Hundreds of films will be shown during the fest, which starts February 15, and carries on for ten days – with 20 films competing for the festival’s top awards, including the coveted Golden Bear. Brazzaville-born photographer and documentary filmmaker David-Pierre Fila enthusiastically documented on his social media the process he took to make his latest film, which included creating a crowd-funded campaign. Tunisian-born filmmaker Meryam Joobeur will make her feature debut with this film, which is about a mother dealing with the return of her ISIS fighter son, who is one of two brothers. French Senegalese director Mati Diop has one of the two documentaries playing in the main competition line-up. Mozambican filmmaker Inadelso Cossa covers a subject that’s not too often seen on film, looking into the country’s civil war history, which took place from 1977 to 1992.

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