Berlin 2025 Winners
Berlin Film Festival has concluded. Here are the winners:
Gold Bear (Top Prize)
Drømmer (Dreams (Sex Love))
Dir: Dag Johan Haugerud
Synopsis:
Johanne documents her intense crush on her french teacher. Her mother, grandmother end up reading these intimate writings. They're both horrified by the contents but taken by the powerful writing and story. Johanne navigates romantic ideals vs reality, exploring emotions of self-discovery, love, sexuality.
Haugerud, who won Berlin over with his film Sex, completes his Sex, Love, Dreams trilogy. Trailer.
Silver Bear Grand Jury Prize (2nd Place)
O último azul (The Blue Trail)
Dir/Wri: Gabriel Mascaro
Synopsis:
To maximize economic productivity, the government orders the elderly to relocate to distant housing colonies. Tereza, 77, refuses-instead embarking on a journey through the Amazon that will change her destiny forever.
Silver Bear Jury Prize (3rd Place)
El mensaje (The Message)
In the Argentinian countryside, a child's special gift gives her opportunistic guardians the idea of offering consultations with an animal medium in order to earn a living.
There’s a beautiful down-to-earth vibrancy in the trailer.
Best Director went to Huo Meng for Sheng xi zhi di (Living the Land).
Best Acting went to Rose Byrne for A24’s If I had Legs I’d Kick You - her portrayal of seismic stress is perfectly calibrated.
Best Supporting Acting went to Andrew Scott in Linklater’s Blue Moon. He plays Richard Rodgers, the ex writing partner to Ethan Hawke’s Lorenz Hart. It is hinted in the film that Hart and Rogers were possibly even lovers, adding a new layer to the heartbreak that winds and unwinds throughout the film.
Radu Jude’s Kontinental ’25 took Best Screenplay.
Check out the awards for:
Generation… Hint: the top prize went to Gondry
Sadly, the top films at Berlin rarely break out into the US. Since 2010, there has only been one film that has gained critical acclaim stateside: A Separation, winning the Golden Globe for Best Foreign Language Film and even getting an Academy Best Screenplay nomination.