Berlin Film Festival reveals eclectic 2024 competition line-up: Here's everything you need to know

The Berlin International Film Festival has revealed the 20 titles selected for its official Competition.

It’s a promising selection of films with several star-driven projects and some arthouse favourites. We don’t envy this year’s jury, led by Lupita Nyong’o, but we can’t wait to feast our eyes on what has got to be the most eclectic Berlinale line-up in recent years.

Here is everything you need to know about the upcoming films vying for 2024’s Golden Bear. (Scroll down for full list of Competition titles.)

New films from Olivier Assayas, Bruno Dumont, Mati Diop are among those selected for the Competition line-up, with stars including Rooney Mara (La Cocina), Gael García Bernal and Renate Reinsve (Another End), Sebastian Stan (A Different Man – also starring Reinsve), Isabelle Hupert (A Traveler’s Needs) and Cillian Murphy, whose new film, Small Things Like These, will open this year’s Berlinale.

Small Things Like These is directed by Peaky Blinders’ Tim Mielants, and is based on the 2021 book by Irish author, Claire Keegan.

Set in 1980s Ireland, it sees the Oppenheimer star play a devoted father who discovers unsettling truths about the Magdalene Laundries, the horrific asylums run by Roman Catholic institutions said to house “fallen women”. The cast includes Ciaran Hinds and Emily Watson. 

The Berlinale's Artistic Director Carlo Chatrian said: “We are confident that this story that allies the kindness to be directed to the more fragile, and the willpower to stand up against injustice, will resonate with everyone.”

He continued: “We are looking forward to launching this quiet yet quite exceptional film at the start of Zeitgeist Irland 24, a year-long celebration of Irish culture in Germany."

Several films in the line-up