76th Berlin International Film Festival Award Winners

Last night was the awards ceremony which was full with very awkward moments by the ceremony host that wasn't prepared to what all of us knew will come with winners acceptance speeches. Yes there were mentions of what's happening in Palestine -which was the topic above cinema during the totality of the festival-, but there were also some mentions about Ukraine and what's happening in the USA.

I do believe that what differentiates Berlinale from Cannes and Venice is that Berlinale has always been a platform to spoke about world politics, sometimes with controversial movies and other times with the voices of filmmakers and their personal political view. It is the essence of this festival and it is imprint in its DNA. If organizers change it, the festival will change and most likely become one more of the many second-tier film festivals in the world. Sigh.

Most industry pundits claim this was one of the most strong competition lineup in years, with only a few missteps, and was unclear for many who had changes to win the prizes of the international jury. Of all films with awards perhaps Queen At Sea had the best expectatives of English-language press and buzz and indeed the film got three awards as the supporting performance category was awarded to two actors.


2026 Berlinale Winners List

Golden Bear for Best Film: Gelbe Briefe (Yellow Leters), İlker Çatak, Germany, France and Turkey

Silver Bear Jury Grand Prize: Kurtuluş (Salvation), Emin Alper, Turkey, France, Netherlands, Greece, Sweden, and Saudi Arabia
Silver Bear Jury Prize: Queen At Sea, Lance Hammer, UK

Silver Bear for Best Director: Grant Gee for Everybody Digs Bill Evans, Grant Gee, UK and Ireland

Silver Bear for Best Leading Performance: Sandra Hüller in Rose, Markus Schleinzer, Austria and Germany
Silver Bear for Best Supporting Performance: Anna Calder-Marshall and Tom Courtney in Queen At Sea, Lance Hammer, UK

Silver Bear for Best Screenplay: Geneviève Dulude-de Celles for Fleur bleue (Nina Roza), Geneviève Dulude-De Celles, Canada, Italy, Bulgaria and Belgium

Silver Bear for Outstanding Artistic Contribution: Yo Love is a Rebellious Bird, Anna Fitch and Banker White, USA (documentary)

Best First Feature Award: Chronicles From the Siege, Abdallah Alkhatib, Algeria, France and Palestine
Special Mention: Forêt Ivre (Forest High), Manon Coubia, Belgium and France  

Documentary Award: If Pigeons Turned to Gold, Pepa Lubojacki, Czechia and Slovakia (debut film)
Special Mention: Tutu, Sam Pollard, UK 

Short Films
Golden Bear: Yawman ma walad (Someday a Child), Marie-Rose Osta, France, Romania and Lebanon, 27′
Silver Bear: A Woman’s Place is Everywhere, Fanny Texier, USA, 19′
Filmmaker Award: 地三鲜 Di san xian (Kleptomania), Jingkai Qu, China, 24′
Berlin Short Film Candidate for the European Film Awards: Cosmonauts, Leo Černic, Slovenia and Italy, 14′ (animation)

Generation

Generation Kplus
Prizes of Children's Jury
Crystal Bear for Best Film: Feito Pipa (Gugu's World), Allan Deberton, Brazil
Special Mention: Not a Hero, Rima Das, India and Singapore
Crystal Bear for Best Short Film: Whale 52 - Suite for Man, Boy, and Whale, Daniel Neiden, USA (animation)
Special Mention: Under The Wave of Little Dragon, Jian Luo, UK
Prizes of the International Jury
Grand Prix for Best Film: Feito Pipa (Gugu's World), Allan Deberton, Brazil
Special Mention: Atlasul universului (Atlas of the Universe), Paul Negoescu, Romania and Bulgaria
Special Prize for Best Short Film: Spî (White), Navroz Shaban, Iraq
Special Mention: Under The Wave of Little Dragon, Jian Luo, UK

Generation 14plus
Prizes of Youth Jury
Crystal Bear for Best Film: Chicas Tristes (Sad Girlz), Fernanda Tovar, Mexico, Spain and France (debut film)
Special Mention: A Family, Mees Peijnenburg, Netherlands and Belgium
Crystal Bear for Best Short Film: Memories of a Window, Mehraneh Salimian and Amin Pakparvar, USA
Special Mention: Allá en el cielo (Nobody Knows the World), Roddy Dextre, Peru
Prizes of the International Jury
Grand Prix for Best Film: Chicas Tristes (Sad Girlz), Fernanda Tovar, Mexico, Spain and France (debut film)
Special Mention: Matapanki, Diego Fuentes, Chile (debut film)
Special Prize for Best Short Film: The Tread, Fenn O'Meally, UK
Special Mention: Memories of a Window, Mehraneh Salimian and Amin Pakparvar, USA

