CHARLIZE THERON PRESENTS KRISTEN STEWART WITH THE AMERICAN RIVIERA AWARD AT THE 37TH ANNUAL SANTA BARBARA INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL
SANTA BARBARA, Calif. (March 4, 2022) – Day 3 of the 37th Annual Santa Barbara International Film Festival presented by UGG concluded with a live tribute to Kristen Stewart, who received the American Riviera Award. Stewart was honored at an in-person conversation with Indiewire Editor-at-Large Anne Thompson for an in-depth discussion about her career leading up to this year’s performance as Princess Diana in Pablo Larraín’s SPENCER from NEON. (Michelle Tarangelo, Sunshine Sachs)
Stewart arrived in glamour sporting Chanel S22 Couture receiving a warm Santa Barbara welcome!
Stay tuned!
Upcoming live conversations and tributes will include presentations to Will Smith, Nicole Kidman, Javier Bardem, Penélope Cruz, Aunjanue Ellis, Benedict Cumberbatch, Ciarán Hinds, Caitriona Balfe, Ariana DeBose, Alana Haim, Emilia Jones, Troy Kotsur, Simon Rex, Saniyya Sidney and Oscar-nominated producers, writers, and animators. The 37th Santa Barbara International Film Festival, presented by UGG®, will take place IN-PERSON through March 12, 2022. 200+ films, filmmaker Q&As, industry panels, and celebrity tributes, will be held throughout Santa Barbara, including at the historic Arlington Theatre. This year’s lineup is available on SBIFF’s mobile app. For additional information or to buy passes, visit sbiff.org.
About the Santa Barbara International Film Festival
The Santa Barbara International Film Festival (SBIFF) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit arts and educational organization dedicated to discovering and showcasing the best in independent and international cinema. Over the past 36 years, SBIFF has become one of the leading film festivals in the United States – attracting 100,000+ attendees and offering 11 days of 200+ films, tributes and symposiums, fulfilling their mission to engage, enrich, and inspire the Santa Barbara community through film. In 2016, SBIFF entered a new era with the acquisition of the historic and beloved Riviera Theatre. After a capital campaign and renovation, the theatre is now SBIFF’s new state-of-the-art, year-round home, showing new international and independent films every day. In 2019, SBIFF opened its own Education Center in downtown Santa Barbara on State Street to serve as a home for its many educational programs and a place for creativity and learning.
A Place in the Field made its World Premiere yesterday evening at the 2022 Santa Barbara International Film Festival, presented by UGG, and is the feature directorial debut of female Latina, Nicole Mejia, an American Film Institute Fellow and recipient of an Audi Award Scholarship.
Mejia tackles a difficult subject with tenderness and grace. Post-traumatic stress disorder and veteran suicide have a long history with our nation’s war efforts. Films such as the Marlon Brando led The Men to tend to portray these issues in cold and harsh depictions. Mejia gently offers another way of coping experientially without debilitating pharmaceuticals and/or intensive cognitive psychotherapy – both of which arguably can exacerbate the underlying condition with unwanted and oftentimes debilitating side effects.
Don DiPetta portrays Gio the film’s central character, an Afghanistan combat veteran, and true to the character displays an intense focus – one that his employer likes to put to good use! Notwithstanding, flashbacks of battlefield situations are surfacing calling out for resolution.
Gio’s attentive girlfriend, Jessica, portrayed convincingly by Mishel Prada, notices Gio’s condition and suggests a move to the city. Gio isn’t ready – until he receives his battle buddy’s ashes and a farewell suicide note bidding Gio go to the places they had always talked about during their war-time mission.
So Gio with his strong sense of commitment to duty and to loyalty sets out to fulfill his battle buddy’s dying wish. Along the way, Gio meets colorful characters while discovering holistic and experiential coping mechanisms allowing him to reconcile the unresolved conflicts from his battlefield experience.
Gio completes his “stateside mission” in spreading his battle buddy’s ashes. Through the experience, the actions taken, the words spoken, and the colorful characters engaged, Gio comes out the other side ready to face the new challenges ahead with his civilian life. Interestingly, Director Mejia also embodied the role of Pavla, a captivating shaman/goddess, who gently steers Gio toward the challenging path of healing without any reservations after a mechanical failure with his vehicle.
Nikki Mejia
I have not seen a bad film at the 2022 Santa Barbara International Film Festival – and I have seen several thus far. I will say right now – A Place in The Field is exquisite! It is beautifully shot by Kadri Koop – full of symbolism and metaphors, spoken and unspoken. Khori Ellis is credited as the writer with Don DiPetta, Xochitl Portillo, and Bluesmon Del Vecchio receiving writing credits also. The casting is spot-on as DiPetta looks and personifies, Gio, with grace and ease. The supporting cast all look the part. Kuddos to Costumer Kaja Sondergaard.
