Tom Tykwer Opens the 75th Berlin International Film Festival with THE LIGHT

The world premiere of Tom Tykwer’s latest feature film Das Licht (The Light) will open the 75th Berlin International Film Festival on February 13, 2025. The German-French production The Light will be presented as a Berlinale Special Gala out of competition in the Berlinale Palast.

“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 The Light”, says Festival Director Tricia Tuttle. 

Starring the internationally acclaimed German star Lars Eidinger (Dying, Persian Lessons, Babylon Berlin) and the renowned actor and director Nicolette Krebitz (A Cloud in Our House, AEIOU- A Quick Alphabet of Love), The Light 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.

Director and screenwriter Tom Tykwer takes us into the heart of a German family, in the pulsating city of Berlin, in a world that is spinning fast and has become unstable.

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 this year’s Berlinale with The Light”, says Tom Tykwer. “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. It will be released in German cinemas on March 20, 2025 by X Verleih and distributed by Warner Bros. Beta Cinema is handling world sales.