Berlinale 2021: The Award Winners of the Competition

The members of the International Jury – Ildikó Enyedi (Hungary), Nadav Lapid (Israel), Adina Pintilie (Romania), Mohammad Rasoulof (Iran), Gianfranco Rosi (Italy) and Jasmila Žbanić (Bosnia and Herzegovina) – have decided on the prizes in the Competition at the 71st Berlinale.
The festive Award Ceremony will take place at the Summer Special (June 9 to 20, 2021).

Golden Bear for Best Film

(awarded to the film’s producers)

Babardeală cu bucluc sau porno balamuc (Bad Luck Banging or Loony Porn)
by Radu Jude (Romania / Luxembourg / Croatia / Czech Republic)
produced by Ada Solomon

Jury statement:
“The Golden Bear goes to a film which has that rare and essential quality of a lasting art work. It captures on screen the very content and essence, the mind and body, the values and the raw flesh of our present moment in time. Of this very moment of human existence.
It does so by provoking the spirit of our time (i.e., zeitgeist), by slapping it, by challenging it to a duel. And while doing that, it also challenges this present moment in cinema, shaking, with the same camera movement, our social and our cinematic conventions.
It is an elaborated film as well as a wild one, clever and childish, geometrical and vibrant, imprecise in the best way. It attacks the spectator, evokes disagreement, but leaves no one with a safety distance.”

Silver Bear Grand Jury Prize

Guzen to sozo (Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy) by Ryusuke Hamaguchi (Japan)

Jury statement:
“In the place where dialogues and words usually end, the dialogues of this film only begin. That’s when they go deeper, so deep that, amazed and troubled, we ask ourselves: How much deeper can it go? The words of Hamaguchi are substance, music, material.
At first it looks almost minor: a man and a woman, sometimes two women, stand in a room with white walls. Then the scene moves forward, and as it advances you feel that the whole universe, including yourself, is standing there with them inside this simple room.”

Silver Bear Jury Prize

Herr Bachmann und seine Klasse (Mr Bachmann and His Class) by Maria Speth (Germany) – documentary form

Jury statement:
“In a film, you can draw attention to deep problems by sticking your finger into the wound or showing hope and giving inspiration as how to achieve a positive change. The latter is the strategy that the director of this tenderly powerful documentary chose to follow.
Always keeping the right distance, the film focuses on one of those ‘field workers’ of our society who defines the most formative years of our children, influencing deeply their attitude towards life. As seen through the eyes of the director, this teacher is unique: he reshapes, softens, and makes more human, and through that humanity makes much more efficient a system in crisis – our European educational system.
The film shows how far you can go simply with true respect, sincere communication, and with that magic all great teachers possess: sparking the fire of passion in their students by activating their fantasy.”

Silver Bear for Best Director

Dénes Nagy for Természetes fény (Natural Light) – debut film
(Hungary / Latvia / France / Germany)

Jury statement:
“Appalling and beautifully shot, mesmerising images, remarkable direction and a masterful control of every aspect of the craft of filmmaking, a narration that transcends its historical context. A portrait of war in which the observant gaze of the director reminds us again of the need to choose between passivity and taking individual responsibility.”

Silver Bear for Best Leading Performance

Maren Eggert in Ich bin dein Mensch (I’m Your Man) by Maria Schrader (Germany)

Jury statement:
“Her presence made us curious. Her charm made us empathic. And her palette of performing qualities allowed us to feel, laugh and ask questions. Confidently bringing to life an excellent script, supported by wonderful colleagues and her director, she created a memorable character that we can identify with – leading us to think about our presence and our future, our relations and what we really want for ourselves.”

Silver Bear for Best Supporting Performance

Lilla Kizlinger in Rengeteg – mindenhol látlak (Forest – I See You Everywhere) by Bence Fliegauf (Hungary)

Jury statement:
“Among the many outstanding miniature performances of Forest – I See You Everywhere we found one in particular especially strong and memorable. Lilla Kizlinger bears on her young shoulders with grace and delusive natural lightness a special responsibility. By the power of her interpretation alone, by her intensive presence, she pulls to the surface the hidden layers of the scene, actually defining the motive behind the film: the chilling menace of the world, what the children of today inherit from us grownups. Instead of telling us, explaining to us, she accomplishes the much more difficult task of raising in us the need to think about haunting, disquieting questions of our present. She enchanted us, and through enchantment, she made us think.”

Silver Bear for Best Screenplay

Hong Sangsoo for Inteurodeoksyeon (Introduction) by Hong Sangsoo (Republic of Korea)

Jury statement:
“More than telling a story, or advancing a narration with efficiency, this script fabricates those momentary intervals between one action and another, where, for an instant, a hidden truth of human life is suddenly revealed, bright and lucid.”

Silver Bear for Outstanding Artistic Contribution

Yibrán Asuad for the editing of Una película de policías (A Cop Movie)
by Alonso Ruizpalacios (Mexico) – documentary form

Jury statement:
“The Silver Bear for Outstanding Artistic Contribution goes to the masterful editing concept of a daring, innovative work of cinema which blurs the boundaries between fiction and reality and boldly explores the cinematic language’s ability to shift our perspective on the world. Playing an essential role in supporting the filmmaker’s unique vision, the montage skilfully deconstructs the multiple layers of reality and language to offer an in-depth, thought-provoking look into one of Mexico’s most controversial institutions.”