Long by director Nicholas Philibert was the big winner of the 73rd Berlinale, the Berlin Film Festival. Sofía Otero, just 9 years old, received the award for best acting for “20,000 species of bees”. The French documentary Sur l’Adamant, by Nicholas Philibert, won this Saturday (25/02) the Golden Bear at the Berlinale. It was the first time that a documentary received the main statuette of the event.
The 73rd edition of the Berlin Film Festival also recognized the Spanish Sofía Otero, just nine years old, the protagonist of the film 20,000 Species of Bees, which took the prize for best interpretation among the 19 films in competition.
The film by Spaniard Estíbaliz Urresola about a child who does not identify with either the gender or the name he was given at birth thus won one of the main prizes at the festival.
The supporting award went to the German Thea Ehre, in the role of a transsexual just out of prison in the film Bis ans Ende der Nacht – Till the End of the night, by Christopher Hochhausler.
The international jury chaired by American actress Kristen Stewart thus chose to distribute the statuettes among productions with complex content: Sur l’Adamant is a documentary filmed in a psychiatric center in Paris, while both Urresola’s and Hochhäusler’s films focus on transsexuality.
One of the favorite films for the Golden Bear, German’s Roter Himmel, by Christian Petzold, won the Silver Bear, the jury’s grand prize, while the prize for best director went to Frenchman Philippe Garrel for Le grand Chariot.
In addition to Stewart, the jury of the 73rd edition of the Berlinale had among its members the Spanish filmmaker Carla Simón, winner of the Golden Bear in 2022 with Alcarràs.
The jury was completed by the Iranian actress Golshifteh Farahani, the German director Valeska Grisebach and the American Francine Maisler, in addition to the Romanian director Radu Jude – Golden Bear in 2021 with Bad Luck in Sex or Accidental Porn – and his Chinese colleague Johnnie To.
clearly political tone
This year, the Berlinale also took a decidedly political stance. At the opening, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky made a strong video appeal to filmmakers and artists to support their country, to wild applause from guests.
“Should cinema stay out of politics?” asked Zelensky, before replying: “Not if it is a policy of mass crimes, murder and terror, the politics of today’s Russia”.
At the opening ceremony, Berlinale coordinator Mariette Rissenbeek read a statement: “The Berlinale and all filmmakers declare their solidarity with the people of Ukraine in their struggle for independence and condemn the war of aggression in the strongest possible terms.”
In addition to the world premiere of Sean Penn’s Superpower, other Berlinale works address the situation in Ukraine. This is the case of the documentary Eastern Front, filmed by Vitaly Mansky and Yevhen Titarenko on the front line of combat.
Iron Butterflies, a poetic essay by Roman Liubyi, takes as its starting point the Malaysian passenger plane MH17, which was shot down over eastern Ukraine in 2014.
The documentary In Ukraine, by Piotr Pavlus and Tomasz Wolski, shows, according to the festival, the “reality in which the country has been living since February 24, 2022”.
“Anyone who makes films and shows films in dark times resists the lack of freedom,” said German Culture Minister Claudia Roth in her speech at the ceremony.
She said she would like to present an award to all the people “who tonight do not walk on red carpets, who are not in the spotlight, but who resist in basements, in subway stations or on the front lines”.
Roth also remembered women in Iran and Afghanistan and the men who supported them in their fight for freedom.
Homage to Spielberg
The Berlin Film Festival also honored American director Steven Spielberg with the Honorary Golden Bear for his body of work spanning more than half a century, which includes hits such as Jaws, Indiana Jones and ET, the extraterrestrial.
Spielberg was visibly emotional as he received the award from Berlinale directors Mariette Rissenbeek and Carlo Chatrian. “I didn’t do anything alone. I made all the films in collaboration with great people. My whole life, my family – everything is cooperation,” he said at a ceremony on Tuesday.
Brazilian representative
Directed by Brazilians João Pedro Prado and Bárbara Santos, the film Ash Wednesday was selected for this year’s Berlinale, in the Perspektive Deutsches Kino exhibition, in Portuguese, Perspectiva do Cinema Alemão, which brings together promising cinema from the European country.
In addition to being directed, the short film stars Brazilians and deals with police violence in the country’s slums, but officially it is a German production, more specifically by the Babelsberg Film University and Schuldenberg Films.
Lasting 30 minutes, Ash Wednesday has the format of a musical and tells the story of Demétria, a single mother who waits for her daughter Cora to return from school, while a police operation takes place in the favela where they live.
Until Sunday, a total of 287 films from 67 countries will be shown at the Berlinale in various program sections. After two years affected by the pandemic, the event returned to its usual form – without hygiene restrictions, with crowded cinemas and celebratory receptions.
As of Wednesday morning, 267,000 tickets had already been sold. Alongside Cannes and Venice, the Berlinale is one of the world’s leading film festivals.
all winners
Check out the complete list of winners at the Berlin Film Festival in the competitive section and in Encounters, a section dedicated to new cinematographic languages.
Golden Bear: Sur l’Adamant, by Nicholas Philibert (France, Japan).
Silver Bear Grand Jury Prize: Roter Himmel, by Christian Petzold (Germany).
Silver Bear Jury Prize: Mal Viver, João Canijo (Portugal).
Silver Bear for Best Director: Philippe Garrel, for Le grand Chariot (France).
Silver Bear for Best Leading Performance: Sofía Otero, for 20,000 species of bees, by Estíbaliz Urresola (Spain).
Silver Bear for Best Supporting Performance: Thea Ehre, for Bis ans Ende der Nacht – Till the End of the night, by Christopher Hochhäusler (Germany).
Silver Bear for Best Screenplay: Music by Angela Schanelec (Germany, France, Serbia).
Silver Bear for Artistic Contribution: Disco Boy, by Giacomo Abbruzzese (France, Italy, Poland, Belgium).
Encounters Best Film Award: Here, Bas Devos (Belgium).
Encounters Best Director Award: El eco, by Tatiana Huezo (Mexico).
Encounters Jury Special Prize: Samsara, by Lois Patiño (Spain).
Best Documentary Award: El eco, by Tatiana Huezo (Mexico).
Best Premiere Award: Adentro mío estoy bailando, by Leandro Koch and Paloma Schachmann (Argentina).
Golden Bear for Best Short Film: Les chinilles, Michelle and Noel Keserwany (France).
Crystal Bear from the Generation 14Plus section: Adolfo, by Sofía Auza (Mexico).
le (EFE, ots)
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