In addition, the soundtrack adds subtle ambiance and augments and amplifies tone in various scenes with a Southwestern musical sensibility. Matt Glanvill and Miguel Angel Rodriguez are credited with sound. A Place in The Field is produced by Heliya Alam, Niyah Edwards, Michael Fishman, Nikki Mejia, along with a slew of executive producers including Don DiPetta.
A Place in The Field is a “must-see” selection for the 2022 Santa Barbara Film Festival! The film is scheduled for a second screening at 2:40 P.M. on Monday, March 7th, 2022, at the Metro 4 in Auditorium 3. Get there! You’ll be glad you did!
Thurs, March 3 – 8:40 PM (followed by a post-screening Q&A with Gerry Lopez and Stacy Peralta)
Sat, March 5 – 8:20 AM
Location: Metro 4
From Award-Winning documentary filmmaker Stacy Peralta comes Patagonia’s The Yin and Yang of Gerry Lopez, a film that lifts the veil on one of surfing’s most enigmatic heroes. Known as Mr. Pipeline for his calm demeanor in the tube, Gerry Lopez built his career with aggressive surfing that left behind a trail of blood and tears. He is one of the most influential surfers and surfboard shapers of all time, an entrepreneur, a family man, a movie star, and a lifelong yogi who brought surfing to new frontiers. For the first time, the story of this enigmatic hero is being told in full.
Newtok
Directed by Andrew Burton and Michael Kirby Smith
Locations: Metro 1, Tues, March 8 – 5:00 PM
Fiesta 2, Thurs, March 10 – 8:30 AM
Water will erase Newtok, Alaska. Built on a delta at the edge of the Bering Sea, the tiny Yup’ik village has been dealing with melting permafrost, river erosion, and decaying infrastructure for decades. To keep their culture and community intact, the 360 Yup’ik residents must relocate their entire village to stable ground upriver while facing a federal government that has failed to take appropriate action to combat climate change. In moving their village, they will become some of America’s first 21st-century climate refugees. It is a verité portrait of a village seeking justice in the face of climate disaster.
The Ocean Solution
Part of the ‘Nature Shorts’
Directed by Darcy Hennessey Turenne
Locations: Tuesday, March 8 – 11:20 AM, Metro 2
Thursday, March 10 – 7:20 PM, Fiesta 2
Farming under the sea? Meet Bren Smith, the ocean farming pioneer whose vertical kelp and shellfish farms can transform the way food is produced. As a commercial fisherman, Bren’s career was nearly wrecked by the crashing cod stocks in the North Atlantic; he then turned to oyster farming, just in time for catastrophic, climate-driven storms to show him there wasn’t a solid future in that, either. Unwilling to tether himself to land, he took the hard lessons learned and returned to the sea with a new method of restorative ocean farming. What he discovered is a way to produce large quantities of nutritious food that also fights the climate crisis, cleans the ocean, creates aquatic habitat and sustains his sea-going way of life.
The Santa Barbara International Film Festival is once again offering free filmmaker seminars. In previous years, the seminars were held behind the Lobero Theatre.
This year, however, the conversations will be held outside at Casa de la Guerra located at 15 East De La Guerra Street in downtown Santa Barbara.
The topics reflect films and highlights from the various sections and sidebars programmed for this year’s festival.
Topic – Diversity
Thursday, March 3 – 11:00 AM
Topic – Women Filmmakers
Friday, March 4 – 11:00 AM
Topic – Independent Filmmakers
Monday, March 7 – 11:00 AM
Topic – The Future of Theaters (In this Age of Streaming)
Tuesday, March 8 – 11:00 AM
Topic – International Filmmaking
Wednesday, March 9 – 11:00 AM
Topic – Documentary Activism
Thursday, March 10 – 11:00 AM
Topic – How to Make a Great Short
Friday, March 11 – 11:00 AM
About the Santa Barbara International Film Festival
The Santa Barbara International Film Festival (SBIFF) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit arts and educational organization dedicated to discovering and showcasing the best in independent and international cinema. Over the past 36 years, SBIFF has become one of the leading film festivals in the United States – attracting 100,000+ attendees and offering 11 days of 200+ films including 100+ premieres representing over 60 countries, tributes, and panel discussions, fulfilling their mission to engage, enrich, and inspire the Santa Barbara community through film.
In 2016, SBIFF entered a new era with the acquisition of the historic and beloved Riviera Theatre. After a capital campaign and renovation, the theatre is now SBIFF’s new state-of-the-art, year-round home, showing new international and independent films every day. In 2019, SBIFF opened its own Education Center in downtown Santa Barbara on State Street to serve as a home for its many educational programs and a place for creativity and learning.
