Berlinale Prize Winners: Claire Denis, Carla Simón, and Isabelle Huppert
Friday, February 18, 2022 at 7:00PM by Nathaniel R
The annual Berlinale proved to be yet another excellent film festival for female filmmakers. France's legendary auteur Claire Denis (Beau Travail, White Material, 35 Shots of Run) took Best Director for her latest Both Sides of the Blade (pictured above) which stars two incredible French titans of acting, Vincent Lindon and Juliette Binoche. This is Denis' very first prize at one of the Big Three European festivals if you can believe it. The top prize of the festival, the Golden Bear, went to rising Catalan filmmaker Carla Simón (Summer 1993) for her ensemble drama Alcaras about a family who may lose their farm.
Complete list of winners after the jump and we do expect at least a couple of them to pop up in next year's International Feature Film Oscar race since the buzz often starts at Berlin for some entries to that category...
MAIN COMPETITION
Golden Bear Alcarràs (Carla Simón, Spain)
This is an ensemble family drama set in a small Catalan town. It's from the filmmaker behind the very well-received (if little seen) Summer 1993 six years ago. While the Golden Bear winner never gets as much attention as the Golden Lion (Venice) or Palme D'Or (Cannes) it's still one of the very top festival prizes in the world, so congratulations to this rising auteur. Simón's debut film was submitted by Spain for the Oscar competition in its year. Will this one be as well-received?
Silver Bear Grand Jury Prize The Novelist's Film (Hong Sangsoo, South Korea)
Hong Sang Soo surely didn't need this prize since he's been a darling of film festivals since forever (they are literally obsessed with him at the NYFF) but here's another one from this very prolific director. Haven't read a peep about it yet but you can be sure it involves a lot of uncinematic shots of people walking and talking or simply sitting and talking! (Sorry I'm bitter. The appeal just escapes me but perhaps I'll try once more)
Silver Bear Jury Prize Robe of Gems (Natalia López Gallardo, Mexico)
According to The Guardian this film was the talk of the festival. Variety calls it an "anti-thriller". It's a feature debut from a Mexican-Bolivian director who was formerly an editor and involves kidnapping as a cottage industry.
Silver Bear Best Director Claire Denis, Both Sides of the Blade (France)
A love triangle drama involving a longtime couple (Juliette Binoche and Vincent Lindon) and his best friend and her former lover (Grégoire Colin). All three actors are Denis regulars and let's just say we can't wait to see it!
Silver Bear Best Leading Performance Meltem Kaptan, Rabiye Kurnaz vs George Bush
This is a true story about a woman and her idealistic lawyer who fought for years to get her son released from Guatanamo. The film from German director Andreas Dresen also took Best Screenplay.
Silver Bar Supporting Performance Laura Basuki, Before, Now & Then (Indonesia)
This is from the filmmaker Kamila Andini who was submitted this season for the Oscar for the feature Yuni. She already another feature! I personally loved her second film The Seen and Unseen and Cláudio really liked Yuni... Can't wait to see more!
Silver Bear Best Screenplay Laila Stieler, Rabiye vs George Bush
Silver Bear Outstanting Artistic Contribution Rithy Panh & Sarit Mang, Everything Will Be OK
Special Mention A Piece of Sky (Michael Koch)
ENCOUNTERS
Best Film Mutzenbacher (Ruth Beckermann, Austria)
This documentary sounds interesting if combative and problematic. In the film the director holds (false) auditions for men between the ages of 16 and 99 for a non-existent film based on a erotic scandalous book about a teenager who becomes "a Viennese Whore".
Best Director Cyril Schaublin, Unrest
Special Jury Award See You Friday, Robinson (Mitra Farahani)
GENERATIONS
(YOUTH JURY)
Crystal Bear Alis (Clare Weiskopf & Nicholas van Hemetryck, Colombia)
This is a documentary about 10 young women in a shared living space and a fictional girl they all refer to regularly in order to discuss their problems.
