Urania
📸 Incident on The Mountain (2026) finds its place on the walls of Berlin.

From the Mountain to Berlinale

A Photo Essay by Songsit Kasiroek

Waiting for the world premier

Introduction


Songsit Kasiroek (Thailand), Director of Cinematography of Incident on the Mountain (2026) traces stories rooted in landscape, memory, and belief and has been working with multicultural crews since 2018.

The 21-minute short film itself is a cross-border collaboration bringing together Khmer director Savunthara Seng, Thai cinematographer Songsit Kasiroek, Vietnamese editor Linh DN, and Myanmar/Burmese sound and music designer Lynn Nandar Htoo, produced by Daniel Mattes, Danech San, and Davy Chou. Together, they shape regional narratives that transcend borders and reflect a shared Southeast Asian cinematic voice.

Their works capture local realities and translate them into global spaces, including the 76th Berlin International Film Festival (Berlinale) held on 12 - 22 February 2026 where the film was nominated for Berlinale Shorts together with 25 other films. From the forests of Southeast Asia to the cinemas of Berlin, this body of works reflect the movement of stories and the values of regional collaboration among filmmakers across borders.

This photo-essay follows that journey.

From the mountain to Berlinale.

Berlinale2
📸 First day in Berlin, no pause, no distance, straight into Berlinale, where the journey begins.
📸 Snow falls quietly outside the cinema. A contrast between two parts of the world: Southeast Asia and Europe.
badge
📸 A small badge, a quiet access, this is how stories begin to open.
red carpet moments
📸 From the Red Carpet: The Berlin International Film Festival, known as Berlinale, was founded in 1951 in West Berlin as a cultural response during the Cold War, aiming to showcase freedom through cinema.
Berlinale Palast
📸 The atmosphere inside the 76th Berlinale.
diversity crews
📸 A film made across borders, different voices, one shared vision.
Casual Talk
📸 Between screenings and awards, conversations carry the real energy of cinema.
Q&A2
📸 Q&A "Chronicles from the Siege (2026)" which won the GWFF Best First Feature Award.
Sound Design
📸 The amazing Lynn Nandar Htoo from Myanmar sharing about sound design of the film with the audience. Sound design and picture frames go side by side, one visible, one felt. both essential.
Q&A
📸 Speaking back to one of the best audiences, the film continues beyond the screen.
Director Sen
📸 My super director Seng Savunthara, carrying the story from the mountain to the screen.
Posters Berlinale
📸 Among many voices, short films carve space for intimate and urgent storytelling.
Subway
📸 In Berlin, cinema lives everywhere, even underground, stories line the walls.
another cinema
📸 Another screen, another doorway, this city is built on stories.
Projector
📸 A projector expands stories beyond narrative, into experiment, form, and new understanding.

Credit and Contributor

All photos are under Creative Commons
Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0)

Concept and Creator: Songsit Kasiroek and Fransiskus Tarmedi
Photo Credit: Songsit Kasiroek

Responsible: Fransiskus Tarmedi & Marion Regina Mueller

Published by: Heinrich Böll Stiftung Southeast Asia on 24 March 2026

Permanent Link: <https://th.boell.org/en/from-the-mountain-to-berlinale>

This photo-essay is part of Regional Dialogue Programme. 
Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung Southeast Asia Regional Office, 2026.

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