The film tells about a center for people with mental health problems in Paris. The Grand Jury Prize went to “Red Sky” by German director Christian Petzold, as the Berlin Film Festival announced on Saturday evening. Thea Ehrlich, who was born in Wels, surprisingly received a Silver Bear as best supporting actress.
“Sur l’Adamant” (English: “On the Adamant”) prevailed against 18 competition films. An Austrian co-production also had hopes for the Golden Bear, namely Margarethe von Trotta’s film essay “Ingeborg Bachmann – Reise in die Wüste”.
This year’s acting award went to a child: Sofía Otero was honored for the best acting performance in a leading role. In the coming-of-age film “20,000 especies de abejas” (“20,000 Species of Bees”) she plays an eight-year-old child who is searching for his gender identity. Among others, Otero beat the Viennese Thomas Schubert, who plays the main role in Petzold’s drama “Red Sky”.
Thea Honor received the Silver Bear for Best Actor in a Supporting Role. In Christoph Hochhäusler’s crime thriller “Until the End of the Night,” Honor plays a trans woman who is supposed to investigate undercover with a police officer in the drug scene. There was another Austrian success in a subcategory. The film “The Klezmer Project” won the GWFF Award for Best First Feature. It is an Argentinian-Austrian co-production by Leandro Koch and Paloma Schachmann.
The German filmmaker Angela Schanelec was awarded the Screenplay Prize for her Oedipus adaptation “Music”. The Frenchman Philippe Garrel received the Silver Bear for best director, in his film “Le grand chariot” he portrays a family of puppeteers.
The jury prize went to Portuguese director João Canijo’s psychodrama “Mal Viver”, which tells the story of several women in an old hotel. Cinematographer Hélène Louvart received the Silver Bear for outstanding artistic achievement in the drama “Disco Boy”. In it, Franz Rogowski plays a man who flees to France and joins the Foreign Legion.
Alongside Cannes and Venice, the Berlinale is one of the major film festivals. The American actress Kristen Stewart (“Spencer”, “Twilight”) headed the international jury this year. Together with the other jury members, she decided on the awards. Last year, the drama “Alcarràs – The Last Harvest” won the Golden Bear. This year’s Berlinale ends on Sunday.
Source: Nachrichten
