74th Berlin International Film Festival


The 74th annual Berlin International Film Festival, usually called the Berlinale, took place between 15 and 25 February 2024 in Berlin, Germany. Kenyan-Mexican actress Lupita Nyong'o was named the Jury President for the main competition. This year's Berlinale was Carlo Chatrian and Mariette Rissenbeek's final edition in charge, following their dismissal in 2023. The festival opened with Tim Mielants' Small Things Like These.
Dahomey, directed by French-Senegalese filmmaker Mati Diop, won the Golden Bear, making it the second year in a row that a documentary won the festival's top prize, following On the Adamants win in 2023. The Silver Bear Grand Jury Prize was awarded to A Traveler's Needs by Hong Sang-soo, and the Silver Bear for Best Leading Performance was awarded to Sebastian Stan for A Different Man. American filmmaker Martin Scorsese was awarded with the Honorary Golden Bear.
WWW berlinale.de/en/archive/y...

Juries

International Jury – Main Competition

''Encounters'' Jury

International Jury – Short Film Competition

Generation Jury

GWFF Best First Feature Award Jury

Berlinale Documentary Award and Jury

Official Sections

Main Competition

The following films were selected for the main competition for the Golden Bear:

Berlinale Special

The following films are selected for the Berlinale Special section:

Encounters

The following films are selected for the Encounters section:

Berlinale Short Film Competition

The following films are selected for the Berlinale's Short Film Competition section:

Panorama

The following films are selected for the Panorama section:

Forum

The following films are selected for the Forum section:

Generation

The following films are selected for the Generation sections:

Berlinale Classics

The following films are selected for the Berlinale Classics section:

Retrospective

The following films are selected for the Retrospective section:

Official Awards

Main Competition

[Honorary Golden Bear]

Berlinale Camera

GWFF Best First Feature Award

Cu Li Never Cries by Phạm Ngọc Lân

Berlinale Documentary Award

No Other Land by Basel Adra, Hamdan Ballal, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor

Encounters

Best Film: Direct Action by Guillaume Cailleau and Ben RussellBest Director: Juliana Rojas for Cidade; CampoSpecial Jury Award:
  • * Some Rain Must Fall by Qiu Yang
  • * The Great Yawn of History by Aliyar Rasti

Berlinale Short Films Competition

Generation

Generation Kplus International JuryGrand Prix of the International Jury for the Best Film: Reinas by Klaudia Reynicke
  • * Special Mention: Through Rocks and Clouds by Franco García BecerraSpecial Prize of the International Jury for the Best Short Film: A Summer's End Poem by Lam Can-zhao
  • * Special Mention: Uli by Mariana Gil Ríos
Generation 14plus International JuryGrand Prix of the International Jury for the Best Film: Who by Fire by Philippe Lesage
Children's Jury Generation KplusCrystal Bear for the Best Film: It's Okay! by Kim Hye-young
  • * Special Mention: Young Hearts by Anthony SchattemanCrystal Bear for the Best Short Film: Butterfly by Florence Miailhe
  • * Special Mention: Amplified by Dina Naser
Youth Jury Generation 14plusCrystal Bear for the Best Film: Last Swim by Sasha Nathwani
  • * Special Mention: She Sat There Like All Ordinary Ones by Qu YoujiaCrystal Bear for the Best Short Film: Cura sana by Lucía G. Romero
  • * Special Mention: Lapse by Caroline Cavalcanti

Independent Awards

Panorama Audience Award

Feature film1st place: Memories of a Burning Body by Antonella Sudasassi Furniss2nd place: Crossing by Levan Akin3rd place: All Shall Be Well by Ray Yeung
Documentary1st place: No Other Land by Basel Adra, Hamdan Ballal, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor2nd place: My Stolen Planet by Farahnaz Sharifi3rd place: Teaches of Peaches by Philipp Fussenegger, Judy Landkammer

[Teddy Award]

Best Feature Film: All Shall Be Well by Ray Yeung Best Documentary/Essay Film: Teaches of Peaches by Philipp Fussenegger, Judy Landkammer Best Short Film: Grandmamauntsistercat by Zuza Banasińska Teddy Jury Award: Crossing by Levan Akin Special Teddy Award: Lothar Lambert

Controversies

Iranian censorship

Shortly before the Iranian film My Favourite Cake was selected for the Main Competition, filmmakers Behtash Sanaeeha and Maryam Moqadam were banned from leaving Iran to attend the Festival, had their passports confiscated, and will face a court trial in relation to their work as artists and filmmakers. The Iranian government decision was met, once again, with international protests, following Golden Bear winners Jafar Panahi and Mohammad Rasoulof arrests in 2022/2023, and numerous others censorship attempts in the last years.

