Berlin film buffs, May 2025 is packed! Dive into Fantasy Filmfest Nights’ thrilling premieres, the thought-provoking XPOSED Queer Film Festival, nostalgic classics, a special 10th anniversary screening of Berlin B-Movie and unique events like Blind Date Cinema at Moviemento. Explore diverse genres and unforgettable cinematic experiences across the city.
Berlin on Film: B-Movie: Lust & Sound in West-Berlin 10 Year Anniversary screening
Immerse yourself in the raw, unpolished West Berlin of the 80s with this special 10th anniversary screening of B-MOVIE: Lust & Sound. The Berliner, in collaboration with Mobile Kino, presents Mark Reeder’s journey through a divided city, a simmering pot from punk to the Love Parade. The screening with be followed by a live Q&A with Mark Reeder, followed by DJ sets.
- Revier Südost, Schnellerstr. 137, Niederschöneweide, May 7, details.
Fantasy Filmfest Nights 2025
The interim event for Fantasy Film Festival’s huge autumnal showdown takes place during the beginning of the sunnier months over at Zoo Palast, and serves as a teaser for what its full version has up its sleeves later in the year. This year, the four-day event packs a punch with 12 feature films, varied in genre and geography. Expect to see more Barry Keoghan (if you hadn’t had enough of him already) in the Irish thriller Bring Them Down (D: Christopher Andrews, 2024), a tale of rival farmers grappling with life-altering familial strife and hostility. Catch some Italian martial arts in Gabriele Mainetti’s Kung Fu in Rome (2024), where young kung fu master Mei embarks on a journey to find her younger sister and steps into the underbelly of the Italian capital.
- Zoo Palast, Hardenbergstr. 29A, Charlottenburg, May 8 – 11, details.
Strait-Jacket
I recently embarked on a period of research on the mother in cinema. Mothers, with all their emotional forces and intentions, are mirrored back at us regularly on screen – especially in the horror genre, in which the mother is often laid bare in all her Freudian delights. In William Castle’s 1964 psychological crime horror, Joan Crawford shines in one of her many demented mother roles. Despite her lingering mental instability, convicted axe murderess Lucy Harbin is released from the insane asylum where she had been confined for two decades after killing her unfaithful husband. Carol Harbin (Diane Baker) is her daughter, who witnessed the gruesome act as a child. While attempting to facilitate a healing process for her mother, she becomes wary of an emerging pattern in which those who provoke her mother seem to end up dead. This should be a good edition of the ever-exciting Creepy Crypt series.
- Rollberg Kino, Rollbergstr. 70, Neukölln, May 10, details.
KineKiez: Elfi Mikesch
Elfi Mikesch is an Austrian-German filmmaker, photographer and cinematographer whose work has been regarded as some of the most influential in Germany for many decades. Rising to prominence in the 1970s, Mikesch has worked across multiple art forms and collaborated with many celebrated visual artists. This evening will celebrate Mikesch’s 85th birthday with a screening of her 1980 documentary What Shall We Do Without Death, wherein two old women share their days in a home for the elderly in Hamburg. Mikesch will stay behind for a Q&A after the screening. The event is part of Deutsche Kinemathek’s programme to ensure that their filmic treasures remain visible across Berlin Kinos amid their move from the Sony Center.
- Wolf Kino, Weserstr. 59, Neukölln, May 18, details.
Blind Date Cinema
Blind Date Cinema is back at Moviemento for anyone hoping to “meet new people, just have a nice evening, or are looking for a date”. How does it work? While the film is playing, the organisers will find you a match based on a short questionnaire. When the credits roll, they’ll invite you to meet your blind date at the bar for a drink. Sharpen up your film critic side to impress the cinephile you end up chatting with. This month, the film is Berlinale favourite Oslo Stories: Dreams by Norwegian director Dag Johan Haugerud. Having some German under your belt would be good for this one, as it’s OmU.
- Moviemento, Kottbusser Damm 22, Kreuzberg, May 20, details.
Berlin on Film: Wings of Desire
We’re teaming up once again with Mobile Kino for a screening of Wim Wenders’ poetic 1987 masterpiece Wings of Desire (German with English subtitles). Experience the melancholic journey of two angels through the divided Cold War-era Berlin, as one silent observer falls in love with a mortal and longs for finiteness.
- Revier Südost, Schnellerstr. 137, Niederschöneweide, May 21, details.
XPOSED Queer Film Festival Berlin
The 19th edition of XPOSED kicks off in May across various venues, showcasing a total of 14 feature films and 48 shorts and delving into themes like complex joy, migration paths, underground archives, defiant bodies, rituals and memory, digital intimacies and the reinterpretation of past and future. A prevalent and visually-captivating motif observed throughout many films this year (and apt for mid-spring) is that of flowers, flora, blossoms and greens, symbolising the resilience and growth of the queer communities surrounding the festival. The theme is especially potent this year, given our challenging contemporary circumstances. In the festival’s own words, “Of course, our space isn’t unlimited. This year, we too are affected by budget cuts from the Berlin Senate and Germany’s broader cultural sector (#berlinistkultur). The space we hold is precarious – but we are still here. And we are holding on.”
- Moviemento, Kottbusser Damm 22, Kreuzberg, Babylon Kreuzberg, Dresdener Str. 126, Kreuzberg, Il Kino, Nansenstraße 22, Neukölln and Wolf Kino, Weserstr. 59, Neukölln, May 29 – Jun 1, details.
