Opening the 76th Berlinale with her third feature film No Good Men is a big step for Shahrbanoo Sadat who experienced herself the harrowing crisis awaiting her protagonist. Outspoken cinematographer Naru, played by Sadat herself, is a character closely modelled after herself. Ahead of her film's premiere screening at the Berlinale opening gala, the Iranian director spoke with Lidanoir about the tense time when the Taliban took Kabul in August 2021, living in a fundamentalist patriarchal society, and moments of love and joy in violent times.

Trauer und Freude, Lachen und Schmerz, Glück und dessen Verlust: Zwischen diesen heilbaren Gegensätzen oszilliert Adrian Goigingers biographisch inspiriertes Drama um Clown Barbara, die bei einem Autounfall plötzlich ihren Ehemann und die beiden Kinder verliert. Robert Stadlober verkörpert in Vier Minus Drei, der auf der Berlinale in der Sektion Panorama Premiere feiert, den Clown-Kollegen und beruflichen wie privaten Partner der Protagonistin, die durch ihre Kunst einen eigenen Weg aus dem Schmerz findet. Im Interview sprechen Regisseur Goiginger und Hauptdarsteller Stadlober mit Lidanoir über den Umgang mit dem herausfordernden Thema, Clownerie als Charaktererweiterung und die Nähe zur realen Vorlage der bewegenden Geschichte.

Ahead of the start of the 76th Berlin International Film Festival, director Tricia Tuttle talks innovations and progress of the program, diversity and inclusion, and more.

Part of Moviebreak's Sundance 2026 coverage are the several podcast episodes in which our critics Lida and Patrick report from the on-site ongoings in Park City, where the festival gathers veterans and new talent of US independent cinema.

The final Sundance Podcast episode for this year is also the last episode in Park City forever. Just after the awards ceremony, guest critic Olivia and Lidanoir talk about winner titles both from the dramatic and documentary sections: US Documentary Competition Winner Nuisance Bear examines the shifting relationship between humans and polar bears close to the arctic circle. Shifting between doc-drama and fiction is Take Me Home, an observational family drama which has the director’s cognitively challenged sister play herself. After a second glance at US Dramatic Competition honoree Josephine, we discuss wryly humorous Lithuanian Best Direction winner How to Divorce During the War as well as the out of competition documentary tribute to Billie Jean King, Give Me the Ball!

Part of Moviebreak's Sundance 2026 coverage are the several podcast episodes in which our critics Lida and Patrick report from the on-site ongoings in Park City, where the festival gathers veterans and new talent of US independent cinema.

Episode #5 brings you more of the festival’s extraordinary documentary sections: Lidanoir and guest critic Xavier discuss Sara Dosa’s visually stunning meditation on memory and loss in the face of climate change Time and Water, and the new work by Sundance veteran Alex Gibney who uses the harrowing knife attack on Salman Rushdie to raise questions about free speech, political concessions to religious fundamentalists, and the personal impact of trauma. Xavier shares his perspective on youth drama Burn; and we have the newest work by another festival regular, Jay Duplass’ tragicomical examination of grief and family dynamics See You When I See You.

Part of Moviebreak's Sundance 2026 coverage are the several podcast episodes in which our critics Lida and Patrick report from the on-site ongoings in Park City, where the festival gathers veterans and new talent of US independent cinema.

In episode 4, the conversation shifts once more to four Sundance 2026 titles that confront pressure, power, and personal resilience from very different angles: The Invite, a tense, slow-burning study of social dynamics and unspoken threat; The Brittney Griner Story, a powerful documentary portrait of an athlete caught at the intersection of sport, politics, and identity; Burn, a raw and urgent depiction of lives pushed to the brink; and The Weight, an introspective drama exploring emotional burden, responsibility, and the quiet costs of endurance.

Part of Moviebreak's Sundance 2026 coverage are the several podcast episodes in which our critics Lida and Patrick report from the on-site ongoings in Park City, where the festival gathers veterans and new talent of US independent cinema.

In episode 3, Patrick discusses the charms of John Wilson's digressive documentary The History of Concrete, as well as his disappointments with Kogonada's lowkey high-concept drama zi. Lida looks at Petra Volpe's Swiss-English prison drama Frank & Louis and, occasioned by Adam Meeks Ohio-set drama Union County, teaches Patrick the differences between opioids and opiates.

