The golden bear for the best film of the 75th Berlinale goes to the coming-of-age drama “Dreams (Sex Love)” by the Norwegian filmmaker Dag Johan Hauberud. The film tells the story of 17-year-old Johanne, who falls in love with her teacher Johanna and records this all changing experience in her diary. When she opens up to her grandmother and mother, their reservations on the literary quality of their records differ.
Jury President Todd Haynes praised the film as an extraordinary meditation about love, which is equally overwhelming and general. With confidence and subversion, Dag Johan Hauberud explore the drive of love and desire. The camera patiently observes the events that are full of surprising moments.
“Dreams (Sex Love)” was a warming highlight in a competition, which worked primarily on the crises of the present in large and small. The complex story is told lightly, combines the fragility of the first love with surprising twists in perspective. Ella Øgere embodies the adolescent Johanne with a lot of feeling for the emotional intermediate tones, which are also reflected in the visual language.
In May the film is scheduled to start in German cinemas
An absolutely worthy winner who should also prevail in the German cinemas.
He did not dare to dream of this success, said the Norwegian director Dag Johan Haubereud at the award ceremony. Shortly before the graduation gala of the Berlinale, his drama was awarded the best competition film with the FipResci Prize of the International Film Press and the Gilde Film Award of the Arthouse Filmtheater.
“Dreams (Sex Love)” is the third part of the trilogy “Oslo Stories”, in which the Norwegian deals with complex questions of human interaction, social expectations and the perspectives of the others. The film is scheduled to start in German cinemas in May.
Another favorite on the Golden Bear, the Brazilian film “The Blue Trail”, was awarded me to the jury’s Grand Prix. The focus is on a 77-year-old woman who, like all the elderly in her society, is to be deported to a nursing colony. But the joyful Tereza has no desire for fascist forced retirement and sets off to find freedom. This thrilling adventure of Gabriel Mascaro gives hope in these times that life is stronger in the end than the fear of darkness.
The same applies to the Argentine black and white film “The Message” by Iván Fund, which was awarded the silver Bären Prize of the jury. This touching road movies focuses on Anika, who can communicate with animals. Anika’s gift is only a means of telling the familiar relationship between her and her grandparents, who lovingly take care of her granddaughter. With “The Message”, the jury gives a quiet but perfectly balanced film the big stage. A great decision that made the ensemble in the audience to tears.
Small dramas in which the big ones indicate
The silver bear for the best director goes to the Chinese filmmaker Huo Meng and his poetic drama “Living the Land”. The story of the ten -year -old Chuang, who lives with his grandparents in the Chinese province, is told, while his parents in the city of Shengen secure the family’s existence. The first of two Chinese films that opened the race for the Berlinale bears shows simple and traditional life in the country. In slow pictures, Meng’s film tells of the little dramas in which the big ones indicate.
The silver bear for the best acting performance in a leading role rightly went to the Australian actress Rose Byrne. In the drama “If I had legs I’d Kick You”, she plays a quasi single mother in an absolute power performance, who literally falls on the head of the ceiling. With every minute, the sympathy for this mother dancing on the edge of the nerve breakdown, which is interpreted by Byrne, terrificly. Byrne pulls all the stops to put them between love and panic, despair and overwhelming, ridicule and angerly wanding woman.
Byrne actually only competed in Ethan Hawke, who was empty for his impressive performance as a vain in Richard Linklater’s Broadway homage “Blue Moon”. For this, Irish actor Andrew Scott, who plays the composer Richard Rodgers in Richard Linklaters Broadway homage “Blue Moon”, was awarded silver bear for the best acting performance in a supporting role. Here you could have imagined a prize for Hanna Schygulla, who plays an innkeeper in Ameer Fakher Eldin’s drama “Yunan”. However, the German -speaking films were all empty. It wasn’t really surprising, even if Frédéric Hambaleks “what Marielle knows” knew how to entertain.
