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Berlin Gets Political

What’s the fix?: First up, Zac had this dispatch from Berlin … The great debate at the heart of this year’s Berlinale has been as much a demonstration of the new media landscape as it has a discussion on politics. Yes, Wim Wenders, as jury president, made a series of inarticulate comments, but I would argue they were somewhat unsurprising. The German filmmaker has in the past championed the Berlinale as a home of political cinema but he also notoriously refused to award Spike Lee’s Do the Right Thing the Palme d’Or when he was jury head at Cannes in 1989, describing the film as too political and morally ambiguous. Wenders is a discussion point, but I struggle to believe anyone is waiting to hear Rupert Grint’s take on the rise of fascism in the UK. At times, the questions that have dominated press conferences this year in Berlin have felt little more than an exercise in clickbait. It feels as though coverage of the competition films no longer moves the needle for digital publications and print newspapers, so reporters are attempting to find a different angle. Fest boss Tricia Tuttle certainly thinks so. How, then, does the Berlinale fix this? The immediate answer would be to scrap press conferences, like many other big festivals. The more pressing question, for me, is how Berlin can rejuvenate its competition lineup to once again inspire debate and wonder. This year’s headline titles, Rosebush Pruning and Josephine, boast A-list Hollywood talent (along with Dua Lipa on the carpet), but no one seemed terribly interested. What people are discussing is Sandra Hüller’s performance in Rose. Even further back, when I think about breakout Berlinale titles from the last decade and beyond, I remember The Act of Killing (2013), Call Me by Your Name (2017), The Souvenir (2019), and Passages (2023), all of which screened in the festival’s alternative Panorama section. To me, that makes the festival’s remit clear: weird, experimental, and challenging cinema. The fest ends Saturday.

Screenings Come To London Town

Decent spirits: Every year we write about the growth of the London TV Screenings, and every year there is more growth. In 2026, 43 distributors ranging from behemoth to boutique are set to host events in the UK capital, with shows being offered up in Soho including Bella Ramsey-starrer Maya, Minnie Driver’s bible drama The Faithful, and Graham Norton mega-reality format The Neighbourhood (check out our Deadline Dozen for the 12 hottest). Buyers, sellers, and everyone in between are descending on the capital in decent spirits, seeking out the next big thing. While there are still, of course, a plethora of challenges, the industry feels more secure than it did this time last year, and there is a hell of a lot of good TV on show. That security may be further shored up (or made less secure, depending on how you look at it) if the Banijay-All3Media merger goes through, so it felt timely for us to explore the ramifications of the potential deal on the distribution landscape. Meanwhile, the Screenings means MIP London, which, of course, now runs concurrently. Jesse’s interview with MIP boss Lucy Smith, in which she touches on the future of that event as its two-year contract with the Savoy and IET London runs down, can be found here. And for all our other coverage, including tonnes of exclusive sales news, check this out. We’ll be reporting from the Screenings all week.

Andrew Arrested

Unprecedentedly unprecedented: It was very difficult to not repeatedly use the word “unprecedented” when writing about Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor’s arrest on Thursday morning. The man formerly known as Prince Andrew was arrested at his home on suspicion of misconduct in public office due to his relationship with the late pedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein and his sharing of confidential material. Andrew is the first person arrested since the latest tranche of millions of Epstein Files were released. His name has barely been out the news for months as the files have connected him more and more closely with the sex trafficker. No modern British monarch has ever been arrested (you have to go back a fair few generations for that), and the entire affair is a complete humiliation for a Royal Family that is happiest when out of the news. King Charles III, who recently stripped his disgraced brother of his Prince title, simply said, “The law must take its course.” Andrew went home yesterday evening but has not been charged (in the UK, you can be arrested and detained by the police for 24 hours without being charged), but the once-unimaginable prospect of a member of the Royal Family behind bars now feels a distinct possibility. America will be paying attention.

The Essentials

🌶️ Hot One: The biggest worldwide deal to emerge from this year’s EFM is Sony’s for Skeletons, the J.J. Abrams creature feature starring Brie Larson and JT Mollner.

🌶️ Another one: Claes Bang is playing a plastic surgery pioneer in a German series from the producing team behind Maxton Hall.

🌶️ Another: Keeley Hawes and Freddie Highmore are reassembling for a second season of Prime Video’s The Assassin.

🎙️ The big interview: Diana sat down with Constantin boss Oliver Berben to talk Resident Evil and beyond.

🎙️ Big interview 2: Andreas had this exclusive chat with Vue CEO Tim Richards, who backed Paramount over Netflix in the race for WBD, and discussed plenty more.

🪓 Breaking Baz: George R. R. Martin is bringing the world of Westeros to the stage with a world premiere of Game of Thrones: The Mad King beginning performances soon, our ed-at-large reported.

🖊️ Signed: WME nabbed Hossein Keshavarz and Maryam Ataei, whose Sundance winner The Friend’s House is Here was shot in secret in Tehran.

🏪 Setting up shop: Two-time Oscar nominee Djimon Hounsou, whose Fanaticus Media Group will be a production entity and “ecosystem builder.”

🚪 Shuttering: Australia’s Matchbox Pictures, which closes after 18 years.

⛷️ Winter Olympics: A Swiss TV network removed a viral clip from its website in which an Israeli athlete was called out for supporting “genocide in Gaza.”

👏 New gig: Disney+ created a top development job in the UK, working with the team behind Rivals.

🤖 Rendering: Jake checked out the Chroma Awards, the AI short film event that proved artificial intelligence filmmaking is not even close to being a cinema experience. 

🍿 Box office: Emerald Fennell’s Wuthering Heights debuted with $83M WW.

And finally… thoughts go out to the family and friends of Tehran producer Dana Eden, who died suddenly during filming earlier this week in Greece. Cast and crew including Hugh Laurie paid respects.

International Insider was written by Max Goldbart. Zac Ntim contributed and edited.