2020 Berlin International Film Festival: award winners announced

February 29, 2020

The following is a combination of press releases from the Berlin International Film Festival:

The 70th annual Berlin International Film Festival took place in Germany from February 20 to March 1, 2020. The awards were announced on February 29. A complete list of awards for can be found here.

PRIZES OF THE INTERNATIONAL JURY

Members of the Jury: Jeremy Irons (Jury President), Bérénice Bejo, Bettina Brokemper, Annemarie Jacir, Kenneth Lonergan, Luca Marinelli, Kleber Mendonça Filho

Golden Bear for Best Film (awarded to the film’s producers)
Sheytan vojud nadarad (There Is No Evil) (Es gibt kein Böses) by Mohammad Rasoulof; produced by Mohammad Rasoulof, Kaveh Farnam, Farzad Pak

Silver Bear Grand Jury Prize
Never Rarely Sometimes Always by Eliza Hittman

Silver Bear for Best Director
Hong Sangsoo for Domangchin yeoja (The Woman Who Ran | Die Frau, die rannte)

Silver Bear for Best Actress
Paula Beer in Undine by Christian Petzold

Silver Bear for Best Actor
Elio Germano in Volevo nascondermi (Hidden Away) by Giorgio Diritti

Silver Bear for Best Screenplay
D’Innocenzo Brothers for Favolacce (Bad Tales) by D’Innocenzo Brothers

Silver Bear for Outstanding Artistic Contribution
Jürgen Jürges for the cinematography in Dau. Natasha by Ilya Khrzhanovskiy, Jekaterina Oertel

Silver Bear — 70th Berlinale
Effacer l’historique and Delete History by Benoît Delépine, Gustave Kervern

PRIZES OF THE ENCOUNTERS JURY

Members of the Jury: Shôzô Ichiyama, Dominga Sotomayor, Eva Trobisch

Best Film
The Works and Days (of Tayoko Shiojiri in the Shiotani Basin) by C.W. Winter, Anders Edstrom

Special Jury Award
The Trouble With Being Born by Sandra Wollner

Best Director
Malmkrog by Cristi Puiu

Special Mention
Isabella by Matías Piñeiro

GWFF BEST FIRST FEATURE AWARD

Members of the Jury: Ognjen Glavonić, Hala Lotfy, Gonzalo de Pedro Amatria

GWFF Best First Feature Award endowed with €50,000, funded by GWFF
Los conductos by Camilo Restrepo produced by Helen Olive, Martin Bertier, Felipe Guerrero

Special Mention
Nackte Tiere (Naked Animals) by Melanie Waelde produced by Anja Wedell

BERLINALE DOCUMENTARY AWARD

Members of the Jury: Gerd Kroske, Marie Losier, Alanis Obomsawin

Berlinale Documentary Award endowed with €40,000, funded by Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg (rbb)
Irradiés (Irradiated) by Rithy Panh produced by Catherine Dussart

Special Mention
Aufzeichnungen aus der Unterwelt (Notes from the Underworld) by Tizza Covi, Rainer Frimmel produced by Tizza Covi, Rainer Frimmel

PANORAMA AWARDS

The audience has voted: The 22nd Panorama Audience Award for the best feature film goes to Otac (Father) by Srdan Golubović. Welcome to Chechnya by David France wins in the category Panorama Dokumente. The prizes are awarded by the Berlinale section Panorama together with radioeins and rbb television (Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg).

Otac (Father) shows Nikola fighting for his children. After they have been taken away from him by social services, he sets off on foot to lodge a complaint in Belgrade. Srdan Golubović delivers a moving tale about inequality. Welcome to Chechnya is the first documentary about the activists who join forces to save other people’s and their own lives in the face of the systematic persecution of the LGBTQI* community carried out by the Chechen authorities. David France’s film is a tour de force charged with resilience and courage.

The official awards ceremony will take place on Berlinale Publikumstag, Sunday, March 1, at 5 pm in CinemaxX 7 at Potsdamer Platz. Martina Zöllner, rbb programme manager for documentation and fiction, and Robert Skuppin, radioeins programme director, will present the prizes. Knut Elstermann, radioeins film expert, will moderate the event together with Panorama head Michael Stütz. The award-winning feature film will be shown immediately after the award ceremony, the winner of the Panorama Dokumente will be shown at 8 pm, also in CinemaxX 7.

The Panorama Audience Award has been bestowed since 1999. As of 2011, both the best feature film and the best documentary have been honored. During the Berlinale, all cinema-goers are invited to rate the films in the Panorama section on a voting card. In total around 20,000 votes were cast and evaluated.

This year, Panorama presented a total of 36 feature films from 30 production countries, 13 of them were in Panorama Dokumente.

Panorama Audience Award Winner – Feature Film 2020:
Otac (Father)
Serbia / France / Germany / Croatia / Slovenia / Bosnia and Herzegovina
by Srdan Golubović

2nd Place Panorama Audience Award Winner – Feature Film 2020:
Futur Drei (No Hard Feelings)
Germany
by Faraz Shariat

3rd Place Panorama Audience Award Winner – Feature Film 2020:
Håp (Hope)
Norway / Sweden
by Maria Sødahl

Panorama Audience Award Winner – Panorama Dokumente 2020:
Welcome to Chechnya
USA
by David France

2nd Place Panorama Audience Award Winner – Panorama Dokumente 2020:
Saudi Runaway
Switzerland
by Susanne Regina Meures

3rd Place Panorama Audience Award Winner – Panorama Dokumente 2020:
Petite fille (Little Girl)
France
by Sébastien Lifshitz