Special Mention Stay Awake (Jamie Sisley)
Crystal Bear Short Film Born in Damascus (Laura Wadha)
Special Mention Nothing to See Here (Nicolas Bouchez)
(INTERNATIONAL JURY)
Best Film Kind Hearts (Olivia Rochette & Gerard-Jan Claes) AND Skhema (Farkhat Sharipov)
Short Film Au Revoir Jerome! (Adam Sillard, Gabrielle Selnet, Chloe Farr)
Special Mentions Blaues Rauschen (Simon Maria Kubiena) AND Tinashé (Tig Terera)
(CHILDREN'S JURY)
Crystal Bear Best Film Comedy Queen (Sanna Lenken, Sweden)
A young girl whose mother comitted suicide wants to become a comedian to help her father laugh again.
Special Mention: The Quiet Girl (Colm Bairead, Ireland)
Crystal Bear Short Film Spotless (Emma Branderhorst, Netherlands) AND Luce and the Rock (Britt Raes, Belgium)
MISCELLANIA
First Feature Sonne (Kurdwin Ayub, Austria)
This German and Kurdish language drama is about teenage girls in Vienna, one in a hijab, who go viral singing to pop songs on YouTube and the reaction from local Muslims. It's described as being about "young people caught between social media and self-discovery".
Documentary Myanmar Diaries (The Myanmar Film Collective, Myanmar)
This film is from a collection of anonymous (for their own safety) filmmakers in Myanmar, revealing the aftermath when the military overthrows the civilian government.
Documentary Special Mention No U-Turn (Ike Nnaebue, Nigeria)
Golden Bear Short Film Trap (Anastasia Veber, Russia)
This short is about the youth of Russia and follows a brother and sister and their friends. He's training for the Olympics and she's always taking things too far. 20 minutes
Silver Bear Short Film Sunday Morning (Bruno Ribeiro, Brazil)
Short Film Special Mention Bird in the Peninsula (Atsushi Wada, Japan)
Honorary Golden Bear Isabelle Huppert
Huppert could not attend the ceremony honoring her a few days ago since she's come down with COVID. But good news -- she's said to be feeling fine.
UNOFFICIAL / INDEPENDENT JURY AWARDS
Compass-Perspektive Award - Ladies Only (Rebana Liz John, India)
A documentary interviewing multiple women on trains in Mumbai and asking them what makes them angry. In black and white.
FIPRESCI Competition Leonora Addio (Paolo Taviani, Italy)
FIPRESCI Encounters Coma (Bertrand Bonello)
FIPRESCI Panorama Bettina (Lutz Pehnert, Germany)
A documentary about a singer-songwriter torn between East and West Berlin
FIPRESCI Forum Super Natural (Jorge Jacome, Portugal)
TEDDY Award Nelly & Nadine (Magnus Gertten, Germany)
The queer prize this year went to this documentary about a couple who met in a concentration camp during World War II. They fell in love but were separated two months after meeting when one was transferred to a different camp. They both survived the war and built a life together, a secret life for some time.
Reader Comments (8)
Glad to know Isabelle Huppert is doing OK. COVID still scares me as my mom had it this past Thanksgiving but managed to get through it. I'm waiting to get my booster shot.
wow very nice
پرکن اسپری شیرزاد ماشین
wow very nice
پرکن اسپری شیرزاد ماشین
Over the moon for Carla Simón. I always felt that Summer 1993 deserved more attention.
Holy shit, I got so excited reading this headline. But I read too fast. I thought Carly Simon had become a director lol. Oh well.
Holy shit, I got so excited reading this headline. But I read too fast. I thought Carly Simon had become a director lol. Oh well.
LAURA BASUKI!!!
My Indonesian goddess deserves everything in the world.
And mind you, this is the second consecutive Kamila Andini movie that won a big prize at prestige festivals, the first one being Yuni, which won the Platform Prize at TIFF
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