From Marlene-Dietrich-Platz the focus of the day on the Golden and Silver Bear and the collateral prizes

(from Berlin Luigi Noera with the kind collaboration of Maria Vittoria Battaglia and Vittorio D'Agrò of the editorial staff Ground floor– The photos are published courtesy of the #BERLINALE)

After a marathon of more 200 film the Juries expressed their judgment of the 74th edition of the #Berlinale

GOLDEN BEAR Best Film a Dahomey by Mati Diop (review)

The best documentary was the one presented in the ENCOUNTER section, among the films of the new German cinematography (PDK) a film about diversity excelled

Below we report our impressions of the two films.

Instead here are the Awards assigned by the International Jury chaired by Kristen Stewart assisted by Golshifteh Farahani, Valeska Grisebach, Radu Jude, Francine Maisler Carla Simon, Johnnie To

SILVER BEAR Grand Jury Prize a Yeohaengjaui mischievous (A Traveler‘s Needs) Hong Sangsoo (review)

SILVER BEAR Jury Prize a The Empire (The Empire) at Bruno Dumont (review)

SILVER BEAR best Director a Nelson Carlos De Los Santos Arias per Pepe (review)

SILVER BEAR best performance protagonist a Sebastian Stan in A Different Man by Aaron Schimberg (review)

SILVER BEAR best supporting performance a Emily Watson in Small Things Like These by Tim Mielants (review)

SILVER BEAR best screenplay a Matthias Glasner per Die (Dying) (review)

SILVER BEAR best artistic contribution a Martin Gschlacht for the cinematography in The devil's bath (The Devil’s Bath) by Veronika Franz & works in part specially digitized and restored by the local film archives (review)

ENCOUNTERS

The Jury composed of Lisandro Alonso, Denis Cote, Tizza Covi has decreed:

BEST DIRECT ACTION FILM di Guillaume Cailleau, Ben Russell

MIGLIOR REGIA City; Campo di Juliana Rojas

Special Jury Prize (equally) a Khamyazeye market (The Great Yawn of History) di Aliyar Rasti e Kong fang jian li de nv ren (Some Rain Must Fall) di Qiu Yang (review)

Award for best documentary

The Jury composed of Abbas Fahdel, Thomas Heise, Véréna Paravel awarded No Other Land of Basel Adra, Hamdan Ballal, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor while a Special Mention to ACTION di Guillaume Cailleau, Ben Russell

 

GWFF AWARD Best First Film

The jury made up of Eliza Hittman, Andréa Picard, Katrin He rewarded Coolie Never Cry (With Li Never Cries) Di Pham Ngoc Lan (review)

 

Ecumenical Jury Awards

The Jury composed of Karin Becker, Jacques Champeaux, Anita Nemes, Brent Rodriguez-Plate, Marta Romanova-Jacobson, Sr. Francesca Šimuniová awarded the following prizes:

Competition Keyke mahboobe man (My Favourite Cake) in Maryam Moghaddam & Behtash Sanaeeha

Panorama Sex di Dag Johan Haugerud a Cerina

Dart, Deniz Sertkol, Nace Zavrl

 

Forum Maria's silence (Maria‘s Silence) di Dāvis Sīmanis

Special Mention Intercepted on Oksana Karpovych

 

FIPRESCI Jury Awards

The members of the respective juries awarded the prizes:

Competition: Baron György, Nina Mikelides, Barbara Schweizerhof in Keyke mahboobe man (My Favourite Cake) in Maryam Moghaddam & Behtash Sanaeeha

Encounters: Cerina Darta, Deniz Sertkol, Nace Zavrl Sleeping with his eyes open (Sleep with Your Eyes Open) It di Wohlatz

Panorama: Ron Fogel, Barbara Lorey de Lacharriere, Joyce Yang to Faruk di Aslı Özge

Forum: Medina Nicolas Carlos, Sebastian Khouw, Schayan Riaz at The Human Hibernation by Anna Cornudella Castro

TEDDY AWARDS

The members of the juries Diego Armando Aparicio, Cerise Howard, Luis Fernando Moura, We are Sid, Vic Carmen Sonne have awarded:

Best Feature Film All Shall Be Well di Ray Yeung

Best Documentary/Essay Film Teaches of Peaches di Philipp Fussenegger, Judy Landkammer

Jury Award a Crossing in Levan Akin

Special Teddy Award Lothar Lambert

 

AWARDS from the Public

PANORAMA AUDIENCE AWARD a

Memories of a body that burns (Memories of a Burning Body) by Antonella Sudasassi Furniss as a genre film

No Other Land Basel Adra, Hamdan Ballal, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor as documentary

READERS‘ JURIES

Il BERLINER MORGENPOST READERS’ JURY AWARD

He went to Sterben (Dying)on Matthias Glasner

Il TAGESSPIEGEL READERS’ JURY AWARD

He went to Une famille (A Family) on Christine Angot

But here are the reviews of the films recovered on the last day of the #BERLINALE:

Panorama

No Other Land of Basel Adra, Hamdan Ballal, Yuval Abraham, Synopsis: Rachel Szor | WP | DOC| first work

This movie, created by a Palestinian-Israeli collective, shows the destruction of Masafer Yatta in the West Bank by Israeli authorities and the unlikely alliance that develops between Palestinian activist Basel and Israeli journalist Yuval.

