Berlin International Festival 2026 | Live From the Frontlines

David Bond, Magic Engine's Production Director

David's report direct from the Berlin International Film Festival: Ai is starting to become part of most tech savvy producers pitch kits. This is the report card: EFM 2026 felt more efficient and focused, but also a bit resigned. The dominant mood across the market was clearly risk mitigation, mixed with a kind of creeping nihilism, not panic, but a shared sense that the business feels fragile right now and everyone is adjusting accordingly. Most conversations revolved around practical responses to that fragility rather than big ambitions. There was constant talk about leaning harder into tax credits and incentive structures, making sure long tail rights and reversions are protected so projects retain value over time, and buyers increasingly building escape clauses into deals to protect themselves. At the same time, producers are now routinely arriving with AI generated pitch decks and materials, which already feels like standard operating procedure rather than something experimental. Beyond deal mechanics, the structure of markets themselves seems to be shifting. In person attendance windows are getting shorter and more compressed, with fewer people lingering just to network and more focus on getting in, doing business, and getting out. Berlin’s competition slate also felt noticeably less star driven this year, reinforcing the sense that glamour and big headline plays are taking a back seat to caution. Meanwhile, several high profile filmmakers were openly arguing that cinema needs to separate itself from politics again, which sparked a lot of side conversations even if opinions were mixed. On the geopolitical front, Russian buyers are still present in theory but facing increasing structural barriers that make participation difficult, reshaping parts of the financing landscape. At the same time, TIFF’s new market initiative is clearly positioning itself as a September anchor, and people are watching closely to see if that changes the timing and flow of dealmaking globally. Overall, the industry is still moving forward, films are getting financed, packaged, and sold, but the mood everywhere feels cautious. People are still doing business, but with less optimism and more calculation. The sense coming out of Berlin is that the machine keeps running, but everyone is protecting themselves and trying to minimize risk while figuring out what the next stable version of the market looks like. —David Bond.