The silver bear for the best script went to the filmmaker Radu Jude. The Romanian won the Golden Bear with his film “Bad Luck Banging Or Loony Porn”, now he was awarded for the script of his film “Continental ’25” made with the iPhone and small budget. The film is about the collapse of a bailiff and the consequences of predator capitalism in Eastern Europe. The film was a valuable contribution to the political and philosophical discussions about dehumanization in the present, the jury praised. Jude, who dedicated the Luis Buñuel prize, took up the theme of dehumanization in a political comment on the stage. He hoped that the International Court of Justice will put an end to the “Murder of all the international bastards”, he said on stage under applause.
Hadžihalilović’s film about filmmaking is a dark meditation, the award of which is quite surprised
The silver bear for an outstanding artistic achievement went to the French woman Lucille Hadžihalilović. The jury honored the extraordinary visual and stylistic language in her film “The Ice Tower”, which from the perspective of a young outlier observes the shooting for “the snow queen”. Hadžihalilović’s film about filmmaking is a dark meditation, the award of which is quite surprising.
The first competition by the new Berlinale boss Tricia Tuttle was a solid mix of art out, genre and entertainment cinema with a few ups and downs. The Berlinale does not come to the selection of the A Festivals in Cannes or Venice, but also under the British. However, she can write to Berlin that Tuttle succeeded in bringing films like “Mickey 17” by Oscar winner Bong Joon Ho or “A Complete Unknown” by James Mangold and the star.
After all, with “Dreams (Sex Love)” another feature film was able to convince the jury. In the past two years, Mati Diop’s “Dahomey” and Nicolas Philibert’s “Auf der Adamant” have been awarded one of the few documentaries in competition as the best film.
For the first time, the Berlinale was looking for the best international feature film debut. The price in the “Perspective” section went to the Mexican film “The Devil Smokes (and Saves the Burnn Matches in the Same Box)” by Ernesto Martínez Bucio and Karen Plata. It shows the world through the eyes of five siblings, which are isolated from the outside world by their schizophrenic grandmother.
The Documentary Film Prize of the Berlinale went to Brandon Kramer “Holding Liat”. The depressing film accompanies the parents and children of Liat Beinin Atzili, who was kidnapped by Hamas terrorists in the Gaza strip on October 7, 2023, immediately after the kidnapping of events. The film impressively shows how the relatives’ commitment to liberate the Israeli hostages was politically exploited.
The big dilemma in the Middle East never loses its human perspective, also makes the tornness of the family visible. “Holding Liat” prevailed against 15 other films and will take part in the competition for the Oscar for the best documentary in the coming year.
Farce of a resistant life
The teddy awards for the best queer films went to the Australian animated film “Lesbian Space Princess” by Emma Hough Hobbs and Leela Varghese and Rosa from Praunheim’s autofictional film “Satanian Sau”. “Lesbian Space Princess” tells of the introverted Saira, who is sold by her home planet Clitopolis and is on an intergaylactic mission with “Straight White Maliens” to free her kidnapped girlfriend. The “satanic [Rampen-]Sau in Rosa von Praunheim’s poetic essay film is himself, played by Armin Dallapiccola, who impressively performs the farce of a resistant life.
The filmmaker Martina Priessner, who lives in Berlin and Istanbul, has been awarded twice. Your documentary “The Möllner Letters” received both the Amnesty International Film Award and the Panorama audience award for the best documentary. The film gets to the bottom of the trauma of the bereaved over 30 years after the right -wing extremist arson attacks by Mölln. Priessner accompanies İbrahim Arslan, who is now politically committed to processing the loss of his sister, cousin and grandmother. The letters of solidarity also play a role here that a student happened to find in the Mölln City Archives a few years ago.
Thousands of citizens: Inside from all over the country, shocked, comforting and emphatically, turned to those affected, who never received them. Decades later, Arslan searched the authors: inside of these letters and comes into conversation with them.
An important and highly up -to -date film that (like Marcin Wierzchowski’s documentary “The German People”) tells of the failure of the authorities and a lack of empathy towards the victims of right -wing violence and hopefully finds a broader audience through the award.