The jury chaired by Jeremy Irons presented the most important prize of the Berlinale to an absent person. At the end of a 70th edition with very political overtones, the Berlinale awarded the Golden Bear on Saturday 29 February to "There is No Evil" by Iranian director Mohammad Rasoulof. Political dissident, the filmmaker is prohibited from leaving his country.

Indeed, the latter had already been awarded in 2017 in Cannes for "A man with integrity". A film which had earned him a conviction, in 2019, to two years of prohibition to leave the territory and a prison sentence.

Reached by phone after the ceremony, the director seemed happy but tired. "The film is about people taking responsibility for their actions. The hardest part when you make a decision is to justify it," he said.

No turning

His film, the last screened of the eighteen in competition, deals in four sequences with the death penalty, a taboo theme in Iran, seen by the executioners and the families of the victims.

While Rasoulof was also prohibited from filming, it was necessary to use subterfuges to make the film. "Mohammad was talking about it four months ago, at that time, we didn't know if he would go to prison: so we decided to do it as soon as possible," explained his producer Farzad Pak, alongside actress Baran Rasoulof. and daughter of the director. He also wanted to salute to the press the courage of the whole team "who put his life in danger for being in the film".

Political and controversial topics

Confirming its committed dimension, the Berlinale also awarded the grand prize of the jury "Never rarely sometimes always", by the American Eliza Hittman. A drama about abortion. Eliza Hittman's film therefore won the jury's grand prize (Silver Bear). Without falling into pathos, he follows in the footsteps of 17-year-old Autumn, who goes to New York with his cousin to abort.

The strongest scene is where a social worker questions her about possible violence she could have suffered, on a scale ranging from "never" to "always", giving her title to the film.

Note the Silver Bear of the 70th Berlinale attributed to the very baroque French film Benoît Delépine and Gustave Kervern, "Erasing history (in the age of social networks)".

"There are very prominent topics today, but we have to make our choices based on the story, on how the film works with an audience," warned Jeremy Irons, asked about the # movement. metoo.

After the reappearance of an interview where he made remarks deemed sexist, the 71-year-old actor had to make a point on the first day of the festival. He then displayed his support for the right to abortion, gay marriage and the movements defending women against harassment.

But this controversy is not the only one that clouded the beginnings of the festival. Revelations on the Nazi past of a former director of the Berlinale notably forced the new management team to transform the Alfred-Bauer Prize into a Silver Bear.

With AFP

>> Read also on France 24: Cinema - Rasoulof or the risky bet of a return to Iran

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