Winners have been announced at the 73rd Berlin Film Festival, with French cinematographer Hélène Louvart AFC winning the Silver Bear for Outstanding Artistic Contribution for her work in Disco Boy by Giacomo Abbruzzese.
The film depicts the intertwined stories of Aleksei, a member of the French Foreign Legion, and a Jomo a guerrilla fighter in a village in the Niger Delta.
Hélène Louvart AFC
On The Adamant by Nicolas Philibert scooped the coveted Golden Bear prize as the best film of the festival’s International Competition.
The film chronicles a unique day-care centre in the heart of Paris that welcomes adults suffering from mental disorders, offering the kind of care that grounds them in time and space and helps them to recover or keep up their spirits.
Introducing the film, jury head Kristen Stewart said the pic is “masterfully crafted” and acts as “cinematic proof of the vital necessity of human expression.”
Nicolas Philibert.
Photo by Sebastian Reuter/Getty Images.
Other winners in the International Competition included Philippe Garrel, who picked up the Silver Bear for Best Director for his latest pic Le Grand Chariot (The Plough). Garrel dedicated the award to the late filmmaker Jean-Luc Godard. The Silver Bear Jury Prize was picked up by Joᾶo Canijo for Bad Living (Mal Viver), and German filmmaker Christian Petzold nabbed the Silver Bear Grand Jury Prize for his latest pic Roter Himmel.
Berlin introduced gender-neutral acting awards in 2021, and the winner of this year’s Silver Bear for Best Leading Performance went to child actor Sofía Ortero for her debut screen performance in 20,000 Species of Bees, and the Silver Bear for Best Supporting Performance was picked up by Thea Ehre for Till the End Of The Night.
German filmmaker Angela Schanelec won the Silver Bear for Best Screenplay for Music.
Away from the main competition, the festival’s Ecumenical Jury gave the top competition prize to Lila Avilés’s Tótem, Léa Fehner’s Sages-femmes (Midwives) took the Panorama prize, and Mehran Tamadon’s Jaii keh khoda nist (Where God Is Not) topped Forum. The jury’s special mention was Sur l’Adamant (On The Adamant) by Nicolas Philibert.
