate format developer Martin Muth will stage and moderate the debate as a playful exchange with the audience, testing the rules that public debates actually follow.
Debates around the Middle East conflict have left particularly deep scars across the cultural field and at film festivals specifically in recent years. On one of our film evenings at Hackesche Höfe Kino, we will screen a striking artistic intervention in this debate: the expansive essay film Israel Palestine on Swedish TV 1958–1989, the latest work by Swedish director Göran Hugo Olsson. In it, Olsson examines more than 200 minutes of coverage of the conflict on Swedish public television, raising fundamental questions about the role of media and journalism in shaping the perception and processing of political crises. The director will travel to Berlin to join us for a post-screening discussion about his filmmaking methodology and the film’s reception.
Inspired by Olsson’s essay film, we are offering a workshop on media representation of the Middle East conflict. The workshop is intended to provide an opportunity for in-depth discussion of the director’s archival work, while also applying the questions raised by Israel Palestine on Swedish TV to the German media landscape. Using political perspectives as well as insights from communication studies, the workshop will offer the opportunity to analyze and discuss the content and aesthetic characteristics of recent TV reports on the Middle East conflict with experts.
Situated Film Criticism – Perspective and Location in Writing about Film
Critics’ Week 2026 Writing Workshop
Following on from last year’s debut writing workshop on film criticism and class issues, we now want to offer an annual platform for aspiring or already active authors. We will therefore again be holding a writing workshop, consisting of three sessions over January and February and coverage of the 2026 Berlinale. Participants will explore the question of how the social position of film critics should be allowed to become visible. Using Donna Haraway’s concept of “situated knowledge” as a jumping off point, we will explore how authors can reflect on their point of view, make it productive, and at the same time recognize the limits of their own perspective. The workshop is conceived and led by film critic and collective member Till Kadritzke, and will once again take place in collaboration with the Rosa Luxemburg Foundation.
The design campaign for Critics’ Week 2026
As part of this year’s design campaign, we are featuring a film that was screened at the festival in 2020: The Lost Okoroshi by Abba Makama impressed us with its light-footed staging, its open view of society, and its undogmatic perspective on spirituality. Today, five years after its release, the film is even more inspiring.
Alexander Brade (Instagram: @alex.brade_spam.service.24) is responsible for the design and typesetting of the 2026 Critics’ Week visual campaign. The layout and design of Critics’ Week was developed in 2016 by Kai Bergmann (bergmannstudios.com) and Matthias Neumann (studio.vonMatthias.de, Instagram: @vonmatthias.de).
The thematic focus events at a glance:
February 9, 2026, 7pm
Akademie der Künste, Pariser Platz 4, 10117 Berlin
Discussion with Heidi Salaverría (philosopher, professor for art theory and artistic practice) and Hengameh Yaghoobifarah (writer, editor), moderated by Amina Aziz (journalist)
Debate performance, directed and moderated by Martin Muth (debate format developer, moderator, artist), with music by Stephan Wortmann and guests including Frédéric Jaeger (filmmaker, co-founder and former artistic director of Berlin Critics’ Week), Dario Werner (German debating championships runner-up), and Susanna Wirthgen (finalist in German debating championships 2025, political scientist and economist)
Date tba
Hackesche Höfe Kino, Rosenthaler Str. 40–41, 10178 Berlin
Film screening of the thematic focus:
Israel Palestine on Swedish TV 1958-1989 (Sweden/Finland/Denmark 2004, 206 Min., D: Göran Hugo Olsson)
Followed by a talk with director Göran Hugo Olsson
Date and Location tba
Workshop about media representation of the Middle East conflict
Limited number of participants, registration opens in January 2026
January & February 2026
Writing Workshop: Situated Film Criticism
Conducted by Till Kadritzke (cultural studies scholar and film critic, Berlin Critics’ Week Collective member)
Applications open until December 22, 2025 via the Critics’ Week website
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Critics’ Week 2026 will take place from February 9 to 17, 2026. The film programme starts on Tuesday, February 10 at Hackesche Höfe Kino.
Read the announcement on wochederkritik.de
Press kit: Download
Press contact: Gloria Reményi, presse@wochederkritik.de
Copyright for the conference motif: Harun Farocki GbR
The image for this year’s poster is drawn from the film The Lost Okoroshi. Courtesy of Abba T. Makama.
Berlin Critics’ Week is an event organised by the German Film Critics Association and supported by Hauptstadtkulturfonds as well as Stiftung Kulturwerk of VG Bild-Kunst. The opening conference will be held in cooperation with the Film and Media Arts Section of the Akademie der Künste.