Berlin Film Festival 2020 Award Winners: THERE IS NO EVIL, NEVER RARELY SOMETIMES ALWAYS, THE WOMAN WHO RAN, & More

Berlin Film Festival Awards 2020 Winners

There Is No Evil, Never Rarely Sometimes Always (2020), The Woman Who Ran, and the other award winners of the 2020 Berlin Film Festival have been announced. The 70th annual iteration of the Berlin Film Festival (a.k.a. the “Berlinale”) ran from Thursday, February 20 through Sunday, March 1, 2020, with the winners announced on Saturday, February 29.

The Berlinale is one of the “Big Three” European film festivals, along with those in Cannes and Venice. It is comprised of multiple sections with the primary one being the Competition, where films compete for the Golden and Silver Bear awards. This year, 18 films from 19 different countries competed for the Golden Bear.

This year has also proven particularly challenging from a PR perspective, with both director shake-ups and resurfaced histories proving controversial. (IndieWire’s Eric Kohn has a very good write-up on the whole affair.)

Political Filmmaking

Talking points turned upwards as the festival carried on, with the films and their visions taking precedence over the encompassing festival faux pas. There Is No Evil, the Golden Bear winner, is an anthology film from Iran whose director, Mohammad Rasoulof, could not accept the award in person due to a government-sanctioned travel ban. Rasoulof’s daughter, actress Baran Rasoulof, accepted the award on her father’s behalf, as he is being detained on alleged propaganda charges.

It’s startlingly reminiscent of another Golden Bear winner this past decade: Jafar Panahi’s Taxi from 2015. Panahi is another Iranian filmmaker whose dissident views on Iran’s government earned him a 20-year filmmaking ban. In the past few years Panahi has still managed to complete many films, which have been smuggled out of his country to play at multiple film festivals the world over. In 2015, the young co-star of his film accepted the Golden Bear in his place.

Berlin Film Festival Awards 2020 Winners

All of the awards went to the films’ listed directors, unless otherwise specified.

Main Competition

Golden Bear: There Is No Evil, directed by Mohammad Rasoulof

Silver Bear Grand Jury Prize: Never Rarely Sometimes Always, directed by Eliza Hittman

Silver Bear for Best Director: The Woman Who Ran, directed by Hong Sang-soo

Silver Bear for Best Actress: Paula Beer for Undine, directed by Christian Petzold

Silver Bear for Best Actor: Elio Germano for Hidden Away, directed by Giorgio Diritti

Silver Bear for Best Screenplay: Bad Tales, written and directed by Fabio D’Innocenzo and Damiano D’Innocenzo

Silver Bear for Outstanding Artistic Contribution: Jürgen Jürges for cinematography on DAU. Natasha, directed by Ilya Khrzhanovskiy and Jekaterina Oertel

Silver Bear Special Prize: Delete History, directed by Benoît Delépine and Gustave Kervern

Encounters Competition – Best Film: The Works and Days (of Tayoko Shiojiri in the Shiotani Basin), directed by C.W. Winter and Anders Edström

Encounters

Encounters Competition – Special Jury Award: The Trouble With Being Born, directed by Sandra Wollner

Encounters Competition – Best Director: Malmkrog, directed by Cristi Puiu

Encounters Competition – Jury Special Mention: Isabella, directed by Matías Piñeiro

Other Categories

Berlinale Documentary Award: Irradiated, directed by Rithy Panh

Berlinale Documentary Award – Special Mention by the Jury: Notes From the Underworld, directed by Tizza Covi and Rainer Frimmel

GWFF Best First Feature Award: Los conductos, directed by Camilo Restrepo

GWFF Best First Feature Award – Special Mention by the Jury: Nackte Tiere, directed by Melanie Waelde

Golden Bear for Best Short Film: T, directed by Keisha Rae Witherspoon

Silver Bear Jury Prize (Short Film): Filipiñana, directed by Rafael Manuel

Audi Short Film Award: Genius Loci, directed by Adrien Mérigeau

Grand Prix of the International Jury in Generation Kplus for the Best Film: The Wolves, directed by Samuel Kishi Leopo

Special Mentions of the International in Generation Kplus: Cuties, directed by Maïmouna Doucouré, and Mum, Mum, Mum, directed by Sol Berruezo Pichon-Rivière

Special Mention of the International Jury in Generation Kplus for Best Short Film: The Kites, directed by Seyed Payam Hosseini

Special Prize of the International Jury in Generation Kplus for the Best Short Film: The Name of the Son, directed by Martina Matzkin

Panorama Audience Award – Best Feature Film: Otac, directed by Srdan Golubovic

Panorama Audience Award – Best Documentary: Welcome to Chechnya, directed by David France

Compass-Perspektive-Award: Walchensee Forever, directed by Janna Ji Wonders

For a list of more awards and the Berlinale’s official selection, check out the festival’s website.

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