Overview
- A seven-member jury chose ten productions from 739 works viewed across Germany, Austria and Switzerland during the 2025 screening period.
- Sebastian Hartmann is invited twice, including Potsdam’s first-ever entry with Serotonin, a five-hour solo performed by Guido Lambrecht, and Cottbus’s Der Hauptmann von Köpenick.
- Only one Berlin production made the list as Florentina Holzinger’s A Year without Summer joins a slate that also features Munich, Vienna, Zurich and Basel.
- The program leans toward novel adaptations and works probing war, political polarization and power dynamics, with a majority of women directing and a noted generational shift.
- The announcement was set against strikes by Berlin theater employees over pay talks and budget cuts; the festival runs May 1–17, with the schedule due in early April and ticket sales from April 18.