Hollywood actor and producer Sean Penn visits positions of the Ukrainian Armed Forces near the frontline with Russia-backed separatists in Donetsk region, Ukraine, on Nov. 18, 2021. Sean Penn came to Ukraine to shoot a film. (Ukrainian Joint Forces Operation Press Service via AP)
Hollywood film humanitarian (Citizen Penn), Sean Penn, is smack-dab in the middle of the most dangerous region on the planet, the battlefields of Ukraine. As the Russian military apparatus surrounded and consequently invaded its western-looking, democratic neighbor, Penn was working in Ukraine on a documentary exploring “the consequences of Russian agression” for Vice Studios when hostilities were happening.
In a publicly issued statement, Penn declared,
Sean Penn is visiting Ukraine for a new documentary for Vice Studios on the consequences of Russian aggression. (Photo @AP)
“Already a brutal mistake of lives taken and hearts broken, and If he doesn’t relent, I believe Mr. Putin will have made a most horrible mistake for all of humankind…President Zelensky and the Ukrainian people have risen as historic symbols of courage and principle. Ukraine is the tip of the spear for the democratic embrace of dreams. If we allow it to fight alone, our soul as America is lost.”
Often characterized and stereotyped by early-career exploits of consistently making news headlines for punching cameramen, his political viewpoints, and marrying the world’s most recognizable pop star of the time, Madonna, Penn has diligently changed his image through extensive efforts to aid assistance to his fellow ‘man’ in war-torn, disaster laden, disaffected countries beginning in 2002 with the war in Iraq, adding a herculean Haitian earthquake response effort, and more recently expanding the availability COVID-19 vaccines to 1.3 million disadvantaged and low-income Los Angeleans through his CORE (Community Organized Relief Effort). CORE emanated from Penn and international aid worker, Ann Lee’s experiences in their Haitian relief and recovery efforts.
In today’s LATimes article, “Actor Sean Penn wants U.S. to help rescue Ukraine from Russian invasion,” journalist Meg James expounds upon Penn’s efforts to reach out to Ukraine. Ukrainian citizens and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky lament the feelings of isolation as they fight for their freedom and the survival of their beloved Ukraine.
“America isn’t here. The European Union isn’t here,” a 24-year-old hotel employee in Kharkiv, Ukraine, named Alexander (he declined to give his last name)…So we’re fighting on our own.” Zelensky communicated that Ukraine needed more people like Penn and the true friends who support Ukraine’s struggle to maintain its freedom in the face of the Russian onslaught via a Facebook post, “Sean Penn demonstrates the courage that many others, including Western politicians, lack.
This afternoon, the German government announced a shipment of 1,000 anti-tank weapons and 500 Stinger surface-to-air missiles to Ukraine “as quickly as possible.”
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said in a statement. “In this situation, it is our duty to help Ukraine, to the best of our ability, to defend itself against Vladimir Putin’s invading army.”
As reported in The Wrap, a recent petition by the Ukrainian government has called for producers, exhibitors, and world film festivals from screening and distributing Russian Federation cultural cinema and its distorted propaganda messaging. Russia has a long and storied cinema tradition of using the apparatus to further the ambitions of the federation. In recent years, several Russian films made their appearance at top world festivals.
“We – festival workers, artists, filmmakers … – think fondly of our friends in Ukraine and we are by their side in a call for peace.
One week ago, the Berlin International Film Festival was celebrating a complicated yet successful edition. Filmmakers, artists, and journalists from all over the world gathered in Berlin to enjoy a collective and joyful experience. The feeling of being together again, with no distinctions of nationality, religion, or culture, transported us in a way that film festivals can accomplish.
While these memories remain fresh, other images have broken into our lives, bringing a darker perspective. The world is on a verge of a huge crisis. As a showcase of the free world, the Berlinale has always put at its center the notion of freedom and the will to bridge East and West.
Throughout its history, the Berlin International Film Festival has had the opportunity to showcase films relating to Ukrainian history and culture in all sections of the festival, recently, this year’s Klondike by Maryna El Gorbach and Terykony by Taras Tomenko, Oleg Sentsov’s Numbers in 2020, back to the films of Kira Muratova and the early short films of Myroslav Slaboshpytsky, and many more.
Films cannot change society and the course of history, but they can help in changing the minds of people. Films are telling us that the world is already in a too precarious condition to add even more suffering and destruction.”
The 72nd Berlin International Film Festival wrapped successfully with numerous audience screenings. On the last day of the festival, Berlinale director duo Mariette Rissenbeek and Carlo Chatrian bid farewell to the audience at the Cineplex Titania cinema (former Titania-Palast) – the very setting in which the festival was held for the first time in 1951.
