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74th Berlin International Film Festival
2024 film festival in Berlin, Germany From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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The 74th annual Berlin International Film Festival, usually called the Berlinale, took place between 15 and 25 February 2024 in Berlin, Germany.[1] Kenyan-Mexican actress Lupita Nyong'o was named the Jury President for the main competition.[2][3] This year's Berlinale was Carlo Chatrian and Mariette Rissenbeek's final edition in charge, following their dismissal in 2023.[4] The festival opened with Tim Mielants' Small Things Like These.[5][6]
Dahomey, directed by French-Senegalese filmmaker Mati Diop, won the Golden Bear, making it the second year in a row that a documentary won the festival's top prize, following On the Adamant's win in 2023. The Silver Bear Grand Jury Prize was awarded to A Traveler's Needs by Hong Sang-soo, and the Silver Bear for Best Leading Performance was awarded to Sebastian Stan for A Different Man.[7][8] American filmmaker Martin Scorsese was awarded with the Honorary Golden Bear.[9]
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Juries
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International Jury - Main Competition
- Lupita Nyong'o, Kenyan-Mexican actress - Jury President[2]
- Brady Corbet, American filmmaker and actor[10]
- Ann Hui, Hong Kong-Chinese filmmaker and actress
- Christian Petzold, German filmmaker
- Jasmine Trinca, Italian actress and filmmaker
- Albert Serra, Spanish filmmaker
- Oksana Zabuzhko, Ukrainian novelist and poet
Encounters Jury
- Lisandro Alonso, Argentine filmmaker[10]
- Denis Côté, Canadian filmmaker
- Tizza Covi, Italian filmmaker
International Jury - Short Film Competition
- İlker Çatak, German filmmaker[10]
- Xabier Erkizia, Spanish sound artist and researcher
- Jennifer Reeder, American filmmaker, video artist and lecturer
Generation Jury
- Amjad Abu Alala, Sudanese filmmaker
- Banafshe Hourmazdi, Iranian-German actress
- Ira Sachs, American filmmaker[10]
GWFF Best First Feature Award Jury
- Eliza Hittman, American filmmaker[10]
- Andréa Picard, Canadian Senior Film curator at the Toronto International Film Festival and advisor to the Marrakech International Film Festival
- Katrin Pors, Danish producer
Berlinale Documentary Award and Jury
- Abbas Fahdel, Iraqi filmmaker[10]
- Thomas Heise, German filmmaker
- Véréna Paravel, French artist, and anthropologist
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Official Sections
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Main Competition
The following films were selected for the main competition for the Golden Bear:
Berlinale Special
The following films are selected for the Berlinale Special section:
Encounters
The following films are selected for the Encounters section:
Berlinale Short Film Competition
The following films are selected for the Berlinale's Short Film Competition section:
Panorama
The following films are selected for the Panorama section:
Forum
The following films are selected for the Forum section:[11]
Generation
The following films are selected for the Generation sections:
Berlinale Classics
The following films are selected for the Berlinale Classics section:
Retrospective
The following films are selected for the Retrospective section:
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Official Awards
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Main Competition
- Golden Bear: Dahomey by Mati Diop[8]
- Silver Bear Grand Jury Prize: A Traveler's Needs by Hong Sang-soo
- Silver Bear Jury Prize: The Empire by Bruno Dumont
- Silver Bear for Best Director: Nelson Carlo De Los Santos Arias for Pepe
- Silver Bear for Best Leading Performance: Sebastian Stan for A Different Man
- Silver Bear for Best Supporting Performance: Emily Watson for Small Things Like These
- Silver Bear for Best Screenplay: Matthias Glasner for Dying
- Silver Bear for Outstanding Artistic Contribution: Martin Gschlacht for The Devil's Bath (cinematography)
Honorary Golden Bear
Berlinale Camera
GWFF Best First Feature Award
- Cu Li Never Cries by Phạm Ngọc Lân[15]
Berlinale Documentary Award
- No Other Land by Basel Adra, Hamdan Ballal, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor[16]
- Special Mention: Direct Action by Guillaume Cailleau and Ben Russell
Encounters
- Best Film: Direct Action by Guillaume Cailleau and Ben Russell[17]
- Best Director: Juliana Rojas for Cidade; Campo
- Special Jury Award:
- Some Rain Must Fall by Qiu Yang
- The Great Yawn of History by Aliyar Rasti
Berlinale Short Films Competition
- Golden Bear for Best Short Film: An Odd Turn by Francisco Lezama[18]
- Silver Bear Jury Prize: Remains of the Hot Day by Wenqian Zhang
- Special Mention: That's All from Me by Eva Könnemann
- Berlin Short Film Candidate for the European Film Awards: That's All from Me by Eva Könnemann
Generation
Generation Kplus International Jury
- Grand Prix of the International Jury for the Best Film: Reinas by Klaudia Reynicke[19]
- Special Mention: Through Rocks and Clouds by Franco García Becerra
- Special Prize of the International Jury for the Best Short Film: A Summer's End Poem by Lam Can-zhao
- Special Mention: Uli by Mariana Gil Ríos
Generation 14plus International Jury
- Grand Prix of the International Jury for the Best Film: Who by Fire by Philippe Lesage[19]
- Special Mention: Maydegol by Sarvnaz Alambeigi
- Special Prize of the International Jury for the Best Short Film: A Bird Flew by Leinad Pájaro De la Hoz
- Special Mention: Songs of Love and Hate by Saurav Ghimire
Children's Jury Generation Kplus
- Crystal Bear for the Best Film: It's Okay! by Kim Hye-young[19]
- Special Mention: Young Hearts by Anthony Schatteman
- Crystal Bear for the Best Short Film: Butterfly by Florence Miailhe
- Special Mention: Amplified by Dina Naser
Youth Jury Generation 14plus
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Independent Awards
Panorama Audience Award
Feature film
- 1st place: Memories of a Burning Body by Antonella Sudasassi Furniss[20]
- 2nd place: Crossing by Levan Akin
- 3rd place: All Shall Be Well by Ray Yeung
Documentary