Collateral Awards

FIPRESCI Awards
Competition: Soumsoum, la nuit des astres (Soumsoum, the Night of the Stars), Mahamat-Saleh Haroun, France and Chad
Perspectives: Animol, Ashley Walters, UK
Panorama: Narciso, Marcelo Martinessi, Paraguay, Germany, Uruguay, Brazil, Portugal, Spain, and France
Forum: チルド Chirudo (AnyMart), Yusuke Iwasaki, Japan (debut film)

Ecumenical Jury Awards
Competition: Moscas (Flies), Fernando Eimbcke, Mexico
Panorama: Bucks Harbor, Pete Muller, USA (debut film)
Forum: Сны реки River Dreams, Kristina Mikhailova, Kazakhstan, Switzerland and UK (debut film)

AG Kino - Gilde - Cinema Vision 14Plus: What Will I Become?, Lexie Bean and Logan Rozos, USA (documentary) (debut film)
Special Mention: Sunny Dancer, George Jaques, UK

Amnesty International Film Award: What Will I Become?, Lexie Bean and Logan Rozos, USA (documentary) (debut film)
Caligari Film Prize: If Pigeons Turned to Gold, Pepa Lubojacki, Czechia and Slovakia (debut film)

Confédération Internationale des Cinémas d’Art et d’Essai (CICAE)
Panorama: Staatsschutz (Prosecution), Faraz Shariat, Germany
Forum: De capul nostru (On Our Own), Tudor Cristian Jurgiu, Romania and Italy

Europa Cinema Label: Vier minus drei (Four minus Three), Adrian Goiginger, Austria and Germany

Prize of the Guild of German Arthouse cinemas: Gelbe Briefe (Yellow Leters), İlker Çatak, Germany, France and Turkey
Special Mention: The Loneliest Man in Town, Tizza Covi and Rainer Frimmel, Austria

Heiner Carow Prize: Staatsschutz (Prosecution), Faraz Shariat, Germany

Peace Film Prize: Tutu, Sam Pollard, UK (documentary)

Teddy Awards
Best Film: Iván and Hadoum, Ian de la Rosa, Spain, Germany, and Belgium (debut film)
Jury Award: Der Heimatlose (Trial of Hein), Kai Stänicke, Germany
Best Documentary: Barbara Forever, Brydie O'Connor, USA
Best Short Film: TAXI MOTO, Gaël Kamilindi, Switzerland and France, 20′
Special Teddy: Céline Sciamma

Development Awards

Berlinale Co-Production Market
Euroimages Co-Production Development Award: Liberations, Laurynas Bareiša, Lithuania
Generation Z Audience Award: Cura Sana, Lucía G. Romero, Spain

Kompagnon Fellowship
Maya with Y, Elmar Imanov
Mother/Tongye, Mala Reinhart

VFF Talent Highlight Award: The Most Romantic Man in the World, Simon Jaquemet, Switzerland
Nomination prizes
Watch It Burn, Yulia Evina Bhara, Indonesia
Acts of Kindness, Gary Granner, Norway

EFM Distributor Award: Ştefan Bradea and Monica Felea from Bad Unicorn, Romania

ArteKino International Award: Lotus Feet, Amanda Nell Eu, Malaysia
World Cinema Fund Audience Strategies Award:

BerlinaleTalents
Audiovisual Entrepreneurs Lavoratory (AVEL), Tapiwa Chipfupa
enREDadera, Jaimar Marcano Vivas
Alumni Projects
Majoaneng - Academy of Images and Letters, Phillip Leteka
Super Sohni, Ammar Aziz

The Dream Makers International Short Film Contest
Dita e parë (Day One), Renis Hyka, Albania
The Zebra, Alfie Barker, UK

Audience Awards

Panorama Audience Awards
1st Place: Staatsschutz (Prosecution), Faraz Shariat, Germany
2nd Place: Vier minus drei (Four minus Three), Adrian Goiginger, Austria and Germany
3rd Place: Mouse, Kelly O'Sullivan and Alex Thompson, USA

Prize Winner Documentary Film
1st Place: Traces, Alisa Kovalenko and Marysia Nikitiuk, Ukraine and Poland
2nd Place: الجانب الآخر من الشمس The Other Side of the Sun, Tawfik Sabouni, Belgium, France and Saudi Arabia (debut film)
3rd Place: Bucks Harbor, Pete Muller, USA (debut film)

Reader's Juries
Berliner Morgenpost Readers' Jury Award: Moscas (Flies), Fernando Eimbcke, Mexico
Tagesspiegel Readers' Jury Award: I Built a Rocket Imagining Your Arrival, Janaina Marques, Brazil (debut film)

Honorary Golden Bear: Michelle Yeoh
Berlinale Camera: Haile Gerima and Max Richter

To check winners of Independent Juries at official site go here or check pdf file both in German and English here.

Award Ceremony of Independent Juries Video



Awards Ceremony and Red Carpet Arrivals



If you wish to watch only the awards ceremony go to 1:33:56.

To check all award winners in one single list go to official site here, it is a .pdf file.