UPDATE: Here’s a trailer for “Sandiwara.” It is in fact a short film — the runtime on the official Berlinale website is 11 minutes.
EARLIER: The 2026 Berlin Film Festival begins next Thursday, and today we got a surprise announcement.
Sean Baker will be present to present Michelle Yeoh with the festival’s Honorary Golden Bear for Lifetime Achievement. Why Baker? Well, apparently he shot a secret film with Yeoh, produced by London fashion house Self-Portrait — it’s titled “Sandiwara.”
Now, although the press release does not mention whether this is a short film, one would guess it is. Then again, how short? Given the synopsis, this one could run as long as 30 minutes, maybe more.
Shot on an iPhone, “Sandiwara” stars Yeoh as five separate characters and is set in a Malaysian night market, where, the synopsis says, “each character tells their own unique story and represents a facet of Malaysian culture rarely explored.”
The film will world premiere in a “special screening” at Berlin on February 13. A first-look image has been released — seen below.
What we do know is that Baker’s actual next feature film might shoot this year. He has certainly teased that, hinting it would have “similar themes” to his last one, the Oscar-winning “Anora.”
Lelio had been shooting his adaptation of Alejandro Zambra's acclaimed 2020 novel since September in Santiago. Production reportedly continued on November 5, the day before his death.