The Berlinale awarded, Wednesday, February 16, the Golden Bear to the film "Alcarràs" by Spanish filmmaker Carla Simón, a tender and deep portrait of a family of farmers jostled by modernity.

By winning this award, the 35-year-old filmmaker becomes the third young director in a row to be crowned by a major festival, after the French Julia Ducournau, Palme d'Or at Cannes for "Titane" and Audrey Diwan, Golden Lion. in Venice for "The Event".

If we add to this the triumph at the Oscars 2021 of the American Chloé Zhao, with "Nomadland", these most prestigious awards in the cinema planet seem to testify, five years after the start of the Weinstein affair, of a desire to rebalance in an industry long dominated by men.

Congratulations to all winners!

We're so excited to finally see this year's winners with their well-deserved awards.

"Alcarràs" by Carla Simón and produced by María Zamora, Stefan Schmitz, Tono Folguera and Sergi Moreno took home the Golden Bear for Best Film.

Pure joy on stage!

pic.twitter.com/b3TjLJ5KiV

— Berlinale (@berlinale) February 16, 2022

"We are half of humanity"

In Berlin, the prize list is almost exclusively female, with a prize for the best achievement to the Frenchwoman Claire Denis for "Avec amour et acharnement" and a "genderless" prize for the best interpretation to the German-Turkish actress Meltem Kaptan.

Claire Denis, perhaps the greatest French filmmaker in activity, and one of the best in the world, wins a new major prize with the direction at the Berlinale for With love and acharnement where we find two exceptional performers : Binoche and Lindon… 😍 pic.twitter.com/AaBhg6JxwZ

— Fx_ Manson soon Clara (@manson_fx) February 16, 2022

"It's a trend that is here to stay because the references change. When I was a student, it was difficult to refer to female directors, but little by little it is changing, because there is a will, because that we are half of humanity and that we must therefore tell half of the stories. But we are not there yet", declared Carla Simón in a press conference, stressing that cinema still had a minority of female directors and of producers.

The Golden Bear also sheds light on the future of agriculture and peasants, jostled by modernity.

"Alcarràs" is an ode to smallholders that takes place over a summer in a corner of Catalonia bathed in sunshine.

The president of the jury, the American director M. Night Shyamalan, praised the performance of the actors who knew how to "show the tenderness and the fight of a family", and to highlight "our dependence on the land".

The director, who lost her parents very young and grew up near this small town of Alcarràs, thanked her family, "who grew peaches and without which (she) would never have been so close to this world".

Carla Simón, who had already received a first film award in Berlin for "Summer 1993" in 2017, also dedicated her award to "small farming families who cultivate their land every day to fill our plates".

An ode to farmers

In "Alcarràs", it is this endangered world that invades the screen, all the more glaringly true as the actors are non-professionals, recruited from the surrounding area.

The film follows the Solé family, who for three generations have cultivated hundreds of peach trees on the land of wealthy landowners.

But the latter want to uproot the trees to install solar panels and offer the Solé to adapt to this new deal or leave.

The head of the family, Quimet, refuses to see his world disappear.

Around him is a whole fragile family balance, from children to the elderly, which threatens to collapse.

The cast, of non-professional actors, is filmed with great tenderness.

The film is both moving and profound on the issues of the forced modernization of the countryside or the conflict between economy and ecology.

Carla Simón succeeds Romanian Radu Jude, Golden Bear last year, after a week of competition at a brisk pace due to Covid-19.

The organizers can congratulate themselves on having, at the cost of drastic sanitary measures, brought the competition to an end after an ersatz festival, online only, last year.

The only downside: the absence of a big name in cinema, the Frenchwoman Isabelle Huppert, who was to receive a reward for her entire acting career.

Tested positive for Covid-19 the day before, she had to give up the trip to Berlin.

With AFP

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