24/02/2024 - BERLINALE 2024: The German festival has also announced the recipients of the other parallel awards, decided on by independent juries

Memories of a Burning Body by Antonella Sudasassi Furniss (left) and No Other Land by Basel Adra, Hamdan Ballal, Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor

The Berlinale, which this year unspooled from 15-25 February, has announced the winners of its Panorama strand, along with the recipients of its numerous parallel awards.

The 26th Panorama Audience Award for the best fiction feature went to Memories of a Burning Body [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] (Costa Rica/Spain) by Antonella Sudasassi Furniss. The picture zooms in on 68-year-old Ana, 69-year-old Patricia and 71-year-old Mayela, who have developed their understanding of what it means to be a woman based on unspoken rules and implicit expectations while growing up in a repressive era when sexuality was a taboo subject.

Meanwhile, the Palestinian-Norwegian film No Other Land [+see also:
film review
interview: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham
film profile] by Basel Adra, Hamdan Ballal, Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor was crowned with the Panorama Audience Award for best documentary. Both prizes were handed out by the Berlinale together with radioeins and rbb television. This year, more than 24,000 votes were cast and evaluated. The Panorama strand showcased a total of 31 titles (including ten documentaries) produced by 36 different countries.

This year’s Teddy Awards saw the triumph of Ray Leung’s All Shall Be Well (Hong Kong/China), crowned Best Feature Film. In it, Patra Au Ga Man and Maggie Li Lin Lin play Angie and Pat, a well-off lesbian couple in their mid-sixties. They have lived together for 30 years in the flat Pat owns in Hong Kong. Their relationship is accepted by their friends and families, and they are valued and loved by those around them. The first turning point takes place when Pat unexpectedly dies one night.

Next, FIPRESCI awarded four films in the main competition, and in the Encounters, Panorama and Forum strands. Maryam Moghaddam and Behtash Sanaeeha’s My Favourite Cake [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] (Iran/France/Sweden/Germany) was named Best Film in the Competition, whilst Nele Wohlatz’s Sleep with Your Eyes Open [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] (Brazil/Taiwan/Argentina/Germany), Anna Cornudella Castro’s The Human Hibernation [+see also:
film review
interview: Anna Cornudella
film profile] (Spain) and Aslı Özge’s Faruk [+see also:
film review
interview: Asli Özge
film profile] (Germany/Turkey/France) won the Jury Prizes in the Encounters, Forum and Panorama categories, respectively.

Finally, Dag Johan Haugerud’s Sex [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Dag Johan Haugerud
film profile] (Norway) scooped three prizes – the Ecumenical Jury Prize for Best Film in the Panorama section, the CICAE Art Cinema Award and the Europa Cinemas Label. The picture centres on two men in heterosexual marriages whose unexpected experiences challenge their perceptions of sexuality, gender and identity. 

Here is the list of the main parallel award winners:

Panorama Audience Award Winner – Feature Film
Memories of a Burning Body [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] - Antonella Sudasassi Furniss (Costa Rica/Spain) 

2nd Place Panorama Audience Award Winner – Feature Film
Crossing [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Levan Akin
film profile] – Levan Akin (Sweden/Denmark/France/Turkey/Georgia)

3rd Place Panorama Audience Award Winner – Feature Film
All Shall Be Well - Ray Yeung (Hong Kong/China)

Panorama Audience Award Winner – Panorama Dokumente
No Other Land [+see also:
film review
interview: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham
film profile] - Basel Adra, Hamdan Ballal, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor (Palestine/Norway)

2nd Place Panorama Audience Award Winner – Panorama Dokumente
My Stolen Planet [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] - Farahnaz Sharifi (Germany/Iran)

3rd Place Panorama Audience Award Winner Panorama Dokumente
Teaches of Peaches [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Philipp Fussenegger, Judy L…
film profile] - Philipp Fussenegger, Judy Landkammer (Germany)

Ecumenical jury prizes

Prize Winner Competition
My Favourite Cake [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] - Maryam Moghaddam, Behtash Sanaeeha - (Iran/France/Sweden/Germany)

Prize Winner Panorama
Sex [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Dag Johan Haugerud
film profile] - Dag Johan Haugerud (Norway)

Prize Winner Forum
Maria’s Silence [+see also:
film review
interview: Dāvis Sīmanis
film profile] – Davis Simanis (Latvia/Lithuania)
Special Mention
Intercepted [+see also:
film review
film profile] - Oksana Karpovych (Canada/France/Ukraine)

FIPRESCI jury prizes

Prize Winner Competition
My Favourite Cake - Maryam Moghaddam, Behtash Sanaeeha

Prize Winner Encounters
Sleep with Your Eyes Open [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] - Nele Wohlatz (Brazil/Taiwan/Argentina/Germany)

Prize Winner Panorama
Faruk [+see also:
film review
interview: Asli Özge
film profile] - Aslı Özge (Germany/Turkey/France)

Prize Winner Forum
The Human Hibernation [+see also:
film review
interview: Anna Cornudella
film profile] - Anna Cornudella Castro (Spain)

CICAE Art Cinema Award

Prize Winner Panorama
Sex - Dag Johan Haugerud

Prize Winner Forum
Shahid [+see also:
film review
film profile] - Narges Kalhor (Germany)

Guild Film Prize
Dying [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Matthias Glasner
film profile] - Matthias Glasner (Germany)

Europa Cinemas Label
Sex - Dag Johan Haugerud

Teddy Awards

Best Feature Film
All Shall Be Well - Ray Yeung

Best Documentary/Essay Film
Teaches of Peaches - Philipp Fussenegger, Judy Landkammer

Best Short Film
Grandmamauntsistercat - Zuza Banasińska (Netherlands/Poland)

Jury Award
Crossing - Levan Akin

Special Teddy Award
Lothar Lambert

Caligari Film Prize
Shahid - Narges Kalhor

Peace Film Prize
Favoriten [+see also:
film review
interview: Ruth Beckermann
film profile] - Ruth Beckermann (Austria)

Amnesty International Film Award
The Strangers’ Case - Brandt Andersen (Jordan)

Heiner Carow Prize
Ivo [+see also:
film review
interview: Eva Trobisch, Adrian Campean
film profile] - Eva Trobisch (Germany)

AG Kino Gilde – Cinema Vision 14plus
Last Swim [+see also:
film review
interview: Sasha Nathwani
film profile] - Sasha Nathwani (UK)
Honourable Mention
Disco Afrika: A Malagasy Story [+see also:
film review
film profile] - Luck Razanajaona (France/Madagascar/Germany/Mauritius/South Africa/Qatar)