6 hours agoMati Diop won the Golden Bear for Best Film for 'Dahomey'Image: Andreas Rentz/Getty Images
The Berlinale is renowned for being the most political of all three major European film festivals. In its 74th edition, it remained true to its reputation by awarding its top prize, the Golden Bear, to Mati Diop's documentary "Dahomey," which accompanies the restitution of 26 of the royal treasures of the Kingdom of Dahomey from France to Benin.
"To rebuild, we must first restitute," said the French-Senegalese filmmaker in her acceptance speech. "We are among those who refuse to forget."
The documentary is honored at a time when the return of colonial objects is a strongly debated topic in the museums of former colonial powers.
Berlinale: Winners of the Golden and Silver Bear awards
Remaining true to its political reputation, the Berlin International Film Festival's top award went to Mati Diop's "Dahomey," a documentary on the restitution of colonial works.
Image: Berlinale 2020/Sandra Weller
Golden Bear: 'Dahomey'
In November 2021, 26 treasures of the Kingdom of Dahomey were returned from Paris to their country of origin, the present-day Republic of Benin. Filmmaker Mati Diop followed the artifacts' journey in a documentary that also fictionalizes the thoughts of one of the statues. The work won the Berlinale's top award, the Golden Bear.
Image: Les Films du Bal - Fanta Sy
Silver Bear Grand Jury Prize: 'A Traveler's Needs'
This is South Korean director Hong Sangsoo's fourth Silver Bear since 2020. True to the filmmaker's style, "A Traveler's Needs" is a blend of melancholic drama and awkward comedy. Set in Seoul, it stars Isabelle Huppert in the lead role of a mysterious Frenchwoman who likes to walk barefoot and to lie down on rocks.
Image: Jeonwonsa Film Co.
Silver Bear Jury Prize: 'The Empire'
The fact that a comedy was selected in the official competition was already unusual. Bruno Dumont's sci-fi spoof also impressed the international jury. Starring Fabrice Luchini in the role of a Darth Vader-like figure, the absurdist space opera has the forces of good and evil fighting in rural northern France.
Image: Tessalit Productions
Silver Bear for Best Director: 'Pepe'
Dominican filmmaker Nelson Carlo De Los Santos Arias' was honored with a Silver Bear for his experimental film, "Pepe." Combining documentary and fiction, the philosophical fable is told from the perspective of the ghost of a hippo called Pepe, brought from Africa to be kept in drug lord Pablo Escobar's zoo in Colombia.
Image: Monte & Culebra
Silver Bear for Best Leading Performance: Sebastian Stan in 'A Different Man'
At the beginning of Aaron Schimberg's "A Different Man," Sebastian Stan (shown here left) wears facial prosthetics to resemble Adam Pearson (right), a British actor and disability rights activist with a rare genetic condition. At some point in the wacky indie film, Stan recovers his Marvel superhero movie good looks, but portrays throughout an insecure actor who is torn by envy.
Image: Faces Off LLC
Silver Bear for Best Supporting Performance: Emily Watson
Starring alongside Cillian Murphy in Tim Mielants' "Small Things Like These," the British actress portrays a nun in charge of concealing the dark secrets of one the Magdalene Laundries, which were workhouses for young women who had become pregnant out of wedlock. While the movie is set in the 1980s, the cruel institutions were active in Ireland from the 1820s to 1996.
Image: Annegret Hilse/REUTERS
Silver Bear for Best Screenplay: 'Dying'
Dealing with different aspects of death, the three-hour comedy-drama by German filmmaker Matthias Glasner follows different members of a dysfunctional family, including Lars Eidinger in a powerful portrayal of a conductor.
Image: Jakub Bejnarowicz/Port au Prince/Schwarzweiss/Senator/Berlinale/dpa/picture alliance
Silver Bear for Outstanding Artistic Contribution: 'The Devil’s Bath'
This award, which recognizes work in one of the different artistic departments of a film production, went to cinematographer Martin Gschlacht. His camerawork on "The Devil’s Bath," directed by Austrian filmmakers Veronika Franz and Severin Fiala, contributed to this historical piece's grim atmosphere.
Image: Ulrich Seidl Filmproduktion/Heimatfilm
Best Documentary: 'No Other Land'
Directed by a Palestinian-Israeli collective (Basel Adra, Hamdan Ballal, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor), "No Other Land" documents the eradication of a village in the West Bank by Israeli soldiers and armed Jewish settlers, a catastrophe for the Palestinian families living in the area.
Image: Berlinale
Fipresci Prize: 'My Favourite Cake'
A 70-year-old widow (Lily Farhadpour) leads a lonely life in Tehran, until she decides to initiate a date with a stranger. She is shown unveiled and drinking wine, which got directorial duo Maryam Moghaddam and Behtash Sanaeeha banned from traveling outside of Iran. Snubbed by the Bears jury, it won the international film critics' Fipresci Prize, as well as the ecumenical jury's top prize.
Image: Hamid Janipour
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Among the works, Iranian entry "My Favourite Cake," which tackles taboos faced by women in Iran, won the hearts of many critics. Its directors, Maryam Moghaddam and Behtash Sanaeeha, were banned from traveling outside Iran by their country's authorities because of the work. The film received the Fipresci Prize and the Prize of the Ecumenical Jury ahead of the gala ceremony, but it did not receive any of the coveted bears.
Meanwhile, "A Traveler's Needs," described by critics as a rather average work by Berlinale veteran Hong Sangsoo, won the festival's second top award. The celebrated South Korean filmmaker is adding the 2024 Silver Bear Grand Jury Prize to his collection of Berlin film festival awards. "I don't know what you saw in the film," the director said upon receiving the prize, prompting laughter among the audience.
French filmmaker Bruno Dumont let a recording of an AI voice speak in the name of his trophy as he accepted his Silver Bear Jury Prize for sci-fi spoof "The Empire." Dominican filmmaker Nelson Carlo De Los Santos Arias criticized American imperialism as he received the Silver Bear for Best Director for his experimental work, "Pepe."
Emily Watson, Sebastian Stan win acting awards
Sebastian Stan, known by fans of the Marvel Cinematic Universe as Bucky Barnes / Winter Soldier, won the Silver Bear for Best Leading Performance for his role in "A Different Man," while Emily Watson, who portrays Sister Mary in "Small Things Like These," received the Silver Bear for Best Supporting Performance. The Berlinale's acting awards are gender neutral.
A bit of star power at the Berlinale: Sebastian Stan won a Silver Bear for his role in 'A Different Man'Image: John Macdougall/AFP/Getty Images
German filmmaker Matthias Glasner won the Silver Bear for Best Screenplay for his family drama "Dying," starring Lars Eidinger. Upon announcing the prize, Ukrainian author Oksana Zabuzhko referred to the war in her home country and noted that the "lack of empathy," which she said was at the root of all conflicts, was well explored in this family drama.
The Silver Bear for Outstanding Artistic Contribution went to cinematographer Martin Gschlacht for his camerawork on the dark psychological drama "The Devil's Bath," directed by Austrian filmmakers Veronika Franz and Severin Fiala.
Palestinian-Israeli documentary honored with prize
Another strong political moment at the awards ceremony came with the announcement of the Best Documentary award, which went to "No Other Land," a film documenting the eradication of a West Bank village by Israeli soldiers and Jewish armed settlers.
The film was directed by a Palestinian-Israeli collective and screened in the festival's Panorama sidebar. Picking up the award in the name of the collective, Palestinian Basel Adra and Israeli Yuval Abraham called on Germany "to respect the UN calls and stop sending weapons to Israel."
