Golden night for Yellow Letters

Yellow Letters Photo: Ella Knorz/Alamode Film/if productions

German-Turkish filmmaker İlker Çatak won the Golden Bear last night at the Berlin Film Festival for Yellow Letters, a formally ambitious drama that charts the disintegration of a married couple’s relationship after they are targeted by the State over a protest.

It’s a film that is shot through with politics, which is hardly unusual but which will be remarked on given the controversy at the start of the festival surrounding Jury president Wim Wenders’ remarks that filmmakers “have to stay out of politics”. Wenders, on the night, described it as speaking up “very clearly about the political language of totalitarianism as opposed to the empathetic language cinema”.

It’s been a tough week for festival director Tricia Tuttle, who had to issue a letter on the first weekend, extolling the virtues of free speech (read about that over at Indiewire). That, in turn, received its own backlash from a host of stars, including Tilda Swinton, Mike Leigh and Javier Bardem, who signed an open letter denouncing the festival’s silence about events in Palestine and Gaza (more on that here .

Tom Courtenay and Anna Calder-Marshall at the premiere of Queen At Sea Photo: Courtesy of Berlinale

Speaking at the start of the ceremony, Tuttle said: “This Berlinale has taken place in a world that feels raw and fractured. Many people arrived carrying a lot of grief and urgency about the world we are living in right now that takes place outside of the cinemas’ walls as well as inside the cinemas. These feelings are really real and they belong in our community.

“We’ve also been publicly challenged this year and that’s good because it means that the Berlinale matters to people. We respect people speaking out because it takes a lot of courage sometimes. “We don’t always agree with every claim that is made about us, but what I am really proud of is that, over these 10 days, the Berlinale has remained what it set out to be which is a place where people gather in public and everyone is welcome to sit in the dark and look at the world through the eyes of other people.”

On the night, several spoke out. Lebanese director Marie-Rose Osta, who won the Best Short Film Golden Bear for Someday A Child, said: “If this Golden Bear means anything, let it mean that Lebanese and Palestinian children are not negotiable.” Palestinian director Abdallah Al-Khatib brought his country’s flag onstage with him as he collected his Best Documentary prize for Chronicles From A Siege. During his speech he lamented Germany’s “complicity” in Israeli “genocide”.

On the ground in Berlin, Markus Schleinzer’s Rose, starring Sandra Hüller – who took home a Silver Bear for her performance – was receiving the most buzz, with other popular titles including the sweet-natured child-centric Flies, directed by Fernando Eimbcke, which won an Ecumenical Prize and Lance Hammer’s dementia drama Queen At Sea, featuring a pair of devastating performances from Tom Courtenay and Anna Calder-Marshall – sharing accolades – at its heart.

The full list of awards is below:

Competition - Golden Bear for Best Film - Yellow Letters by İlker Çatak

- Silver Bear Grand Jury Prize - Salvation by Emin Alper

- Silver Bear Jury Prize - Queen At Sea by Lance Hammer

- Silver Bear for Best Director – Grant Gee for Everybody Digs Bill Evans

- Silver Bear for Best Leading Performance – Sandra Huller for Rose

- Silver Bear for Best Supporting Performance - Anna Calder-Marshall and Tom Courtenay for Queen At Sea

- Silver Bear for Best Screenplay - Geneviève Dulude-De Celles for Nina Roza

- Silver Bear for an Outstanding Artistic Contribution – Yo (Love is a Rebellious Bird) by Anna Fitch and Banker White

Perspectives

- Best First Feature - Chronicles From the Siege by Abdallah Alkhati

- Special mention - Forest High by Manon Coubia

Berlinale Documentary Award

- If Pigeons Turned To Gold by Pepa Lubojacki

- Special mentions: Tutu by Sam Pollard; Sometimes I Imagine Them All At A Party by Daniela Magnani Hüller

Generation

14plus

- Youth Jury Crystal Bear - Sad Girlz by Fernanda Tova

- International Jury Grand Prix - Sad Girlz by Fernanda Tovar

Kplus

- Children’s Jury Crystal Bear - Gugu’s World by Allan Deberton

- International Jury Grand Prix - Gugu’s World by Allan Deberton

GWFF Best First Feature Award

- Chronicles from the Siege by Abdallah AlKhatib

Additional Awards

Teddy Awards

- Best Feature Film - Iván & Hadoum by Ian de la Rosa

- Best Documentary Film - Barbara Forever by Brydie O’Connor

- Best Short Film - Taxi Moto by Gael Kamilindi

- Jury Award - Trial Of Hein by Kai Stänicke

- Special Teddy Award - Céline Sciamma

Ecumenical Jury prizes

- Competition - Flies by Fernando Eimbcke

- Panorama - Bucks Harbor by Pete Muller

- Forum - River Dreams

Fipresci Jury prizes

- Competition - Soumsou, the Night of the Stars by Mahamat-Saleh Haroun

- Perspectives - Animol by Ashley Walters

- Panorama - Narciso by Marcelo Martinessi

- Forum - AnyMart by Yusuke Iwasaki

Short Film Competition

- Golden Bear for Best Short Film: Someday A Child, Marie-Rose Osta

- Silver Bear for Best Short Film: A Woman’s Place Is Everywhere, Fanny Texier

- Berlinale Shorts Filmmaker Award: Kleptomania, Jingkai Qu

Europa Cinemas Label

- Four Minus Three by Adrian Goiginger

Cicae Art Cinema Award

- Panorama - Prosecution by Faraz Shariat

- Forum - On Our Own by Tudor Cristian Jurgiu

Guild Film Prize

- Yellow Letters by İlker Çatak

Amnesty International Film Award

- What Will I Become? by Lexie Bean and Logan Rozos

Caligari Film Prize

- If Pigeons Turned To Gold by Pepa Lubojacki

Previously Announced

Panorama Audience Awards

- Audience Award (Fiction): Prosecution, Faraz Sharia

- First Runner-up: Four Minus Three, Adrian Goiginger

- Second Runner-up: Mouse, Kelly O’Sullivan and Alex Thompson

- Audience Award (Documentary): Traces, Alisa Kovalenko and Marysia Nikitiuk

- First Runner-up: The Other Side Of The Sun, Tawfik Sabouni

- Second Runner-up: Bucks Harbor, Pete Muller