Sebastian Stan, Best Actor at the 74th Berlin Film Festival, holds his award (Reuters)
French director of African origin, Mati Diop, announced her support for the Palestinian people, and her full support for the people of Gaza against the brutal attacks launched by the Israeli occupation army.
The announcement came while she was receiving the Golden Bear Award, the most prestigious award at the Berlin International Film Festival in Germany. Brazilian director Giuliona Rojas, winner of the Best Director Award for the film “The Country City” in the “Encounters” section, called for a ceasefire in Gaza, as did Ben Russell and co-director Guillaume Caillot. With their film “Live Action,” they won the Best Film award in the same section.
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“We are against genocide,” Russell said on the festival stage.
The international jury awarded the Audience Award for the best documentary film, “No Other Land,” which was directed by a group of Palestinian filmmakers, and sheds light on the occupation’s attempts to expel Palestinians from a village in the occupied West Bank.
Two of the film's directors took to the stage and issued a call for a ceasefire in Gaza and an end to Israel's occupation of the West Bank, and pointed out the need for Germany to stop supplying weapons to Israel.
Winners Hong Sangsu, Wenqian Zhang, Sebastian Stan and Emily Watson stand on stage (Reuters)
Back right
Actress Lupita Bengo, who won an Academy Award for the films “12 Years a Slave” and “Black Panther,” and who heads the festival’s jury, announced the victory of the documentary film “Dahomey,” which revolves around the restoration of the looted treasures of the Kingdom of Dahomey to the Republic of Benin in Africa.
“Dahomey” is the second African film to win the Grand Prix in the history of the Berlin Film Festival, after Mark Durnford-May’s South African operatic drama “Breathe Umphefumlo” in 2015.
It is the second documentary film in a row to win the Golden Bear award in Berlin, after “On the Adamant” by French director Nicolas Philibert last year.
Festival directors Mariette Riesenbeek and Carlo Chatrian with the winners and members of the jury (Reuters)
Fourth silver
South Korean director Hong Sang-soo won the Silver Bear for the film “A Traveler’s Needs,” which is the fourth time he has won awards at the Berlin Film Festival after winning in 2020 for the film “The Woman Who Escaped,” in 2021 for the film “Introduction,” and in 2022 for The film "The Novelist".
The Best Director award went to Dominican Nelson Carlos for his film “Pepe,” which revolves around a hippopotamus brought to Colombia by drug kingpin Pablo Escobar.
The satirical sci-fi film "L' Empire", directed by Bruno Dumont, won the Silver Bear Jury Prize.
Emily Watson won the Best Supporting Actress award for her role in the movie “Small Things Like This,” and American Sebastian Stan won the Best Actor award for his role in the movie “Different Man.”
The Silver Bear Award for Best Screenplay was won by Matthias Glasner for the film "Death", and the Silver Bear Award for Outstanding Artistic Contribution was won by Martin Gschlacht for Cinematography for the film "The Devil's Bath" directed by Veronica Franz.
Source: Al Jazeera + agencies