Berlinale | Award Ceremony
Celebration of Classic Narrative Cinema

The anniversary edition of the Berlinale was marked by challenging circumstances – but director Tricia Tuttle excelled in her role. This time, the focus was on the films rather than debates about the Israel-Gaza war. The Golden Bear was awarded to a Norwegian coming-of-age drama.

At the beginning of this 75th Berlinale, all attention was on Tricia Tuttle, the new artistic director. In the end, it could be that the most significant impulses for the desired realignment of the festival come from the largely surprising decisions of the international jury. Or is it impossible to think of one without the other?

Unexpected Award

The least expected was, in any case, the Golden Bear for Drømmer (Dreams), which means the main prize for the best film went to Norway. Jury president Todd Haynes described Dag Johan Haugerud's coming-of-age drama about a student who falls in love with her teacher and writes about it as a precise “meditation on love.” Some might say this is a retreat into the private sphere at the most political of all A-list festivals, but it is also a statement for well-crafted arthouse cinema, which in this case is almost exclusively cast with women. The screenplay award for the decidedly dialogue-heavy film might have been more appropriate. However, that went to the Romanian Radu Jude for his satirical moral study Kontinental '75. As in recent years, global cinema was well represented with the Chinese contribution Living the Land (Huo Meng, Best Director) and the Brazilian dystopia The Blue Trail (Gabriel Mascaro, Grand Jury Prize). All awards were as deserved as the acting awards for Rose Byrne (Best Lead Role) in Mary Bronstein's If I Had Legs I’d Kick You and Andrew Scott (Best Supporting Role) in Richard Linklater's Blue Moon, which also highlighted American cinema.

Tom Tykwer's Opening Film – Stillness in Chaos?

This balance made the bumpy start forgotten. Tykwer's overloaded opening film Das Licht (The Light) felt like a navel-gazing reflection of the festival itself: a superficially politicized bourgeoisie in search of meaning, Berlin in constant rain, and entropic stagnation amidst chaos. Everything is possible, even musicals, yet nothing seems to work. At least Tykwer made the main venue, Potsdamer Platz, functional for cinema, which in reality will likely never happen – the investment ruin is not beautiful even in the unexpectedly fallen snow. Some things are beyond Tricia Tuttle's control.

The first competition films confirmed this impression. The difficulty of combining political relevance with strong imagery and credible characters was exemplified in Michel Franco's psychosexual experiment Dreams featuring Hollywood star Jessica Chastain. The theme – the power imbalance based on economic dependencies between the USA and its neighboring country Mexico – is more relevant than ever.

Subsequently, the competition films became stronger. US director Richard Linklater has been a reliable guest at the Berlinale since Boyhood (Silver Bear 2014). Blue Moon, his homage to the musical librettist Lorenz Hart, who passed away in 1943, is an ode to the desperate love for art in a cynical business. German cinema had its moment of brightness – and a new talent – with Frédéric Hambalek's Was Marielle weiß (What Marielle Knows). Festival director Tricia Tuttle set a truly new tone with unexpected forays into genre cinema: Hélène Cattet and Bruno Forzani's bloody homage to the Eurospy genre of the 1960s, Reflet dans un diamant mort (Reflection in a Dead Diamond), the feminist motherhood horror by Mary Bronstein, If I Had Legs I’d Kick You, and Lucile Hadžihalilović's chilling fairy tale La Tour de Glace (The Ice Tower), inspired by Hans Christian Andersen's The Snow Queen – only the latter would have been conceivable under the previous leadership of Mariette Rissenbeek and Carlo Chatrian.

Anticipated debates, but No Scandal

The anticipated discussions surrounding the Middle East conflict and controversies over anti-Semitism that overshadowed the Berlinale 2024 were addressed more effectively this time. It was known that actress Tilda Swinton, who received the Honorary Bear for her lifetime achievement, sympathizes with the anti-Israel movement BDS (Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions). An Iranian actor boycotted the festival and had a letter read aloud with slogans aimed at the destruction of Israel; state security is investigating. With courage and diplomatic skill, Tuttle managed to take the wind out of the debate's sails in advance and realized her intention to let the films speak for themselves. Two documentaries about the unbearable situation of Israeli hostages held by Hamas and their families, Tom Shoval's A Letter to David and Brandon Kramer's Holding Liat, were part of this mosaic. The latter even won the documentary film award. The visit of the released Liat Beinin Atzili and her family was one of the most moving moments of the festival. Two more documentaries, Marcin Wierzchowski's Das Deutsche Volk and Martina Priessner's Die Möllner Briefe, captured the sad continuity of racist violence in powerful images. In another year, Timestamp, the only documentary in competition, might have received the Golden Bear: Kateryna Gornostai's quiet observation of the wartime lives of Ukrainian schoolchildren came at just the right moment. However, the jury made different choices. Current events and heavy political themes were not the focus this time.

Glamour Competition With Cannes and Venice

In one of the most challenging years in its history, the Berlinale 2025 was a celebration of classic narrative cinema. It offered a deeper understanding of human desires for peace and freedom, countering an activist interpretation of cinema. Tricia Tuttle not only managed to steer the struggling festival into calmer waters, but her unpretentious yet engaging competition featured new forms and space for dreaming. The Golden Bear for Drømmer stands as a testament to this, as does the Silver Bear for La Tour de Glace, which honors a special artistic achievement with its dark snow magic. Women in front of and behind the camera were more present than ever. The fact that the commercial showcase section Berlinale Special is now leading the competition for attention is indeed a problem. Here, we saw Bong Joon Ho's sci-fi thriller Mickey 17 and James Mangold's Bob Dylan biopic A Complete Unknown, and the really big stars like Robert Pattinson and Timothée Chalamet appeared. However, in the ongoing struggle with the more glamorous festivals of Cannes and Venice, Tuttle and her jury have made the Berlinale more attractive again and have managed a huge task exceptionally well. Their message: It's worth coming to Berlin again!