- 1st place: No Other Land by Basel Adra, Hamdan Ballal, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor[20]
- 2nd place: My Stolen Planet by Farahnaz Sharifi
- 3rd place: Teaches of Peaches by Philipp Fussenegger, Judy Landkammer
Teddy Award
- Best Feature Film: All Shall Be Well by Ray Yeung (Panorama)[21]
- Best Documentary/Essay Film: Teaches of Peaches by Philipp Fussenegger, Judy Landkammer (Panorama)
- Best Short Film: Grandmamauntsistercat by Zuza Banasińska (Forum Expanded)
- Teddy Jury Award: Crossing by Levan Akin (Panorama)
- Special Teddy Award: Lothar Lambert
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Controversies
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Iranian censorship
Shortly before the Iranian film My Favourite Cake was selected for the Main Competition, filmmakers Behtash Sanaeeha and Maryam Moqadam were banned from leaving Iran to attend the Festival, had their passports confiscated, and will face a court trial in relation to their work as artists and filmmakers.[22][23] The Iranian government decision was met, once again, with international protests, following Golden Bear winners Jafar Panahi and Mohammad Rasoulof arrests in 2022/2023, and numerous others censorship attempts in the last years.[24][25]
Rescinsion of AfD invitiation
Amid controversy, Berlinale's directors Mariette Rissenbeek and Carlo Chatrian rescinded its decision to invite representatives of the far-right party Alternative for Germany (German: Alternative für Deutschland, AfD) to attend the festival's Opening Ceremony Gala. The decision followed a number of controversies around the party's statements in opposition to immigration.[26][27][28] An open letter was signed by over 200 German cultural industry professionals expressing outrage with the invitations.[29][30]
Gaza war protests
In the introductory press release for the 2024 festival, Berlinale opted not to mention freedom of speech as one of their core values, despite having done so in the previous year's statement.[31][32][verification needed] During the festival, hundreds of past and present Berlinale participants signed open letters criticizing Berlinale's complicity in Germany's censorship of pro-Palestine voices amidst the backdrop of the Gaza war, including over 280 Berlinale Talents alumni,[33] over 190 filmmakers with films in the 2024 festival[34] and over 60 Berlinale contractors.[35][verification needed] In further protest, John Greyson, Suneil Sanzgiri and Ayo Tsalithaba all withdrew their films from the festival, while Maryam Tafakory, Advik Beni, and Monica Sorelle dropped out of the Berlinale Talents programme, and Emilia Beatriz withdrew from the European Film Market.[36] Unlike its response to the public's outrage at the AfD invitation, Berlinale directors remained silent to the demands of their filmmakers, alumni, and contractors in support of Palestine.[36]
Throughout the festival, artists continued to use their platforms to make statements in solidarity with Palestine. On February 16, curators of the Berlinale's Forum Expanded program joined artist's expressions of solidarity, stating, "We, too, want to add our voice and share our concern by expressing that the Forum Expanded curators support the urgent call for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza."[37] On February 18, pro-Palestine activists laid down on the front steps of the Gropius Bau drenched in fake blood with a sign reading, “Welcome to the Red Carpet,” while inside the building others unfurled pro-Palestinian banners from the upper floor.[38]
During the Closing Night Ceremony at the Berlinale Palast, on February 25, there were numerous pro-Palestine statements and protests during the red carpet and acceptance speeches, including from Golden Bear winner Mati Diop, and Palestinian and Israeli filmmakers Basel Adra, Hamdan Ballal, Yuval Abraham, and Rachel Szor, the four of whom directed No Other Land. The Teddy Award jury posted a statement in solidarity with Gaza which was met with audience applause as well as loud booing.[39][verification needed] An Instagram account linked to the Panorama section published an allegedly official statement from the festival organizers, stating "we acknowledge that our silence makes us complicit in Israel's ongoing genocide in Gaza and ethnic cleansing of Palestine"[40] adding: "From our unresolved Nazi past to our genocidal present – we have always been on the wrong side of history."[41] Minutes later, the Berlinale's main Instagram account stated that the Panorama account was hacked and the posts "do not represent the Berlinale's position", and announced plans to “file criminal charges against unknown persons”.[41]
During his acceptance speech after winning the Best Documentary award, No Other Land co-director Abraham stated, referring to his Palestinian co-director Adra: "I am under civilian law; Basel [Adra] is under military law. We live 30 minutes from one another but I have voting rights. Basel does not have voting rights. I am free to move where I want in this land. Basel, like millions of Palestinians, is locked in the occupied West Bank. This situation of apartheid between us, this inequality, has to end".[42] Berlin Mayor, Kai Wegner, and numerous other German politicians expressed outrage, calling the closing ceremony statements "anti-Semitic".[41] Germany's minister of state for culture Claudia Roth was criticized for clapping during Adra and Abraham's speech, and she later claimed that she was only clapping for Abraham, declaring that "The statements at the Bears ceremony were shockingly one-sided and characterized by a profound hatred of Israel".[43][44] While the Festival is mainly funded by the German government,[45] the organizers stated that the "filmmakers' statements were independent and should be accepted as long as they respect the legal framework".[46][47][48] Following the ceremony, Abraham said that a right-wing mob in Israel had threatened his family, stating, "The appalling misuse of this word by Germans... to silence Israelis like me who support a ceasefire... empties the word antisemitism of meaning and thus endangers Jews all over the world".[49]
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References
External links
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