70th Berlin Film Festival winners: Iranian ‘There Is No Evil,’ USA’s ‘Never Rarely Sometimes Always’ and more

Erik Anderson February 29, 2020

THERE IS NO EVIL (courtesy of Berlinale)

The winners of the Golden Bear, Silver Bear and more at the 70th Berlin International Film Festival, headed by jury president Jeremy Irons, were handed out today.

Last year’s winners included Synonyms by Nadav Lapid (Golden Bear), By the Grace of God by François Ozon (Silver Bear) and Yong Mei for So Long, My Son (Best Actress).

There Is No Evil won the top prize, the Golden Bear. The German/Czech/Iranian co-production from Iranian director Mohammad Rasoulof (who is banned in his own country), tells four stories that are variations on the crucial themes of moral strength and the death penalty that ask to what extent individual freedom can be expressed under a despotic regime and its seemingly inescapable threats.

Eliza Hittman’s urgent abortion drama Never Rarely Sometimes Always was given the Silver Bear Grand Jury Prize. In here acceptance speech Hittman remarked “Thank you to all those protecting the lives and rights of all people with uteruses – thank you for your service”

Elio Germano won the Silver Bear for Best Actor for Hidden Away, the first Italian to capture this prize since Gian Maria Volonté in 1987. Paula Beer was named Best Actress for Undine.

The Encounters jury – Shôzô Ichiyama, Dominga Sotomayor and Eva Trobisch – selected the 8-hour opus The Works and Days (of Tayoko Shiojiri in the Shiotani Basin) – C.W. Winter and Anders Edström as Best Film.

Follow below for the full list of winners updating as they are announced.

Competition

Golden Bear for Best Film
There Is No Evil – Mohammad Rasoulof (Germany/Czech Republic/Iran)

Silver Bear – Grand Jury Prize
Never Rarely Sometimes Always – Eliza Hittman (USA)

Silver Bear – 70th Berlinale Prize
Delete History – Benoît Delépine, Gustave Kervern (France/Belgium)

Silver Bear for Best Director
Hong Sang-soo – The Woman Who Ran (South Korea)

Silver Bear for Best Actress
Paula Beer – Undine (Germany/France)

Silver Bear for Best Actor
Elio Germano – Hidden Away (Italy)

Silver Bear for Best Screenplay
Damiano and Fabio D’Innocenzo – Bad Tales (Italy/Switzerland)

Silver Bear for Outstanding Artistic Contribution
Jürgen Jürges – DAU. Natasha (Germany/Ukraine/UK/Russia)

Encounters Section

Best Film
The Works and Days (of Tayoko Shiojiri in the Shiotani Basin) – C.W. Winter, Anders Edström (USA/Sweden/Japan/Hong Kong/UK)

Best Director
Malmkrog – Cristi Puiu (Romania/Serbia/Switzerland/Sweden/Bosnia/North Macedonia)
Special Mention
Isabella – Matías Piñeiro (Argentina/France)

Special Jury Award
The Trouble With Being Born – Sandra Wollner (Austria/Germany)

Best Documentary Award
Irradiated – Rithy Panh (France/Cambodia)
Special Mention
Notes from the Underworld – Tizza Covi, Rainer Frimmel (Austria)

GWFF Best First Feature Award
Los conductos – Camilo Restrepo (France/Colombia/Brazil)
Special Mention
Naked Animals – Melanie Waelde (Germany)

Berlinale Shorts

Golden Bear for Best Short Film
T – Keisha Rae Witherspoon (USA)

Silver Bear – Jury Prize for Short Film
Filipiñana – Rafael Manuel (Philippines/UK)

Audi Short Film Award
Genius Loci – Adrien Mérigeau (France)

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Erik Anderson

Erik Anderson is the founder/owner and Editor-in-Chief of AwardsWatch and has always loved all things Oscar, having watched the Academy Awards since he was in single digits; making lists, rankings and predictions throughout the show. This led him down the path to obsessing about awards. Much later, he found himself in film school and the film forums of GoldDerby, and then migrated over to the former Oscarwatch (now AwardsDaily), before breaking off to create AwardsWatch in 2013.

He is a Rotten Tomatoes-approved critic, accredited by the Cannes Film Festival, Telluride Film Festival, Toronto International Film Festival and more, is a member of the International Cinephile Society (ICS), The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics (GALECA), Hollywood Critics Association (HCA) and the International Press Academy. Among his many achieved goals with AwardsWatch, he has given a platform to underrepresented writers and critics and supplied them with access to film festivals and the industry and calls the Bay Area his home where he lives with his husband and son.