GERMANY. Berlin: The Berlin film festival on Saturday awarded the Golden Bear top prize to a documentary by French director Nicolas Philibert and its best acting award to an eight-year-old girl. Jury chair Kristen Stewart called it a “boundary-pushing” event.
More than 20 years after Philibert’s highly regarded educational film Etre et Avoir, On the Adamant tells the story of a floating daycare centre for individuals with mental health issues on the Seine in Paris.
Philibert, who is 72 years old, thanked the jury and said, “That documentary can be considered cinema on its own, and it really moves me.”
The festival’s gender-neutral acting prize, which was given to Spain’s Sofia Otero, 8, made headlines. Otero received the award for her portrayal of a transgender child in Estibaliz Urresola Solaguren’s feature film debut, ‘20,000 Species of Bees’. The movie received a lot of acclaim from critics.
Philippe Garrel, 74, who directed the drama The Plough about three siblings dealing with the death of their father, won the Silver Bear for best director, adding to France’s success. The French-Swiss filmmaker Jean-Luc Godard, who passed away in September, was referred to as “a great master” by Garrel, who also dedicated the award to his children.
The film Music, directed by German actress Angela Schanelec and set in Greece and Berlin in the 1980s, won the award for best script. A young soldier sent to the Niger Delta stars in the surreal military drama Disco Boy, which was made by several European nations and honoured with a Silver Bear for artistic achievement.
Philibert’s film, On the Adamant provides a close-up look at the lives of adults and the people who care for them in the Parisian daycare center, which emphasises providing them with a creative release.
The 11-day Berlinale resumed in full force this year after two years of a scaled-back format because of pandemic restrictions, with A-listers like Cate Blanchett, Helen Mirren, and Steven Spielberg strolling the red carpet.
The festival also marked the first anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and showed new documentaries and movies about protests against the government in Iran.
This year, 19 films from around the globe competed for the Golden Bear, which was given out at a gala ceremony by a jury chaired by Stewart, the festival’s youngest president at 32.
The 11-day Berlinale resumed in full force this year after two years of a scaled-back format because of pandemic restrictions, with A-listers like Cate Blanchett, Helen Mirren, and Steven Spielberg strolling the red carpet.
The festival also marked the first anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and showed new documentaries and movies about protests against the government in Iran.
This year, 19 films from around the globe competed for the Golden Bear alongside Philibert, which was given out at a gala ceremony by a jury chaired by Stewart, the festival’s youngest president at 32.
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