From next year, the festival will only award one Silver Bear for best lead role and one for best supporting role. The scrapping of gender-segregated awards is "a signal to the film industry about a more gender-sensitive thinking", say festival directors Mariette Rissenbeck and Carlo Chatrian in a statement.
The Berlin Film Festival, together with the Cannes and Venice counterparts, is one of the highlights of the year in the European film industry. Both the Cannes Film Festival and the Venice Film Festival award prizes to the best actor and actress.