Despite the cold and the snow, fans gathered outside Berlinale Palast to welcome all the stars and celebrities attending the closing ceremony of the 73rd Berlinale. Last to arrive on the red carpet were Culture Minister Claudia Roth and Mayor Franziska Giffey followed by the members of the international jury. On stage Hadnet Tesfai hosted the event.
Prizes of the International Jury
Before handing out the prizes, jury’s president Kristen Stewart took a few moments to share with the public how harmonic and stimulating this past ten days have been for her. Working along with her colleagues Golshifteh Farahani, Valeska Grisebach, Radu Jude, Francine Maisler, Carla Simón and Johnnie To, has enriched her behind imaginable. An intensive learning process fueled by the inputs of her knowledgeable colleagues had come to an end. Then, without hesitation Stewarts started handing out bears, who found a new home to spend the remaining of the harsh winter.
The Silver Bear for an Outstanding Artistic Contribution was given to Hélène Louvart for the cinematography work on Disco Boy by Giacomo Abbruzzese, the only Italian movie in competition.
The Silver Bear for Best Screenplay went to Angela Schanelec for Music, fueling quite a bit of controversy. The movie, directed by Schanelec herself, is loosely based on the Greek myth of Oedipus. Since being the subject of many tragedies, not only by Sophocles but also many other directors after him, the originality of the script has been questioned. Moreover, Music doesn’t have a strong narrative flow either, but rather consists in a collage of images distinguished by Schanelec own aesthetic.
What however, found almost unanimous consensus among the public and the press were the choices regarding the acting awards. Which both went to two young female actresses at their debut. Best Supporting Performance was given to Thea Here. Here, in Till the End of the Night (Bis ans Ende der Nacht) by German director Christoph Hochhäusler, plays a transgender former drug dealer ready for anything in order to conquer the freedom to be who she wants to be. The Silver Bear for Best Leading Performance went to the eight-year-old Sofía Otero, making her the youngest winner of a silver bear. In 20,000 Species of Bees (20,000 Especies de Abejas) by Basque director Estibaliz Urresola Solaguren, Otero also plays a character struggling to find her own identity, in a rather conservative society.
This year’s Silver Bear for Best Director was assigned to Philippe Garrel, who on the set of the movie The Plough (Le grand chariot), had the hardest task of all: to direct his three kids Esther, Lena and Louis. The Silver Bear Jury Prize was assigned to Bad Living (Mal Viver) by Joᾶo Canijo, while the Silver Bear Grand Jury Prize went to Afire (Roter Himmel) by German director Christian Petzold. Afire is the second chapter of Petzold’s trilogy, started in 2018 with Undine, about the urge to create and the lack of sleep, a topic very dear to all the festival’s attendant.
And last but not least, the Golden Bear for Best Film goes to On the Adamant (Sur l’Adamant) directed by Nicolas Philibert and produced by Céline Loiseau, Gilles Sacuto, Miléna Poylo. This documentary showing every day’s life on a boat on the Senne, which is actually a day-center for creativity. There, people with psychological and psychiatric issues can express their self and break the role society designs for those who dare to be sensitive and ignore conventions and norms. This documentary sadly has been widely underrated during the festival, even by the press. However, it strokes the jury not only for its strength and emotional impact. But also because of its hybrid nature, which evades any kind of classification, a bit like its protagonists, and reach right at the spectators heart.
Other sections: Encounters and Perspektive Deutsches Kino
Mexican director Tatiana Huezo not only won the Berlinale Documentary Award for The Echo (El Echo), a delicate portrait of rural children discovering the world, but also the Jury Prize for Best Director in the section Encounters. The award for best movie in the same section went to Here by Bas Devos for an intimate movie about human and natural networks. While the Special Jury Award, went ex aequo to Samsara by Lois Patiño and Orlando, my Political Biography by Paul B. Preciado.
The GWFF Best First Feature Award went to The Klezmer Project (Adentro mío estoy bailando) by Leandro Koch and Paloma Schachmann for an on the road documentary following the traces of Jewish musical heritage in Eastern Europe. It was competing in the Encounters section. The Compass-Perspektive-Award, which is awarded to the best film in the current Perspektive Deutsches Kino was given to Seven Winters in Tehran (Sieben Wintern in Teheran) by Steffi Niederzoll.
© 2020-2023. UniversalCinema Mag.