Berlin Film Festival To Open With Tom Tykwer Feature ‘The Light’
German filmmaker Tom Tykwer will open the Berlin Film Festival with his latest feature The Light (Das Licht)
The screening will take place on February 13, 2025. It will be a world premiere and the film will screen out of competition in the Berlinale Palast.
Starring in the pic are German actors Lars Eidinger (Dying, About Joan, Babylon Berlin) and Nicolette Krebitz (A Cloud in Our House, A E I O U – A Quick Alphabet of Love).
The film tells the story of the Engels family. Tim (Lars Eidinger), Milena (Nicolette Krebitz), their twins Frieda (Elke Biesendorfer) and Jon (Julius Gause) and Milena’s son Dio (Elyas Eldridge) are a family that lives more side by side than together and nothing holds them together until the housekeeper Farrah (Tala Al-Deen) enters their lives. The mysterious woman from Syria puts the Engels’ world to an unexpected test and brings to light feelings that have long been hidden. In the process, she pursues a plan all of her own that will fundamentally change the family’s life.
Tom Tykwer has opened the Berlinale twice previously: in 2002 with his first international production Heaven and in 2009 with the political thriller The International.
“I’m over the moon to open next year’s Berlinale with The Light,” Tykwer said in a statement this morning. “The Berlinale is the festival of my life. The city is my destiny. This film is my longing.”
The Light was produced by X Filme Creative Pool, in co-production with ZDF, ARP Séléction, Gold Rush Pictures, Gretchenfilm and B.A. Filmproduktion. The film will be released in German cinemas on March 20, 2025 by X Verleih and distributed by Warner Bros. Beta Cinema is handling world sales.
“We knew as soon as we saw The Light that we wanted to have it open the 75th Berlinale. Tom Tykwer finds beauty and joy in our often fractured and challenging world, and magically captures the essence of our modern life on screen. It is our great pleasure to welcome Tom back to the Berlinale with Das Licht (The Light),” says Festival Director Tricia Tuttle.
