Berlinale: a French documentary wins the Golden Bear and an Argentinian film is awarded

This Saturday took place the award ceremony for the official section of the Berlin International Film Festival. The international jury of Berlinale unveiled the winners of its 73rd edition chosen from among the 19 films included in its official section.

The documentary On the Adamant French Nicholas Philibertfilmed on a barge on the Seine in Paris which accommodates people undergoing psychiatric treatment, won the golden bear. The 72-year-old director shot this documentary as part of a trilogy on the subject. “That the documentary can be considered as cinema in itself is something that moves me deeply. I tried to reverse the image that we always have of crazy people, so discriminatory”, declared the director when collecting the maximum price of the 73rd Berlinale.

The second highest award, the Silver Bear, Grand Jury Prizeit was for german Christian PetzoldFor A fire. The director received the award and recalled Carlos Saura, whom he called as one of the directors who influenced him the most in his life. On the other hand, the price best director of the festival went to another Frenchman, Philippe GarrelFor The big cart, a film that is a kind of artistic testament, shot with his children. Garrel dedicates this prize to his children and to the Franco-Swiss director Jean-Luc Godarddied in September.

You may be interested: An Argentinian film and two Mexican films, awarded at the Berlin Film Festival

For its part, the Jury’s Silver Bear was awarded to barely livesfrom Portuguese Joao Canijo. This drama tells the story of five women who run an old hotel. They will try to save it from total decay. As it progresses, we see that they share a conflict: they are mothers unable to love their daughters, who in turn cannot be mothers.

One of the most emotional moments of the awards ceremony was when Sophie Oterothe 9-year-old girl protagonist of the Spanish film 20,000 species of beestook the stage to receive the Silver Bear for Best Performance. In the film directed by Styliz Urresola, she plays a trans girl, who was born male but does not recognize herself with her gender or with the name given to her, Aitor, but rather feels Lucía’s identity being born within herself. Additionally, the award for Performance in a Supporting Role went to the German Thea honorin the role of a transsexual recently released from prison, in the film Until the end of the nightof Christopher Hochhausler.

The prices in the section Metfor the new languages ​​of cinema, were for Spain and Latin America with echoMexican Tatiana Huezo who won the best best documentary and also at the better orientation of this section. The director returns to documentary film and portrays the community of a small town in the interior of Mexico. There she focuses on the relationship and the work done by rural women. Also, Spanish Laws Patino won the Special Prize of the Meetings Jury for samsaraan award he shared with the spanish philosopher Paul B Preciado who made his film debut in Berlin with Orlando, my biography.

argentinian movie Inside me I dance (The Klezmer Project)of Leandro Koch there Paloma Schachmann won Best First Feature. The film, a mixture of documentary and fiction, is a journey from Buenos Aires to Eastern Europe in search of the roots of klezmer music and what remains of Yiddish culture, a cultural heritage in the process of of disappearance. It tells the story of Leandro, a videographer of Jewish weddings, who grew up in the Jewish community of Buenos Aires and who “feels a kind of rejection by his community”, explained his director.

The full list of winners:

golden bear: On the Adamantby Nicholas Philibert (France, Japan)

Silver Bear Grand Jury Prize: A fireof Christian Petzold (Germany)

Jury’s Silver Bear: living badlyof João Canija (Portugal)

Silver Bear for Best Director: Philippe GarrelFor The Big Chariot (France)

Silver Bear for Best Leading Performance: Sophie OteroFor 20,000 species of beesof Styliz Urresola (Spain)

Silver Bear for Best Supporting Performance: Thea honorFor Until the end of the night of Christopher Hochhausler (Germany)

Best Screenplay Silver Bear: Musicof Angela Schanelec (Germany, France, Serbia)

Silver Bear for Artistic Contribution: disco boyof James Abbruzzese (France, Italy, Poland, Belgium)

Encounters Best Film Award: Hereof Low Devos (Belgium)

Dating Best Director Award: echoof Tatiana Huezo (Mexico)

Special Dating Jury Prize: samsaraof Laws Patino (Spain) and Orlando, my political biographyof Paul B Preciado

Best Documentary Award: echoof Tatiana Huezo (Mexico)

Best First Film Award: Inside me I danceof Leandro Koch there Paloma Schachmann (Argentina)

Golden Bear for Best Short Film: The chinillesMichelle and Noel Keserwany (France)

Crystal Bear from the Generation 14Plus section: Adolfoof Sophie Auza (Mexico)

Main awards from independent juries:

Prize of the International Federation of Film Critics (FIPRESCI): The survival of kindness, Rolf the Lord (Australia)

Teddy Award for Best Documentary: Orlando, my political biographyof Paul B. Precious (France)

Gilde Prize for Artistic and Theatrical Cinema: 20,000 species of beesof Styliz Urresola (Spain)

Ecumenical Jury Prize: Totemof Lila Aviles (Mexico)

“Berliner Morgenpost” Readers’ Prize: 20,000 species of beesof Styliz Urresola (Spain)

Readers’ Prize “Tagesspiegel”: Orlando, my political biographyof Paul B. Precious (France)

CICAE Prize, Forum section: jellyfish faceof Melisa Liebenthal (Argentina).

Source EFE and AFP

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