Review: Culture unites, we are faced with an Israeli Palestinian collective.

One of the Basel directors is looking towards his house in the evening, but something happened. In the area of ​​the occupied territories, according to the Israeli military, there cannot be settlements because they are a buffer zone and so the Israeli army destroys civilian homes with bulldozers and tanks.

The Palestinians have no choice but to take refuge in the natural caves in the area and rebuild at night what the Israelis demolished during the day.

But all this also involves helping oneself like Basel's father who manages an unlikely petrol pump, or the emblematic case of a young Palestinian who was paralyzed due to a stray bullet that hit him in the spine.

For years there has been a continuous demolition and reconstruction of Palestinian settlements in the West Bank.

Despite everything, the friendship between the young Palestinian Basel and the Israeli Yuval has lasted for years and they made this documentary on the disastrous situation of the so-called Territories.

As we said, the film was awarded as best doc of this edition of the #BERLINALE.

Encounters

Direct Action di Guillaume Cailleau, Ben Russell | WP | DOC

Synopsis: DIRECT ACTION documents the daily life of one of France's most visible militant activist communities and asks whether the success of a radical protest movement could offer a way out of the climate crisis.

Review: we could define this documentary with just one word: exhausting, yet he was rewarded!

Let's start from the incipit where two Direction Action activists examine the videos documenting the activity carried out:

Bird watching watchtower, birds chirping, various moments of community life documented with the fixed camera, pig farms, sawmill, the horse-drawn plow, making tools at the blacksmith.

The doc lasts over four hours and these frames quoted are those shown in the first hour!

Kong fang jian li de nv ren (Some Rain Must Fall) di Qiu Yang | WP | first work

Synopsis: Cai, a 45-year-old Chinese middle-class housewife, and in crisis. He no longer knows who he is or who he wants to be. Following a seemingly trivial accident, her life goes off the rails and she heads into an uncertain future.

Review: A woman goes to a gym looking for her daughter and asks the coach. It is Mrs CAI who cannot rest over the disappearance of the young woman who refuses to answer the phone. The discomfort conveyed to the spectator by the loud music in the gym and a ball to Mrs. CAI from behind.

There are other elements of tension in this first work such as the grandmother who takes care of her grandson because the father works hard and cannot take care of him. The film is dark with shots in the darkness from the shoulder which reflects the state of mind of the woman dealing with her granddaughter's excesses.

Mrs. CAI also suffers from headaches and the calming medicine causes strange effects, but her commitment to the home is also complicated by caring for her mother-in-law who suffers from dementia.

A non-secondary character are the off-screen noises that expertly frame the film.

In the many facets of this first work we point out a twist in the screenplay which shows us an extramarital affair of the protagonist. To this complicated script we add the fact that for us Westerners the faces of the Eastern protagonists are not clearly distinguishable to imagine the fog hovering over the film. Minimalist film in style.

Among other things, we highlight the only character who remains faithful to the protagonist: the cat! As a first work there is a lot of material to discuss.

Berlinale Special

Sasquatch Sunset in David & Nathan Zellner

Synopsis: Very realistic in style and at the same time completely surreal in concept, Sasquatch Sunset tells the story of a family living in the wilds of North America.

Review: dawn in the forest, four primordial individuals wander around the forest emitting guttural sounds. Two of them are a couple: man and woman. They start making love under the astonished gaze of the other two. The behavior of our ancestors makes us humans of the third millennium DC smile in a surrealist tale of the evolution of the human species in this trash film.

The older one challenges a ferocious beast that tears him to pieces, but even then, in addition to the desire for love, there was the desire to excel even at the cost of a murder that is so reminiscent of Cain and Abel.

It is an authorial proof, but it would be better to read the Bible – Old Testament to know our origins.

Generation 14plus

African Disco: a Malagasy story (African Disco: A Malagasy Story) is Luck Razanajaona | first work

Synopsis: Twenty-year-old Kwame works hard in the clandestine sapphire mines. When an unexpected event brings him back to his hometown, he is faced with the rampant corruption plaguing his country. Kwame is forced to make a choice.

Review: A poignant film about the living conditions of smuggled sapphire seekers. The police are on their tail and they are forced to search for the valuables at night. Two very close young people between them, but the police kill one of them and the survivor brings the body of his friend Rivo back to his village of origin where he decides to change his life.

In the big city he finds work as a tricycle taxi driver, and Life continues!

A first work that makes you reflect on outcasts.

At this point we just have to tell you which films we loved.

Among the Italians The Secret Drawer by Costanza Quadriglio e That Summer with Irene by Carlo Sironi.

Instead, in the various sections in addition to the doc No Other Land also (in order of preference)

Through Rocks and Clouds

My Favourite Cake

Spaceman

Crossing

My Stolen Planet

At this point all that remains is to say Goodbye to #Berlinale75!

luigi Noera