Rescinsion of AfD invitiation

Amid controversy, Berlinale's directors Mariette Rissenbeek and Carlo Chatrian rescinded its decision to invite representatives of the far-right party Alternative for Germany to attend the festival's Opening Ceremony Gala. The decision followed a number of controversies around the party's statements in opposition to immigration. An open letter was signed by over 200 German cultural industry professionals expressing outrage with the invitations.

Gaza war protests

In the introductory press release for the 2024 festival, Berlinale opted not to mention freedom of speech as one of their core values, despite having done so in the previous year's statement. During the festival, hundreds of past and present Berlinale participants signed open letters criticizing Berlinale's complicity in Germany's censorship of pro-Palestine voices amidst the backdrop of the Gaza war, including over 280 Berlinale Talents alumni, over 190 filmmakers with films in the 2024 festival and over 60 Berlinale contractors. In further protest, John Greyson, Suneil Sanzgiri and Ayo Tsalithaba all withdrew their films from the festival, while Maryam Tafakory, Advik Beni, and Monica Sorelle dropped out of the Berlinale Talents programme, and Emilia Beatriz withdrew from the European Film Market. Unlike its response to the public's outrage at the AfD invitation, Berlinale directors remained silent to the demands of their filmmakers, alumni, and contractors in support of Palestine.
Throughout the festival, artists continued to use their platforms to make statements in solidarity with Palestine. On February 16, curators of the Berlinale's Forum Expanded program joined artist's expressions of solidarity, stating, "We, too, want to add our voice and share our concern by expressing that the Forum Expanded curators support the urgent call for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza." On February 18, pro-Palestine activists laid down on the front steps of the Gropius Bau drenched in fake blood with a sign reading, “Welcome to the Red Carpet,” while inside the building others unfurled pro-Palestinian banners from the upper floor.
During the Closing Night Ceremony at the Berlinale Palast, on February 25, there were numerous pro-Palestine statements and protests during the red carpet and acceptance speeches, including from Golden Bear winner Mati Diop, and Palestinian and Israeli filmmakers Basel Adra, Hamdan Ballal, Yuval Abraham, and Rachel Szor, the four of whom directed No Other Land. The Teddy Award jury posted a statement in solidarity with Gaza which was met with audience applause as well as loud booing. An Instagram account linked to the Panorama section published an allegedly official statement from the festival organizers, stating "we acknowledge that our silence makes us complicit in Israel's ongoing genocide in Gaza and ethnic cleansing of Palestine" adding: "From our unresolved Nazi past to our genocidal present – we have always been on the wrong side of history." Minutes later, the Berlinale's main Instagram account stated that the Panorama account was hacked and the posts "do not represent the Berlinale's position", and announced plans to “file criminal charges against unknown persons”.
During his acceptance speech after winning the Best Documentary award, No Other Land co-director Abraham stated, referring to his Palestinian co-director Adra: "I am under civilian law; Basel is under military law. We live 30 minutes from one another but I have voting rights. Basel does not have voting rights. I am free to move where I want in this land. Basel, like millions of Palestinians, is locked in the occupied West Bank. This situation of apartheid between us, this inequality, has to end". Berlin Mayor, Kai Wegner, and numerous other German politicians expressed outrage, calling the closing ceremony statements "anti-Semitic". Germany's minister of state for culture Claudia Roth was criticized for clapping during Adra and Abraham's speech, and she later claimed that she was only clapping for Abraham, declaring that "The statements at the Bears ceremony were shockingly one-sided and characterized by a profound hatred of Israel". While the Festival is mainly funded by the German government, the organizers stated that the "filmmakers' statements were independent and should be accepted as long as they respect the legal framework". Following the ceremony, Abraham said that a right-wing mob in Israel had threatened his family, stating, "The appalling misuse of this word by Germans... to silence Israelis like me who support a ceasefire... empties the word antisemitism of meaning and thus endangers Jews all over the world".