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BERLINALE 2017 Awards

On Body and Soul wins Berlin’s heart

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- BERLIN 2017: The jury has handed the Golden Bear to this powerful and sensitive film, meticulously crafted by Hungary’s Ildikó Enyedi; European (co-)productions feature heavily on the winners’ list

On Body and Soul wins Berlin’s heart
Ildikó Enyedi with her Golden Bear for On Body and Soul (© Berlinale)

Hungarian director Ildikó Enyedi has won this year’s Golden Bear. She expressed her emotion by describing how she felt during the screening of her film On Body and Soul [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Ildiko Enyedi
interview: Ildiko Enyedi
interview: Réka Tenki
film profile
]
 in front of its very first audience at the 67th edition of the Berlin Film FestivalPaul Verhoeven’s jury admired the “superior craftsmanship of the director’s work” and particularly appreciated the tone of “confession” in this incredibly delicate opus. Enyedi stressed the enormous amount of work that went into On Body and Soul, with the most difficult challenge being managing to hide what she and her crew were doing.

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Europe came out on top in almost all of the categories during the official closing ceremony of the event directed by Dieter Kosslick. The Silver Bear for Best Director was given to Finland’s Aki Kaurismäki for the incredible The Other Side of Hope [+see also:
film review
trailer
Q&A: Aki Kaurismäki
film profile
]
, because “only a great artist can create a comedy, satire and tragedy all in one”.

The Grand Jury Prize was bestowed upon the co-production Felicity [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Alain Gomis
film profile
]
 by French-Senegalese director Alain Gomis for the way in which it "transits" and begins "with the life of a woman before opening up to a city and a whole culture". The filmmaker, for whom this was the second time in competition at Berlin, discussed his project, born of a piece of music he heard, in humanistic and universal terms.

The Romanian film Ana, Mon Amour [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Călin Peter Netzer
film profile
]
 by Calin Peter Netzer, who scooped the Golden Bear in 2013, took home a well-deserved Silver Bear for Best Artistic Contribution, thanks to the editing of Dana Bunescu, which was an essential part of the film’s "complex architecture". Meanwhile, Agnieszka Holland pocketed the Silver Bear – Alfred Bauer Prize for new perspectives for Spoor [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Agnieszka Holland
interview: Zofia Wichlacz
film profile
]
, a film that, according to the jury, proves that a small, 60-year-old woman is able to shake up our moral convictions, and shows that we can still reinvent the definitions of the “hero” and the “villain”. The Polish filmmaker emphasised the importance of always looking at "the important subjects, such as the planet", from a new perspective. 

The Silver Bear for Best Actor was given out by Germany’s Julia Jentsch, who has won a statuette at Berlin herself (in 2005). She awarded it to her Austrian colleague Georg Friedrich (also one of the actors in another title in competition: the satire Wild Mouse [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Josef Hader
interview: Josef Hader
film profile
]
 by Josef Hader) for his shrewd performance as a father character trying to reconnect with his son in Bright Nights [+see also:
film review
trailer
Q&A: Thomas Arslan
film profile
]
 by Germany’s Thomas Arslan. The Silver Bear for Best Actress, the only award to be given to a non-European, went to Kim Min-Hee for On the Beach at Night Alone by great South Korean filmmaker Hong Sang-soo.

Lastly, the Silver Bear for Best Screenplay was handed to Chile’s Sebastian Lelio and Gonzalo Maza for A Fantastic Woman [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
, co-produced by Germany and Spain with Chilean and US partners.

Here is the complete list of winners:

Golden Bear for Best Film
On Body and Soul [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Ildiko Enyedi
interview: Ildiko Enyedi
interview: Réka Tenki
film profile
]
 - Ildikó Enyedi (Hungary)

Silver Bear – Grand Jury Prize
Felicity [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Alain Gomis
film profile
]
 - Alain Gomis (France/Belgium/Senegal/Germany/Lebanon)

Silver Bear – Alfred Bauer Prize
Spoor [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Agnieszka Holland
interview: Zofia Wichlacz
film profile
]
 - Agnieszka Holland (Poland/Germany/Czech Republic/Sweden/Slovakia)

Silver Bear for Best Director
Aki Kaurismäki - The Other Side of Hope [+see also:
film review
trailer
Q&A: Aki Kaurismäki
film profile
]
(Finland/Germany)

Silver Bear for Best Actress
Kim Min-Hee - On the Beach at Night Alone (South Korea)

Silver Bear for Best Actor
Georg Friedrich - Bright Nights [+see also:
film review
trailer
Q&A: Thomas Arslan
film profile
]
(Germany/Norway)

Silver Bear for Best Script
Sebastián Lelio, Gonzalo Maza - A Fantastic Woman [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
(Chile/Germany/United States/Spain)

Silver Bear for Best Artistic Contribution
Dana Bunescu, editing - Ana, Mon Amour [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Călin Peter Netzer
film profile
]
(Romania/Germany/France)

Best Documentary
Ghost Hunting [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
 - Raed Andoni (France/Switzerland/Palestine/Qatar)

Best First Feature Film
Summer 1993 [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Carla Simón
film profile
]
- Carla Simón (Spain)

Golden Bear for Best Short Film
Cidade pequena - Diogo Costa Amarante (Portugal)

Silver Bear - Short Film
Ensueño en la pradera - Esteban Arrangoiz Julien (Mexico)

Audi Short Film Award
Street of Death - Karem Ghossein (Lebanon/Germany)

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