Tonight was the night of the prize ceremony of the Berlinale Awards 2024, which marks the last year under Carlo Chatrian and Mariette Riesenbeck. A fact that I already lamented. Chatrian only had three editions that weren’t hampered by the coronavirus pandemic. Actually, Berlin is one of the few places in Europe where you will still see people wearing masks.
Earlier today, a slew of awards were given out but the independent juries. Three films won several awards. Dying (Sterben), the three-hour epic by Matthias Glasner, won best film from the guild of German arthouse cinemas, as well as the Berliner Morgenpost readers’ award. The FIPRESCI prize was, somewhat surprisingly, given to My Favourite Cake (Keyke mahboobe man by Iranian directors Maryam Moghaddam & Behtash Sanaeeha, none of whom were allowed to leave Iran to come to the festival. Their film won the ecumenical prize, as well. On the other hand, the Panorama award for Faruk was welcome. A review and interview with the director, Aslı Özge, will follow.
The third film was Sex by Norwegian director Dag Johan Haugerud, which played in the Panorama section and won the Europa Cinemas Labels award, as well as the CICAE Art Cinema prize for best Panorama Film, the ecumenical jury honour for best Panorama title. It is the first in a trilogy called Sex Dreams Love.
The complete list of the Independence Awards
Prizes of the Ecumenical Jury
Competition
My Favourite Cake, dirs. Maryam Moghaddam, Behtash Sanaeeha
Panorama
Sex, dir. Dag Johan Haugerud
Forum
Maria‘s Silence, dir. Dāvis Sīmanis
Special Mention
Intercepted, dir. Oksana Karpovych
Prizes of the Fipresci Jury
Competition
My Favourite Cake, dirs. Maryam Moghaddam, Behtash Sanaeeha
Encounters
Sleep with Your Eyes Open, dir. Nele Wohlatz
Panorama
Faruk, dir. Aslı Özge
Forum
The Human Hibernation, dir. Anna Cornudella Castro
Teddy Awards
Best Feature Film
All Shall Be Well, dir. Ray Yeung
Best Documentary/Essay Film
Teaches of Peaches, dirs. Philipp Fussenegger, Judy Landkammer
Best Short Film
Grandmamauntsistercat, dir. Zuza Banasińska
Jury Award
Crossing, dir. Levan Akin
Special Teddy Award for Lothar Lambert
CICAE Art Cinema Award
Panorama
Sex, dir. Dag Johan Haugerud
Forum
Shahid, dir. Narges Kalhor
Prize of the Guild of German Arthouse Cinemas
Sterben (Dying), dir. Matthias Glasner
Europa Cinemas Label Award
Sex, dir. Dag Johan Haugerud
Caligari Film Prize
Shahid, dir. Narges Kalhor
Peace Film Prize
Favoriten, dir Ruth Beckermann
Amnesty International Film Award
The Strangers’ Case, dir. Brandt Andersen
Heiner Carow Prize
Ivo, dir. Eva Trobisch
Prize of the AG-Kino-Gilde-Cinema
Last Swim, dir. Sasha Nathwani
Special Mention
Disco Afrika: A Malagasy Story, dir. Luck Razanajaona
Berliner Morgenpost Readers’ Jury Award
Sterben (Dying), dir. Matthias Glasner
Tagesspiegel Readers’ Jury Award
Une famille (A Family), dir. Christine Angot
Development Awards Kompagnon-Fellowship
The Shore, dir. Vladimir Beck
Traversée, dir. Tizian Stromp Zargari
Arte Kino International Award
Ich bin Marika, dir. Hajni Kis,
Euroimages Co-Production Development Award
Screaming Girl, dir. Antonio Lukich
VFF Talent Highlight Award
Silence Sometimes, dir. Álvaro Robles
Honorable Mentions
Astana Internet Stars, dir.Assel Aushakimova
More Than A Hug, dir. Liselotte Persson
The Encounters Awards
The Encounters section is a relatively new section, inaugurated by Carlo Chatrian. This year, the award for Best Encounters film went to Direct Action by Guillaume Cailleau and Ben Russell. The Best Director Award was a most welcome decision since it went to Juliana Rojas for Cidade; Campo, which was one of the best-looking films during the festival. The Special Jury Award was shared between The Great Yawn of History by Aliyar Rasti, and Some Rain Must Fall by Qiu Yang. Finally, the Best First Feature award went to Cu Li Never Cries by Pham Ngoc Lan, reviewed by the Pełna Sala team here.
The Berlinale Awards 2024 Competition
This year, Lupita Nyong’o was the president of the jury. She was joined by Brady Corbet, Christian Petzold, An Hui, Oksana Zabuzhko, and, most significantly, Albert Serra. The decisions ranged from inspired to head-scratching. Among the latter was the Silver Bear for Outstanding Artistic Contribution to Martin Gschlacht for the cinematography in the dreadfully academic The Devil’s Bath (Des Teufel’s Bad). Other incomprehensible decisions were the Silver Bear Jury prize for Bruno Dumont’s L’Empire and, even more so, the Grand Jury Prize for Hong Sang-Soo’s A Traveler’s Need. Hong said on stage that he didn’t understand what the jury saw in his film, and I share that sentiment.
From the river to the sea, Pepe will be free
The most welcome award was the one given to Nelson Carlos De Los Santos Arias for Pepe. One could opine that it was the obvious Golden Bear winner, but given the state of affairs at film festivals nowadays, it was a miracle that it even made it to the competition in the first place. At Cannes, it wouldn’t even have been able to enter the Quinzaine section. Lupita Nyong’o gave out the Golden Bear to Mati Diop’s Dahomey, sealing the Berlinale’s reputation for being overly political. The fact that some laureates entered the stage with political messages without considering the consequences made that facet of the festival painfully evident. They could have taken a lesson from Ricky Gervais’ playbook.
The complete list of the Berlinale 2024 Competition Awards
Golden Bear for Best Film
Dahomey dir. Mati Diop
Silver Bear Grand Jury Prize
A Traveler’s Needs dir. Hong Sangsoo
Silver Bear Jury Prize
L’ Empire dir. Bruno Dumont
Silver Bear for Best Director
Nelson Carlos De Los Santos Arias for Pepe
Silver Bear for Best Leading Performance
Sebastian Stan for A Different Man
Silver Bear for Best Supporting Performance
Emily Watson for Small Things Like These
Silver Bear for Best Screenplay
Matthias Glasner for Sterben (Dying)
Silver Bear for Outstanding Artistic Contribution
Martin Gschlacht for the cinematography for The Devil’s Bath
Earlier during the week, Martin Scorsese won an Honorary Golden Bear for his contribution to cinema.