Next year, the Berlin Film Festival will award its Silver Bear award for "best leading role" and "best supporting role".

No "best male ..." or "best female" then.

The decision should be seen as "a signal to the film industry about a more gender-sensitive thinking", the organizers said last week.

"The division feels outdated"

At the Swedish film gala Guldbaggen, the division between the sexes remains. But the ambition is to remove it.

- That is the goal and a living issue with us. The division feels very outdated, says Anna Serner, CEO of SFI, which arranges Guldbaggen.

At risk of striking back at women

But the change is likely to be delayed.

Anna Serner points out that Sweden is a small film country compared to Germany, and as long as more main and supporting roles are written for men, gender-neutral price categories risk hitting back on women, she believes.

- Then there is a great risk that only men will get Golden Bugs. If 75 out of 100 roles are played by men, the prizes in 75 percent of the cases go to men. It would also be out of date.

Hard to say when it will be

In order for SFI to be able to introduce gender-neutral Golden Bugs, it is therefore necessary to create a more equal film industry, says Anna Serner.

- We work very intensively with a broader representation. As I said, the goal is absolutely to merge the categories, but it is difficult to say when it will be.