French Documentary ‘On the Adamant’ Wins High Prize at Berlin Movie Pageant

The runner-up prize went to “Afire” by the German director Christian Petzold, a fixture of the competition. The dry comedy facilities on an acerbic novelist ensconced in a trip residence who’s compelled to reckon along with his self-image amid an encroaching forest hearth. A particular jury prize was given to the Portuguese filmmaker João Canijo’s “Unhealthy Dwelling,” a drama a couple of group of girls operating a decaying resort.

The most effective director award went to Philippe Garrel, a veteran French filmmaker, for “The Plough,” a drama a couple of household of puppeteers that stars three of his real-life youngsters. The gender-neutral award for finest efficiency was given to Sofía Otero, a first-time actor, who performed an 8-year-old grappling with gender identification in “20,000 Species of Bees.” The tearful speech by Otero, the youngest to win the award, left many within the viewers crying.

The award for finest screenplay was given to Angela Schanelec’s “Music,” an elliptical retelling of the parable of Oedipus, and the award for finest supporting efficiency went to Thea Ehre, who performed a transgender ex-convict working with a police investigator in Christoph Hochhäusler’s “Until the Finish of the Evening.”

Though the Berlinale has lengthy been probably the most political of the most important worldwide festivals, this yr’s version was particularly touched by world occasions. Two earlier winners of the Golden Bear — the Iranian administrators Jafar Panahi, whose movie “Taxi Tehran” gained in 2015, and Mohammad Rasoulof, whose movie “There Is No Evil” gained in 2020 — have been imprisoned in current months for opposing the Iranian authorities. (Each have been finally launched.) Through the competition’s shiny opening gala, Farahani, who’s herself exiled from Iran, drew a prolonged standing ovation for a rousing speech by which she known as for Europe to face on the “proper aspect of historical past” by supporting Iranian protesters.

This yr’s competition additionally featured a number of movies about Ukraine, together with “Iron Butterflies,” concerning the downing of Malaysia Airways Flight 17 in 2014, and “Superpower,” a documentary by the actor and director Sean Penn that features an interview with Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelensky, filmed the night time of the Russian invasion. Showing on the opening gala through video hyperlink, Zelensky praised the Berlinale for its “precept of openness, equality and dialogue with out borders.” Though Russian filmmakers have been allowed at this yr’s competition, movies that had been financed by the Russian authorities have been banned.