Georg Wilhelm Pabst’s Geheimnisse einer Seele (Secrets of a Soul- main pic) was made in 1926, in the silent era. The restoration of the avant-garde film will premiere in Berlin’s Haus der Kulturen der Welt (House of World Cultures, HKW), with new music by Yongbom Lee. Via an innovative system, the neural activity of a member of the music ensemble will be rendered as light and sound in real time.
The Ukrainian entry is Kryshtalevyi Palats (Crystal Palace), influenced by both German expressionist filmmaking and the country’s own avant-garde. The 1934 political drama, directed by Hryhorii Hrycher, disappeared soon after its premiere. No print exists in Ukraine. Amherst College initiated the digital restoration project, which was carried out by Fixafilm in Warsaw.
Also made in the 1930s is La kermesse héroïque( (Carnival in Flanders) by Jacques Feyder. The costume comedy about powerful women and weak men is set in 1616 in the Flemish town of Boom. In 1935, different language versions were produced simultaneously; the festival will be showing the French version. The restoration was done by the French National Centre of Cinema (CNC).
The satirical Erogotoshi-tachi yori: Jinruigaku nyûmon(The Pornographers, Japan 1966) by Shōhei Imamura, who would have turned 100 years old in 2026, pinpoints greed and base instinct as the drivers of society after World War II. The restoration in 4K was done from the original 35 mm negative, provided by the Nikkatsu Corporation, in collaboration with Radiance Films.
With Assarab (Mirage, 1979), the only narrative feature made by director Ahmed Bouanani, the Berlinale Classics showcase a seminal work of post-colonial Moroccan cinema. The 4K restoration preserved the film’s unique visual and acoustic hallmark.
That same year saw the production of Hukkunud Alpinisti hotell (Dead Mountaineer’s Hotel) by Estonian director Grigori Kromanov. A genre-busting film noir with elements of fantasy, it is based on a story by the legendary Soviet science-fiction writers Arkady and Boris Strugatsky. The restoration was done from a new 4K scan of 35 mm inter-positive material held by the Estonian National Archives.
Panelstory, aneb jak se rodí sídlište (Prefab Story) by Czech director Věra Chytilová was also first released in 1979. It is a social satire about life and community in a newly-built housing estate on the fringe of Prague. The film did not receive official approval until two years after it was finished. The digitisation was done from the original picture and sound negatives, held by the Národní filmový archiv in Prague.
Exactly ten years later, Pradip Krishen made In Which Annie Gives It Those Ones, with a screenplay by renowned Indian author Arundhati Roy. In the whimsical campus comedy, which achieved cult status, she brought her own memories of studying architecture to bear and plays one of the lead roles. The 4K restoration done by the Film Heritage Foundation at L’Immagine Ritrovata’s lab was a cooperative venture with India’s National Film Development Corporation (NFDC) and the National Film Archive of India (NFAI) and the director, using the 16 mm camera negative and a 35 mm print.
For the first time, Berlinale Classics will be screening an anime film, Jubei Ninpucho (Ninja Scroll) by Yoshiaki Kawajiri. Made in 1993, the film about the heroic quest of a young ninja warrior became one of the most globally influential animes. Done with the director’s participation, the 4K restoration faced challenges specific to cel animation.
The most recent film in this year’s Berlinale Classics is Leaving Las Vegas (dir: Mike Figgis, 1995), which garnered its star Nicolas Cage an Oscar. Much of the film was shot with a hand-held camera on the streets and in the casinos of Las Vegas. The 4K restoration by Silver Salt Restoration in the UK was based on the Super 16 camera negative.
Berlinale Classics have already confirmed the writer and activist Arundhati Roy and director Mike Figgis as guests.
BERLINALE 2026 | 12 February – 21 February 2026