25/02/2023 - BERLINALE 2023: The festival has also announced the winners of Perspektive Deutsches Kino, alongside the recipients of the other parallel awards decided on by independent juries

The Berlinale, which this year unspools from 16-26 February, has announced the winners of its Panorama and Perspektive Deutsches Kino categories, along with the recipients of its numerous parallel awards.

The 25^th Panorama Audience Award for Best Feature went to Apolline Traoré’s drama Sira [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Apolline Traoré
film profile], a co-production between Burkina Faso, France, Germany and Senegal. In it, the titular young nomad woman refuses to surrender to her fate without a fight after a brutal attack, and instead takes a stand against Islamist terror. The film has been labelled as “a feminist counterpoint to current reporting from the Sahel region”.

Meanwhile, D Smith’s Kokomo City (USA) was crowned as the audience’s favourite documentary in Panorama. The picture features a series of moving interviews and encounters with four black trans sex workers from New York and Georgia, in which they talk frankly about their experiences. Questions of belonging and identity within the black community are candidly addressed throughout. Interestingly, the helmer had already boarded her plane when she learnt about the award and quickly disembarked in order to be present at the ceremony.

This year, around 22,000 votes were cast and evaluated. The Panorama strand presented a total of 35 features from 30 production countries, with nine of them being screened in Panorama Dokumente.

Next, a jury of three – consisting of Dela Dabulamanzi, Anne Fabini and Jöns Jönsson – presented the Compass-Perspektive-Award for Best Film in the Perspektive Deutsches Kino programme. The award, consisting of a €5,000 cash prize and a trophy in the form of a compass, was bestowed upon Seven Winters in Tehran [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] by Steffi Niederzoll (Germany/France).

This year’s Teddy Awards saw the triumph of Babatunde Apalowo’s All the Colours of the World Are Between Black and White, crowned Best Feature Film. The Nigerian picture centres on two men, Bambino and Bawa, who meet in Lagos during a photography competition and become friendly with one another. While exploring the city, they develop a strong affection for each other. However, owing to societal norms about homosexuality, they are uncomfortable expressing this relationship.

Finally, FIPRESCI awarded four films in the main competition, and in the Encounters, Panorama and Forum strands. Rolf de Heer’s The Survival of Kindness (Australia) was named Best Film in the Competition, whilst Bas Devos’ Here [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Bas Devos
film profile] (Belgium), Malene Choi’s The Quiet Migration [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Malene Choi
film profile] (Denmark) and Vlad Petri’s Between Revolutions [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Vlad Petri
film profile] (Romania/Croatia/Qatar/Iran) won the Jury Prizes in the Encounters, Forum and Panorama categories, respectively.

Here is the list of the main parallel award winners:

Panorama Audience Award Winner – Feature Film
Sira [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Apolline Traoré
film profile] – Apolline Traoré (Burkina Faso/France/Germany/Senegal)

2^nd Place Panorama Audience Award Winner – Feature Film
The Burdened – Amr Gamal (Yemen/Sudan/Saudi Arabia)

3rd Place Panorama Audience Award Winner – Feature Film
Midwives [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Léa Fehner
film profile] – Léa Fehner (France)

Panorama Audience Award Winner – Panorama Dokumente
Kokomo City – D Smith (USA)

2nd Place Panorama Audience Award Winner – Panorama Dokumente
The Eternal Memory – Maite Alberdi (Chile)

3rd Place Panorama Audience Award Winner Panorama Dokumente
The Cemetery of Cinema [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Thierno Souleymane Diallo
film profile] – Thierno Souleymane Diallo (France/Senegal/Guinea/Saudi Arabia)

Compass-Perspektive-Award
Seven Winters in Tehran [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] – Steffi Niederzoll (Germany/France)

Ecumenical jury prizes

Prize Winner Competition
Tótem [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Lila Avilés
film profile] –Lila Avilés (Mexico/Denmark/France)

Prize Winner Panorama
Midwives – Léa Fehner

Prize Winner Forum
Where God Is Not [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Mehran Tamadon
film profile] – Mehran Tamadon (France/Switzerland)

Special Mention
On the Adamant [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Nicolas Philibert
film profile] – Nicolas Philibert (France/Japan)

FIPRESCI jury prizes

Prize Winner Competition
The Survival of Kindness – Rolf de Heer (Australia)

Prize Winner Encounters
Here [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Bas Devos
film profile] – Bas Devos (Belgium)

Prize Winner Panorama
The Quiet Migration [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Malene Choi
film profile] – Malene Choi (Denmark)

Prize Winner Forum
Between Revolutions [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Vlad Petri
film profile] – Vlad Petri (Romania/Croatia/Qatar/Iran)

CICAE Art Cinema Award

Prize Winner Panorama
The Teachers’ Lounge [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: İlker Çatak
interview: Leonie Benesch
film profile] – İlker Çatak (Germany)

Prize Winner Forum
The Face of Jellyfish – Melisa Liebenthal (Argentina)

Guild Film Prize
20,000 Species of Bees [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Estíbaliz Urresola
film profile] – Estibaliz Urresola Solaguren (Spain)

Europa Cinemas Label
The Teachers’ Lounge – İlker Çatak

Teddy Awards

Best Feature Film
All the Colours of the World Are Between Black and White – Babatunde Apalowo (Nigeria)

Best Documentary/Essay Film
Orlando, My Political Biography [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Paul B Preciado
film profile] – Paul B Preciado (France)

Best Short Film
Dipped in Black – Matthew Thorne, Derik Lynch (Australia)

Jury Award
Vicky Knight – Silver Haze [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] (Netherlands/UK)

Caligari Film Prize
De Facto [+see also:
film review
film profile] – Selma Doborac (Austria/Germany)

Peace Film Prize
Seven Winters in Tehran – Steffi Niederzoll

Amnesty International Film Awards
The Burdened – Amr Gamal

Heiner Carow Prize
Fabian Stumm – Bones and Names [+see also:
film review
film profile] (Germany)

AG Kino Gilde – Cinema Vision 14plus
And the King Said, What a Fantastic Machine [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Axel Danielson, Maximilien …
film profile] – Axel Danielson, Maximilien Van Aertryck (Sweden/Denmark)