This year’s edition, like last year’s, fell short of what we’d become accustomed to at the Berlinale, particularly in the pre-covid editions. We didn’t expect to see anything out of the prize list, nor did we have any particular favorites, but we did have a few predictions, which we tweeted as follows: « We expect to see Lars Eidinger (convincing composition in Sterben), the actress from Shambhala or Isabelle Huppert or, to a lesser extent, the actress from From hilde with love, Pepe, A travelers need, and my favorite cake. There’s also a piece on me el ain, which extends a short film we’ve already seen, adding a few of Malick’s favorite mental images. » Here’s the full list of this year’s winners, including Mati Diop, whose documentary Dahomey/Le retour (Dahomey/The Return), like last year’s, deals with an important subject that receives very little media coverage in the West: the appropriation of African works by the colonialists, the need for African countries to reappropriate what belongs to them, but also, as a corollary, the need to develop access to culture in Africa, and to create cultural venues.
Strangely enough, there was no post-winners’ press conference this year. We hope this initiative will not be copied or repeated…
*** INTERNATIONAL JURY PRIZE ***
Jury Members : Lupita Nyong’o (President), Brady Corbet, Ann Hui, Christian Petzold, Albert Serra, Jasmine Trinca, Oksana Zabuzhko
GOLDEN BEAR FOR BEST FILM
Dahomey by Mati Diop produiced by Eve Robin, Judith Lou Lévy, Mati Diop
SILVER BEAR GRAND PRIX DU JURY
Yeohaengjaui pilyo (A Traveler’s Needs) by Hong Sangsoo
SILVER BEAR / JURY PRIZE
The Empire by Bruno Dumont
SILVER BEAR FOR BEST DIRECTOR
Nelson Carlos De Los Santos Arias for Pepe
SILVER BEAR FOR BEST MAIN PERFORMANCE
Sebastian Stan in A different man by Aaron Schimberg
SILVER BEAR FOR BEST SUPPORTING PERFORMANCE
Emily Watson in Small things like these by Tim Mielants
SILVER BEAR FOR BEST SCRIPT
Matthias Glasner for Dying by Matthias Glasner
SILVER BEAR FOR OUTSTANDING ARTISTIC CONTRIBUTION
Martin Gschlacht for photography in Des Teufels Bad (The Devil’s Bath) by Veronika Franz & Severin Fiala
*** ENCOUNTERS PRIZE***
Jury Members : Lisandro Alonso, Denis Côté, Tizza Covi
BEST FILM
DIRECT ACTION by Guillaume Cailleau, Ben Russell
BEST DIRECTION
Cidade ; Campo by Juliana Rojas
SPECIAL JURY PRIZE
(ex aequo)
Khamyazeye bozorg (The Great Yawn of History) by Aliyar Rasti
Kong fang jian li de nv ren (The rain must fall) byQiu Yang
*** BERLINALE DOCUMENTARY PRIZE ***
Jury Members : Abbas Fahdel, Thomas Heise, Véréna Paravel
BERLINALE DOCUMENTARY PRIZE
No Other Land by Basel Adra, Hamdan Ballal, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor produced by Fabien Greenberg, Bård Kjøge Rønning
SPECIAL MENTION
DIRECT ACTION by Guillaume Cailleau, Ben Russell
*** GWFF BEST FIRST FILM AWARD ***
Jury Members : Eliza Hittman, Andréa Picard, Katrin Pors
GWFF AWARD FOR BEST FIRST FILM
Cu Li Không Bao Giờ Khóc (Cu Li never cries) by Phạm Ngọc Lân produced by Nghiêm Quỳnh Trang, Trần Thị Bích Ngọc
*** INTERNATIONAL SHORT FILM JURY PRIZE ***
Jury Members: Ilker Çatak, Xabier Erkizia, Jennifer Reeder
GOLDEN BEAR FOR BEST SHORT FILM
Un movimiento extraño (A funny trick) by Francisco Lezama
SILVER BEAR / SHORT FILM JURY PRIZE
Re tian wu hou (Vestiges of a hot day) by Wenqian Zhang
MENTION SPECIALE
That’s All from Me (So viel von mir) d’Eva Könnemann