Shweta Tripathi attends Berlinale 2026 as a student of cinema

For Shweta Tripathi, the love for cinema began long before titles or box office numbers mattered—it started on stage. That instinct led her to her debut film Masaan, which went on to premiere at the Cannes Film Festival and win two awards, including the FIPRESCI Prize.The news of Masaan heading to Cannes came during another milestone. Shweta had just attended her first international festival with Haramkhor at the Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles, where she won Best Actor, when director Neeraj Ghaywan called her with the life-changing update. “That moment changed how I saw cinema,” she recalls, noting how festivals opened her eyes to the power of stories travelling across cultures.This year marked yet another first as Shweta attended the Berlin International Film Festival for the first time. Now also a producer, she embraced Berlinale as a student of cinema—watching international films, attending panels, and soaking in global perspectives. Highlights included a live orchestra screening of a Charlie Chaplin classic and meeting writer Jack Thorne.Clear about her next chapter, Shweta says she hopes to soon bring her own films to the global festival circuit. Up next, she heads to Amsterdam for a live concert by Hans Zimmer, carrying forward inspiration drawn from cinema, music, and the road ahead.