'Dahomey'
© Les Films du Bal – Fanta Sy
Dahomey, a documentary by French-Senegalese filmmaker Mati Diop, has won the Golden Bear for Best Film at the 74th Berlin International Film Festival.
The multifaceted docu-fictional essay examines the return of the African Kingdom of Dahomey's looted royal treasures from Paris to the present-day Republic of Benin in November 2021 and explores the complicated reaction of the people of Benin, whose culture has evolved for more than a century without these artifacts.
When Diop took the stage to accept her award, she made a direct political statement, shouting: “I stand with Palestine!”
Jury president, Oscar-winning 12 Years a Slave and Black Panther actress Lupita Nyong'o, announced the winner of the Golden Bear on Saturday evening on the stage of the Berlinale Palast. Nyong'o is the first black and first African to chair the Berlinale jury.
“Dahomey” is only the second African film to win the top prize in Berlin, following Mark Dornford-May’s South African opera drama “Breathe Umphefumlo” (U-Carmen eKhayelitsha) in 2015. Arthouse streamer Mubi has picked Dahomey for North America and much of the world in a deal announced Friday.
“Dahomey” is also the second documentary in a row to win Berlin’s Golden Bear, following “On the Adamant” by French filmmaker Nicolas Philibert last year.
Hong Sangsoo, a regular on the Berlinale awards stage – he won back-to-back Silver Bears in 2020 (The Woman Who Ran), 2021 (Introduction) and 2022 (The Novelist's Film) – made it a quartet Saturday, winning the Grand Silver Bear Prize the jury for “A Traveler's Needs”. The project is his third collaboration with French star Isabelle Huppert, following In Another Country (2012) and Claire's Camera (2017). Finecut distributes A Traveler's Needs internationally.
The best director award went to Dominican filmmaker Nelson Carlos De Los Santos Arias for “Pepe,” an unclassifiable mix of documentary and fiction about a hippopotamus brought to Colombia by drug kingpin Pablo Escobar. (The film is narrated by the hippopotamus.) Bruno Dumont's science fiction parody “L' Empire,” sold by Memento International, won the Silver Bear Jury Prize.
MCU alum Sebastian Stan won the Berlin Silver Bear for Best Leading Role for his role in Aaron Schimberg's twisted New York fable “A Different Man,” in which he plays a man who undergoes radical plastic surgery and begins to explore his own identity to question.
“This is my first European film festival,” said Stan. “For a little boy from Romania, this is very meaningful to me, so thank you very much.” A24 produced “A Different Man” and will be released in the US.
Sebastian Stan in A Different Man Faces Off LLC
Emily Watson won best supporting actress for her role as a frightening nun opposite lead actress Cillian Murphy in Tim Mielants' Irish-set drama Small Things Like These. FilmNation is handling international sales of the film.
In a nod to the political debate surrounding the Gaza war, which has overshadowed much of the cinema discussion at this year's Berlinale, the international jury awarded “No Other Land” a special documentary film prize. Directed by a collective of Israeli and Palestinian filmmakers, the project is a sobering look at the Israeli government's attempts to displace Palestinians in Masafer Yatta, a rural village in the occupied West Bank. No Other Land was shown in the Berlin Panorama Sidebar and won the audience award for best documentary. On stage, two of the film's directors, an Israeli and a Palestinian, called on the “powerful people in this room” to call for a ceasefire in Gaza and “stop Israel's occupation” of the West Bank. At the very least, said one of the directors, Germany should stop supplying weapons to Israel.
Juliana Rojas, who won the Encounters Best Director award for “Cidade”; Campo also used the Berlinale stage to call for a ceasefire in Gaza, as did Ben Russell and co-director Guillaume Cailleau, winner of the Best Film award in the Encounters section for Direct Action. “We are against genocide,” Russell said.
Two of this year's critics favorites, Matthias Glasner's German melodrama “Die” and “The Devil's Bath,” an Austrian horror film from Goodnight Mommy directors Veronika Franz and Severin Fiala, both received Silver Bears. Glasner received an award for Best Screenplay and The Devil's Bath cinematographer Martin Gschlacht took home a trophy for Outstanding Artistic Contribution. The Match Factory sells Die worldwide, Playtime manages The Devil's Bath.
Lars Eidinger dying © Jakub Bejnarowicz _ Port au Prince, black and white, Senator
This is the fifth and final Berlinale under the artistic direction of Carlo Chatrian, who, along with Berlinale managing director Mariëtte Rissenbeek, is departing after this year and will be replaced by former London Film Festival director Tricia Tuttle, who will take on a dual role.
Winner of the 74th Berlinale
Golden Bear for Best Film
Dahomey to you. Mati Diop
Silver Bear, Grand Jury Prize
A Traveler's Needs dir. Hong Sangsoo
Jury Silver Bear
L'Empire to you. Bruno Dumont
Silver Bear for Best Director
Nelson Carlos De Los Santos Arias for Pepe
Silver Bear for Best Lead Actor
Sebastian Stan for “A Different Man”.
Silver Bear for the best additional service
Emily Watson for little things like that
Silver Bear for Best Screenplay
Matthias Glasner for Dying
Silver Bear for outstanding artistic achievement
Martin Gschlacht for the camera for The Devil's Bath
Best movie
Direct Action Directories. Guillaume Cailleau, Ben Russell
Best Director
Cidade; Campo you. Juliana Rojas
Special Jury Prize (ex aequo)
The big yawn of history, directed by Aliyar Rasti, Some Rain Must Fall dir. Qiu Yang
GWFF Prize for the best first film
Cu Li Never Cries, directed by Cu Li Never Cries. Pham Ngoc Lan
Berlinale Documentary Film Prize
No other national directories. Yuval Abraham, Basel Adra, Hamdan Ballal, Rachel Szor
Berlinale Short Film Awards
Golden Bear Best Short Film
An Odd Turn to you. Francisco Lezama
Jury Silver Bear
Remains of the Hot Day director. Zhang Wenqian
An earlier version of this story incorrectly identified actress Emily Watson as Emma Watson.