Alcarràs, Carla Simón’s moving drama about a family of Catalan peach farmers, has won the Golden Bear for best film at the 2022 Berlin International Film Festival.
Simón, whose debut feature, Summer 1993, took Berlin’s best first feature award in 2017, made a triumphant return to the Berlinale with this bittersweet drama, which follows the last summer harvest before the family, who have been farmers for generations, will be evicted from the land to make way for urban developers.
The runner-up Silver Bear Grand Jury Prize went to prolific Korean auteur Hong Sangoo for The Novelist’s Film, the director’s latest black-and-white drama focused on a meandering, but strangely dramatic conversation.
Veteran French filmmaker Claire Denis won the Berlin Silver Bear for best director for Both Sides of the Blade, aka Fire, a love-triangle story featuring Juliette Binoche, Vincent Lindon and Grégoire Colin.
A special jury award went to Robe Of Gems, the debut feature from Mexican filmmaker Natalia López.
German-Turkish actress Meltem Kaptan won Berlin’s gender-neutral Silver Bear for best leading performance for Andreas Dresen’s Rabiye Kurnaz vs. George W. Bush, in which she plays the titular Rabiye, a mother who fought for five years to get her innocent son released from Guantanamo. Laila Stieler also took the best screenplay honors for the film.
The best supporting performance honor was awarded to Laura Basuki, who plays a romantic rival to lead Happy Salma in Kamila Andini’s Before, Now and Then.
Everything Will Be Ok, a blistering essay film from Cambodian director Rithy Panh featuring the director’s trademark clay dioramas, won a Silver Bear for outstanding artistic contribution. A Piece of Sky from director Michael Koch received a special mention from the jury.
Mutzenbacher, a documentary from Austrian director Ruth Beckermann, won the top prize for best film in Berlin’s Encounters section, meant to highlight films that aim to “foster aesthetically and structurally daring works from independent, innovative filmmakers.” In her provocative documentary, Beckermann gets a series of men, aged 16-99, to audition by reading from a still-scandalous book: Josefine Mutzenbacher, or the Life Story of a Viennese Whore, as Told by Herself published in Vienna in 1906. Another documentary, See You Friday, Robinson by Mitra Farahani, won the Encounters’ special jury prize. Swiss filmmaker Cyril Schäublin took the Encounters’ best director prize for Unrest.
The Best First Film Award, picked from across all selections, went to Austrian director Kurdwin Ayub for Sonne. Produced by famed Austrian directors Ulrich Seidel and Veronika Franz, the film follows three girlfriends who decide to shoot a burqa music video.
The Golden Bear for best short film went to Trap, a Russian drama from director Anastasia Veber, which looks at a group of youths who train for the Olympics by day and party hard at night.
The best documentary prize went to The Myanmar Diaries, a film shot in secret in Myanmar by an anonymous group of directors calling themselves The Myanmar Collective.
The 2022 Berlinale winners were unveiled by the competition jury under president M. Night Shyamalan at a gala ceremony in Berlin Wednesday night. Due to the coronavirus pandemic, this year’s Berlin Festival was truncated, playing out over just seven days, from Feb. 10-16. Over the next four days, through Sunday, Feb. 20, Berlin will hold a series of repeat screenings of this year’s films for the Berlin public.
The festival’s industry-focused European Film Market was an online-only affair for the second year running.
Here is the full list of the 2022 Berlinale winners.
COMPETITION
Golden Bear for Best Film
Alcarràs, dir. Carla Simón
Silver Bear Grand Jury Prize
The Novelist’s Film, dir. Hong Sangsoo
Silver Bear for Best Director
Claire Denis for Both Sides of the Blade
Silver Bear Jury Prize
Robe Of Gems, dir. Natalia López
Silver Bear for Best Leading Performance
Meltem Kaptan for Rabiye Kurnaz vs. George W. Bush
Silver Bear for Best Supporting Performance
Laura Bausuki, Before, Now and Then
Silver Bear for Best Screenplay
Laila Stieler for Rabiye Kurnaz vs. George W. Bush
Silver Bear for Outstanding Artistic Contribution
Rithy Path for Everything Will Be Ok
Golden Bear for Best Short Film
Trap by Anastasia Veber
Special Mention
A Piece of Sky, dir. Michael Koch
Best First Film Award
Kurdwin Ayub for Sonne
Best Documentary
The Myanmar Diaries, dir. The Myanmar Collective
ENCOUNTERS
Best Film
Mutzenbacher, dir. Ruth Beckermann
Special Jury Award
See You Friday, Robinson, dir. Mitra Farahani
Best Director
Cyril Schäublin for Unrest
Source: Hollywood
