73rd Berlin Film Festival winners: ‘On the Adamant’ doc wins Golden Bear, 8-year-old Sofia Otero wins for leading performance
Veteran French documentary filmmaker Nicolas Philibert has won the Golden Bear at the 73rd Berlin Film Festival for his film On the Adamant, an examination of a Paris mental health care facility, a floating structure located on the Seine in the heart of Paris, it welcomes adults suffering from mental disorders, offering the kind of care that grounds them in time and space and helps them to recover or keep up their spirits.
“I don’t like partitions or labels,” Philibert said, “in this film on psychiatry we were always [careful] to not always distinguish very clearly between patients and carers. I tried to reverse the image we always have of mad people [which I see] as discriminating and stigmatizing. I wanted us to be able, if not to identify with them, at least to recognize what unites us beyond our differences.
Christian Petzold won the Silver Bear Grand Jury Prize for his climate change allegory Afire (review here) with the Jury Prize going to Bad Living by João Canijo. Best Director went to Philippe Garrel for The Plough and the non-gendered lead and acting performance awards went to 8-year-old Sofia Otero for 20,000 Species of Bees (the youngest winner ever at Berlin) and Thea Ehre for Till the End of Night, respectively.
Berlin was the first major film festival to introduce gender-neutral acting awards and hands out a single prize for best leading performance and one for best supporting performance.
Cinematographer Helene Louvart won the Silver Bear for Outstanding Artistic Contribution for Giacomo Abbruzzese’s feature debut, Disco Boy (review here).
The 73rd Berlin International Film Festival jury was led by president Kristen Stewart and her jury consisted of five women and two men who selected the winners of this year’s Golden and Silver Berlin Bears from the 19 films in competition. The jury included Iranian-French actress Golshifteh Farahani, Romanian filmmaker Radu Jude, Spanish director Carla Simón, Hong Kong director Johnnie To, German director Valeska Grisebach, and U.S. casting director and producer Francine Maisler.
Here is the complete list of winners.
COMPETITION
Golden Bear for Best Film: “On the Adamant,” Nicolas Philibert
Silver Bear Grand Jury Prize: “Afire,” Christian Petzold
Silver Bear Jury Prize: “Bad Living,” João Canijo
Silver Bear for Best Director: “The Plough,” Philippe Garrel
Silver Bear for Best Leading Performance: “20,000 Species of Bees,” Sofia Otero
Silver Bear for Best Supporting Performance: “Till the End of the Night,” Thea Ehre
Silver Bear for Best Screenplay: “Music,” Angela Schanelec
Silver Bear for Outstanding Artistic Contribution: “Disco Boy,” Hélène Louvart, cinematography
ENCOUNTERS
Best Film: “Here,” Bas Devos
Best Director: “The Echo,” Tatiana Huezo
Special Jury Award: (ex aequo) “Orlando, My Political Biography,” Paul B. Preciado; “Samsara,” Lois Patino
BERLINALE DOCUMENTARY AWARD
Best Documentary: “The Echo,” Tatiana Huezo
Special Mention: “Orlando, My Political Biography,” Paul B. Preciado
GWFF BEST FIRST FEATURE
Best First Feature: “The Klezmer Project,” Leandro Koch, Paloma Schahmann
Special Mention: “The Bride,” Myriam U. Birara
BERLINALE SHORTS
Golden Bear: “Les Chenilles,” Michelle Keserwany, Noel Keserwany
Silver Bear: “Dipped in Black,” Matthew Thorne, Derik Lynch
Special Mention: “It’s a Date,” Nadia Parfan
Previously announced:
AUDIENCE AWARDS
Panorama Audience Award: “Sira,” Apolline Traoré
Second Prize: “The Burdened,” Amr Gamal
Third Prize: “Midwives,” Léa Fehner
Panorama Documentary Audience Award: “Kokomo City,” D. Smith
Second Prize: “The Eternal Memory,” Maite Alberdi
Third Prize: “The Cemetery of Cinema,” Thierno Souleymane Diallo
INDEPENDENT JURY PRIZES
Ecumenical Jury Prizes
Competition: “Totem,” Lila Avilés
Panorama: “Midwives,” Léa Fehner
Forum: “Where God is Not,” Mehran Tamadon
Special Mention: “On the Adamant,” Nicolas Philibert
FIPRESCI Jury Prizes
Competition: “The Survival of Kindness,” Rolf de Heer
Encounters: “Here,” Bas Devos
Panorama: “The Quiet Migration,” Malene Choi
Forum: “Between Revolution,” Vlad Petri
Teddy Awards
Best Feature Film: “All the Colors of the World Are Between Black and White,” Babatunde Apalowo
Best Documentary/Essay Film: “Orlando, My Political Biography,” Paul B. Preciado
Best Short Film: “Dipped in Black,” Matthew Thorne and Derik Lynch
Jury Award: Vicky Knight, performance, “Silver Haze”
Special Teddy Award: Sunny Bunny, the Queer Film Award of the Molodist Film Festival in Kyiv
CICAE Art Cinema Award
Panorama: “The Teacher’s Lounge,” İlker Çatak
Forum: “The Face of Jellyfish,” Melisa Liebenthal
Guild Film Prize: “20,000 Species of Bees,” Estibaliz Urresola Solaguren
Label Europa Cinemas: “The Teacher’s Lounge,” İlker Çatak
Caligari Film Prize: “De Facto,” Selma Doborac
Peace Film Prize: “Seven Winters in Tehran,” Steffi Niederzoll
Amnesty International Film Award: “The Burdened,” Amr Gamal
Heiner Carow Prize: Fabian Stumm, screenwriter, “Bones and Names”
Compass-Perspective Award: “Seven Winters in Tehran,” Steffi Niederzoll
Special Mention: “The Kidnapping of the Bride,” Sophia Mocorrea
AG-Kino Gilde Cinema Vision 14Plus: “And the King Said, What a Fantastic Machine,” Axel Danielson and Maximilien Van Aertryck
OTHER PRIZES
Berliner Morgenpost Readers’ Jury Award: “20,000 Species of Bees,” Estibaliz Urresola Solaguren
Tagesspiegel Readers’ Jury Award: “Orlando, My Political Biography,” Paul B. Preciado
DEVELOPMENT AWARDS
Kompagnon Fellowship: “Paraphrase on the Finding of a Glove,” Mareike Wegener; “My Beloved Man’s Female Body,” Anna Melikova
Artekino International Award: “Peeled Skin,” Leonie Krippendorff
Eurimages Co-Production Development Award: “Iván & Hadoum,” Ian de la Rosa
Eurimages Special Co-Production Development Award: “The Blindsight,” Ruslan Batytskyi
VFF Talent Highlight Award: “God and the Devil’s Cumbia,” Carlos Lenin
Talents Footprints (Masterd Enablement Program): “TransStories,” Carlos Ormeño Palma; “WE FILM MX,” Miguel Ángel Sánche; “Majoaneng,” Philip Leteka
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