The 75th anniversary edition of the Berlin Film Festival drew to a close with tonight’s awards ceremony, as the jury awarded the Golden Bear to Norwegian director Dag Johan Haugerud’s “Dreams (Sex Love),” the portrait of a teenage girl with a passionate imagination who pours her intense feelings toward a teacher into a transformative personal essay.
The award brings Haugerud full circle, after having premiered “Sex” — the first film in the trilogy — a year earlier in the Panorama section of the 2024 Berlin Film Festival. (“Love” screened in Venice between the two.)
“The film is called ‘Drømmer’ — it’s Norwegian for ‘dreams’ — and this was beyond my wildest dreams really,” said the filmmaker, in accepting the prize from jury president Todd Haynes. “And I will just say: Write more and read more. It expands your mind. It’s very good for you.”
The jury’s second place prize, the Silver Bear, went to Gabriel Mascaro’s “The Blue Trail,” a film that challenges the way society treats its eldest citizens.
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Rose Byrne won leading performance honors for her tour-de-force role in Mary Bronstein’s “If I Had Legs, I’d Kick You.” In a film that swirls like a tornado around Byrne’s performance, the Australian actor plays an overwhelmed mother juggling her work as a therapist and the demands of raising a special needs child.
Andrew Scott won best supporting actor for playing Richard Rodgers (of the musical duo Rodgers and Hammerstein) in Richard Linklater’s “Blue Moon.” Scott noted that he had been honored by European Film Promotion’s Shooting Stars program.
Full list of winners:
COMPETITION
Golden Bear for Best Film: “Dreams (Sex Love)”
Silver Bear Grand Jury Prize: “The Blue Trail”
Silver Bear Jury Prize: “The Message”
Silver Bear for Best Director: Huo Meng, “Living the Land”
Silver Bear for Best Leading Performance: Rose Byrne, “If I Had Legs, I’d Kick You”
Silver Bear for Best Supporting Performance: Andrew Scott, “Blue Moon”
Silver Bear for Best Screenplay: “Kontinental ’25,” Radu Jude
Silver Bear for Outstanding Artistic Contribution: “La Tour de Glace,” Lucile Hadžihalilović
BERLINALE DOCUMENTARY AWARD
Best Documentary: “Holding Liat,” Brandon Kramer
PERSPECTIVES JURY
GWFF Best First Feature: “The Devil Smokes (and Saves the Burnt Matches in the Same Box),” Ernesto Martínez Bucio
BERLINALE SHORTS
Golden Bear: “Lloyd Wong, Unfinished,” Lesley Loksi Chan
Silver Bear: “Ordinary Life,” Yoriko Mizushiri
Special Mention: TBA
Awards previously announced:
PANORAMA AWARDS
Panorama Audience Award: “Sorda,” Eva Libertad
Second Prize: “Lesbian Space Princess,” Emma Hough Hobbs, Leela Varghese
Third Prize: “Home Sweet Home,” Frelle Petersen
Panorama Documentary Audience Award: “Die Möllner Briefe,” Martina Priessner
Second Prize: “Yalla Parkour Sweden,” Areeb Zuaiter
Third Prize: “Khartoum,” Anas Saeed, Rawia Alhag, Ibrahim Snoopy, Timeea M Ahmed, Phil Cox
GENERATION AWARDS
Generation International Jury
Grand Prix for Best Film in Generation 14plus: “Christy,” Brendan Canty
Special Mention: “Têtes Brûlées,” Maja-Ajmia Yde Zellama
Special Prize for Best Short Film in Generation 14plus: “Don’t Wake the Sleeping Child,” Kevin Aubert
A Bird Flew,” Leinad Pájaro De la Hoz
Special Mention: “Beneath Which Rivers Flow,” Ali Yahya
Grand Prix for Best Film in Generation Kplus: “The Botanist,” Jing Yi
Special Mention: “Seaside Serendipity,” Satoko Yokohama
Special Prize for Best Short Film in Generation Kplus: “Autokar,” Sylwia Szkiłądź
Special Mention: “Akababuru: Expression of Astonishment,“ Irati Dojura Landa Yagarí
Youth Jury Generation 14plus
Crystal Bear for Best Film: “Sunshine,” Antoinette Jadaone
Special Mention: ”Playtime,” Lucia Murat
Crystal Bear for Best Short Film: “Wish You Were Ear,” Mirjana Balogh
Special Mention: “Sunset Over America,” Matías Rojas Valencia
Children’s Jury Generation Kplus
Crystal Bear for Best Film: “Maya, Give Me a Title,” Michel Gondry
Special Mention: “Circusboy,” Julia Lemke
Crystal Bear for Best Short Film: “Little Rebels Cinema Club,” Khozy Rizal
Special Mention: “Down in the Dumps,” Vera van Wolferen
INDEPENDENT JURY PRIZES
Ecumenical Jury Prizes
Competition: “The Blue Trail,” Gabriel Mascaro
Panorama: “The Heart Is a Muscle,” Imran Hamdulay
Forum: “Holding Liat,” Brandon Kramer
FIPRESCI Jury Prizes
Competition: “Dreams (Sex Love),” Dag Johan Haugerud
Encounters: “Little Trouble Girls,” Urška Djukić
Panorama: “Under the Flags, the Sun,” Juanjo Pereira
Forum: “The Memory of Butterflies,” Tatiana Fuentes Sadowski
Teddy Awards
Best Feature Film: “Lesbian Space Princess,” Leela Varghese, Emma Hough Hobbs
Best Documentary/Essay Film: “Satanic Sow,” Rosa von Praunheim
Best Short Film: “Lloyd Wong,” Lesley Loksi Chan
Jury Award: “If You Are Afraid You Put Your Heart into Your Mouth and Smile,” Marie Luise Lehner
Special Teddy Award: Todd Haynes
CICAE Art Cinema Award
Panorama: “Deaf” (Sorda), Eva Libertad
Forum: “If You Are Afraid You Put Your Heart Into Your Mouth and Smile,” Marie Luise Lehner
Guild Film Prize: “Dying,” Matthias Glasner
Label Europa Cinemas: “Hysteria by Mehmet,” Mehmet Akif Büyükatalay
Caligari Film Prize: “Fwends,” Sophie Somerville
Peace Film Prize: “Khartoum,” Anas Saeed, Rawia Alhag, Ibrahim Snoopy, Timeea M Ahmed, Phil Cox
Special Mention: “Queer as Punk,” Yihwen Chen
Amnesty International Film Award: “The Moelln Letters,” Martina Priessner
Special Mention: “Khartoum,” Anas Saeed, Rawia Alhag, Ibrahim Snoopy, Timeea M Ahmed, Phil Cox
Heiner Carow Prize: “Palliative Care Unit,” Philipp Döring
AG-Kino Gilde Cinema Vision 14Plus: “Paternal Leave,” Alissa Jung
Special Mention: “Têtes brûlées,” Maja-Ajmia Yde Zellama
OTHER PRIZES
Berliner Morgenpost Readers’ Jury Award: “The Blue Trail,” Gabriel Mascaro
Tagesspiegel Readers’ Jury Award: “The Swan Song of Fedor Ozerov,” Yuri Semashko
DEVELOPMENT AWARDS
Artekino International Award: “Dreamgirl,” Kaan Müjdeci, produced byTato Film & Asteros Film
Eurimages Co-Production Development Award: “Ibicaba – Visions of Paradise,” Andrea Štaka
VFF Talent Highlight Award: “March 14th,” Alberto Gross Molo
Gen Z Audience Award: “30 Days of Summer,” Anastasiia Solonevych