5th EthnoKino Berlin

On a crisp autumn evening in Berlin, EthnoKino made its way to Lichtblick Kino one of the smallest, coziest cinemas in the world. Nestled in Prenzlauer Berg, the single-screen cinema welcomed us with its familiar warmth, its soft red seats glowing under the flicker of the projector light. It was here that EthnoKino Berlin unfolded: an intimate gathering of filmmakers, thinkers, and dreamers who believe that cinema can bridge worlds and speak in the language of the heart.

Our lineup this year wove together stories of resistance, cosmology, and belonging Nature Attack, Cosmographies, Eskawata Kayawai, On the Other Side of the Mountain, Territorio of Puloi, and Made in Paradise , each film resonating with a deep call to rethink our relationship with nature and each other. These were not simply films; they were offerings. From the depths of the Amazon to the high plateaus of the Himalayas, from island rituals to the fluid borders of imagination, each story carried its own rhythm, its own truth.

Between screenings, the scent of something truly special filled the air: “Curry Wurst – Decolonised,” lovingly prepared by Nithin Shams. His version of Berlin’s iconic street food transformed the evening into a sensory dialogue, a playful yet political reimagining of cultural fusion. Each bite was a story, a question, a reflection on how culinary traditions can also be decolonized, reclaimed, and shared anew.

We have also realised excursions into the town to the East Side Gallery, Futurist Museum and the Global Fascisms exhibition at the Haus der Kulturen der Welt.

As the night unfolded, conversations flowed easily across languages, across generations, across ways of knowing. The magic of Lichtblick Kino amplified the intimacy of the encounter; with only a few dozen seats, it felt as though we were all part of one collective heartbeat, breathing in the stories, exhaling the thoughts they inspired.

EthnoKino Berlin felt like a celebration of pluriversal storytelling , a reminder that there is no single way to see or feel the world. It was a moment of stillness amid the city’s rush, a circle of light where cinema returned to its roots: community, conversation, and care.

As we stepped out into the cool night air, we carried with us the feeling that something had shifted. Berlin, we’ll be back. 🌍❤️