A French documentary has won the most prestigious award at the Berlin International Film Festival.

“Sur l'Adamant” by Nicolas Philibert won the Golden Bear on Saturday February 25 in Berlin during the 73rd edition of the Berlinale. 

Two decades after the huge success of "Being and Having", the 72-year-old documentary filmmaker leaves school for this dive into the psychiatric universe, the first film in a trilogy on this subject. 

Without voice-over, scrutinizing the faces of the patients welcomed every day on a barge moored on the Seine in Paris, called "L'Adamant", the film is "an attempt to overturn the image we have of people with madness" , explained Nicolas Philibert on receiving his prize. 

"The clichés are tenacious, the film tries to unravel them (but) there is a long way to go," he said. 

Without voice-over, scrutinizing the faces of the patients in this unique structure where they are given great freedom, "Sur l'Adamant" shows the boundary that ends up blurring between caregivers and patients. 

Our winners of the 2023 Golden Bear for Best Film, director Nicolas Philibert with the statue for "On the Adamant" (Sur l'Adamant), produced by Céline Loiseau, Gilles Sacuto, and Miléna Poylo.



Once again: Big applause and congratulations!#Berlinale #Berlinale2023 #GoldenBear pic.twitter.com/1TE0fcxV1l

— Berlinale (@berlinale) February 25, 2023

We can see patients participating in therapeutic or artistic workshops, but also forgetting their sick status to build a common life, helping for example to control the budget. 

“The craziest people are not the ones you think,” added the director of this long-term documentary. 

Documentaries are regularly selected in major international film competitions, but rarely win awards.

Last year, the Venice Film Festival awarded its Golden Lion to a film about the opiate crisis in the United States, by Laura Poitras ("All the beauty and the blood shed"). 

This prize "is a recognition of documentary films, my type of art", declared Nicolas Philibert, hoping that it will help other documentary filmmakers to develop their projects. 

"This festival is here to push the limits," justified American actress Kristen Stewart, who at 32 was the youngest president of the jury in the history of the festival.

"The invisible parameters forged by industry and academism about what a movie is don't stand a chance with this one," she added. 

"Sur l'Adamant" will be released on April 19 in France. 

Another Frenchman, Philippe Garrel, 74, received the Silver Bear for best director for "Le Grand Chariot", a film that looks like an artistic testament shot with his children. 

Sofia Otera, 8 years old, prize for the best interpretation

The jury, which also included the former holders of the Golden Bear Radu Jude and Carla Simon, or the Franco-Iranian actress Golshifteh Farahani, also rewarded the performance of an 8-year-old girl, the Spaniard Sofia Otera , for her role in "20,000 Species of Bees". 

The budding actress received, with tears in her eyes like a grown-up, the prize for best interpretation, which is non-gendered and replaces in Berlin that of best actor or best actress. 

In the film, signed by the Spaniard Estíbaliz Urresola, she plays a nine-year-old child, born a boy and who considers himself a girl.

The question of gender and transidentity, which more and more filmmakers are looking into, was present as never before in the awards. 

Austrian trans actress Thea Ehre received the supporting character award for her role in "Till The End of The Night", and thinker Paul B. Preciado, a key figure on these issues, was awarded in the parallel sections for his first film ("Orlando, my political biography"). 

Beyond the competition, this 73rd edition allowed the Berlinale to return to normality, after the restrictions linked to the Covid, and saw a certain number of stars return. 

We were able to see Sean Penn, who came to present a documentary on his wanderings in Ukraine at war, the singer Bono and the legendary director Steven Spielberg, who received an honorary Golden Bear. 

With AFP

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