Part of Moviebreak's Sundance 2026 coverage are the several podcast episodes in which our critics Lida and Patrick report from the on-site ongoings in Park City, where the festival gathers veterans and new talent of US independent cinema.

In the second episode, the Lida and Patrick turn their attention to a wide spectrum of festival titles: legendary documentarian's William Greaves posthumously completed Once Upon a Time in Harlem, Beth de Araújo's intense Josephine, told mostly from the perspective of an 8-year old who has to grapple with the aftermath of a crime she witnesses, the allegorical and folk-tinged thriller Wicker, starring Olivia Colman and Peter Dinklage, and The Gallerist, a garish satire of the contemporary art world.

Part of Moviebreak's Sundance 2026 coverage are the several podcast episodes in which our critics Lida and Patrick report from the on-site ongoings in Park City, where the festival gathers veterans and new talent of US independent cinema.

In the first episode, the two dive into four titles that, to a greater or lesser extent, are shaping this year’s festival conversation: the autobiographically inspired Charlie xcx mockumentary The Moment, the childhood-tv-turned-wrong horror movie Buddy, the hard-to-wrap-your-head-around story of Joybubbles, and the Leonardo DiCaprio-backed documentary The Lake centering around the ecological catastrophe that threatens flora, fauna, and communities in and around Utah's Great Salt Lake.

A literal wicker man desired by Olivia Coleman. A devastating documentary look on the ecological collapse of Utah’s Great Salt Lake. The rekindled friendship of a female Lagosian cab driver and a sex worker. A group of friends fighting the demented main character of a once-popular kid’s TV show. The 42nd edition of the Sundance Film Festival beckons with an exciting mix of both fiction and non-fiction feature films and shorts. For its final celebration in Salt Lake City - where it all started thanks to the festival’s main founder, Robert Redford - and Park City, the Legacy section presents nine feature films plus a compilation of shorts from various years.

This combined look at past and present Sundance titles underscores the festival’s fascinating range, from Kevin Smith’s black-and-white ultra-low budget comedy Clerks to Noah Baumbach’s tragicomical family drama The Squid and the Whale to that ultimate found footage horror The Blair Witch Project. Which aspects make a film a candidate for the world’s most important independent film festival? How does the festival stay true to its roots without stopping to evolve? And what part do the political positions of individual films play? Senior programmers Heidi Zwicker and Basil Tsiokos spoke with Lidanoir about selecting films, preserving the festival’s spirit at a pivotal moment of change, and more!

Ein buchstäblicher Wicker Man, begehrt von Olivia Colman. Ein schonungsloser Dokumentarfilm über den ökologischen Kollaps des Great Salt Lake in Utah. Die neu entfachte Freundschaft zwischen einer Taxifahrerin aus Lagos und einer Sexarbeiterin. Eine Gruppe von Freunden, die sich der dement gewordenen Hauptfigur einer einst beliebten Kinderserie entgegenstellt. Die 42. Ausgabe des Sundance Film Festivals lockt mit einer spannenden Mischung aus Spiel- und Dokumentarfilmen sowie Kurzfilmen. Zur letzten Ausgabe in Salt Lake City – dort, wo alles begann, dank Festivalgründer Robert Redford – und in Park City präsentiert die Sektion Legacy neun Langfilme sowie eine Auswahl an Kurzfilmen aus verschiedenen Jahrgängen.

Dieser gemeinsame Blick auf Vergangenheit und Gegenwart des Sundance-Kinos macht die beeindruckende Bandbreite des Festivals deutlich: von Kevin Smiths schwarz-weißer Ultra-Low-Budget-Komödie Clerks über Noah Baumbachs tragikomisches Familiendrama The Squid and the Whale bis hin zum ultimativen Found-Footage-Horror The Blair Witch Project. Doch was macht einen Film eigentlich zu einem Kandidaten für das wichtigste Independent-Filmfestival der Welt? Wie bleibt das Festival seinen Wurzeln treu, ohne dabei stehenzubleiben? Und welche Rolle spielen die politischen Haltungen einzelner Filme? Die Senior-Programmer Heidi Zwicker und Basil Tsiokos sprachen mit Lidanoir über die Filmauswahl, den Erhalt des Festivalgeists in einer Phase des Umbruchs – und vieles mehr.