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