Despite the ongoing pandemic, the Berlinale 2022 was able to take place as an in-person festival in compliance with a strict hygiene and security concept, and the organizers were delighted with the lively interest shown by the public and trade visitors. Due to the pandemic, only 50 percent of seats in the cinemas were occupied. This stipulation was enthusiastically accepted and a total of 156,000 tickets were sold. The Berlinale also took to the spotlight as a media event.
Iris Berben featured on the Red Carpet and Big Screen at the 2022 Berlinale Opening Gala (Photo cr. Berlinale)
The 2022 festival took place in a different format: From February 10 to 16, film teams from abroad presented their films to the public and accredited audiences at the premieres.
On the evening of February 16, the festive Award Ceremony festive took place in the Berlinale Palast, culminating in the presentation of the Golden Bear to Alcarràs (director: Carla Simón). From February 17 to 20, the public had an opportunity to see the Berlinale films in repeat screenings during the “Publikumstage” (“audience days”).
Carlo Chatrian, left, and Mariette Rissenbeek
“The successful conclusion of the Berlinale 2022 gives us great pleasure and confidence for the future. Sharing a cultural experience is possible even in times of pandemic; indeed, it becomes especially important then. We intended to fly the flag for cinema with this year’s festival, and we were thrilled to receive so much support for this from audiences and filmmakers alike,” commented Mariette Rissenbeek and Carlo Chatrian.
While the festival was able to take place in person, the European Film Market (EFM), the Berlinale Co-Production Market, Berlinale Talents, and the WCF Day of the World Cinema Fund were realized primarily as online formats.
At the WCF Day on February 16, 2022, the panels and discussions focused on the development of funding and decolonization strategies. With its differentiated funding program, the World Cinema Fund has been working to promote cultural diversity, cooperation, sustainable development, and the promotion of cinema in regions with weak film infrastructures since 2004, and thus aims to contribute to the democratization of international filmmaking.
Check out the recording of WCF Day 2022!
In addition, 1,438 pre-arranged and specially planned individual meetings with interested co-producers and financiers took place at the Berlinale Co-Production Market for the feature film and series projects selected in 2022. Three cash prizes were awarded to new projects. The pitching events “Co-Pro Series” and “Books at Berlinale” as well as the talk formats were also very popular with the 574 participants. Alcarràs by Carla Simón was the second former Berlinale Co-Production Market project to win the Golden Bear. In 2019, the project had already won the Eurimages Co-Production Development Award.
The online edition of the European Film Market (EFM) of the 72nd Berlinale came to a successful conclusion on February 17 and Berlinale Talents also looked back on a successful 20th-anniversary edition.
The 73rd International Film Festival Berlin will take place from February 16 to 26, 2023.
(Press release provided by Berlinale Press Office)
The members of the 2022 International Jury, M. Night Shyamalan (President), Karim Aïnouz, Anne Zohra Berrached, Tsitsi Dangarembga, Ryusuke Hamaguchi, Connie Nielsen and Said Ben Saïd award the following prizes:
Golden Bear for Best Film
(awarded to the film’s producers)
M. Night Shyamalan (Photo: Gage Skidmore, CC BY-SA 3.0)
M. Night Shyamalan (South Asia / USA) – Jury President
Screenwriter, director, and producer M. Night Shyamalan has been captivating audiences worldwide with his genre films over the past three decades. His impressive filmmaking includes 14 feature films as a cinema director. His breakthrough, the 1999 psychological thriller The Sixth Sense starring Bruce Willis, was the second highest-grossing film of that year and received six Academy Award nominations. He then released a string of blockbusters with Unbreakable (2000), Signs (2002), and The Village (2004). The Visit (2015) was the most successful horror film of 2015. He could repeat this success with his next film Glass (2019). Shyamalan has also had an equally successful start in the TV sector in 2015 with the 10-episode event series Wayward Pines for FOX, based on the best-selling novels. Currently, Shyamalan serves as showrunner for the award-winning series Servant for Apple TV+. He has also directed several episodes of the series. His latest cinema film Old, which is based on the graphic novel “Sandcastle” was released internationally in cinemas in summer 2021. He is currently working on his next cinema film, Knock at the Cabin, which will be released in February 2023.
Karim Aïnouz
Karim Aïnouz (Brazil / Algeria)
Karim Aïnouz first studied architecture in Paris and Brasilia before doing a degree in film studies at New York University and gaining practical experience as an assistant director for Todd Haynes. His feature film debut Madame Satã premiered at Cannes in 2002, later O Céu de Suely (Love for Sale, 2006) and Viajo Porque Preciso, Volto Porque te Amo (I Travel Because I Have To, I Come Back Because I Love You, 2009) screened in Venice. