'Run Lola Run' director's new drama to open Berlin Film Festival

Nearly three decades since his hyperkinetic classic "Run Lola Run" propelled him onto the international stage, German director Tom Tykwer will open the 2025 Berlin Film Festival with the family drama "The Light," organizers said on Thursday.

Tykwer, whose work is deeply tied to the German capital, including his latest project, the neo-noir TV series "Babylon Berlin," has opened the festival twice before, most recently in 2009 with his political thriller "The International."

German films have rarely been given the honor of launching the festival, the first major Filmfest each year, and ranking in the top tier. Tykwer made a name with 1998's "Run Lola Run" but has also directed "Perfume: The Story of a Murderer" and was a writer on the Wachowskis' "Cloud Atlas."

"The Berlinale is the festival of my life. The city is my destiny. This film is my longing," Tykwer said in a statement.

"The Light," starring another festival veteran, Lars Eidinger, follows a middle-class German family as life implodes following the arrival of a mysterious housekeeper from Syria.

The German-French production will be shown out of competition in the glamorous Berlinale Palast theatre on February 13, and its release in German cinemas is scheduled for March 20.

The festival, known for taking stronger political overtones than its peers in Venice and Cannes, will be held this February under a new director, Tricia Tuttle, who is taking the reins amid drastic budget cuts affecting Berlin's cultural scene.

The city has slashed 2 million euros ($2.11 million) from the festival's 2025 budget, though according to local media, a balanced budget is secured through March 2025.

The 2024 budget amounted to about 33 million euros.

Todd Haynes, the Oscar-nominated U.S. director whose debut feature "Poison" won the Berlin Film Festival's queer film prize in 1991, will serve as head of the international jury for the 75th iteration of the Berlinale, which runs through February 23.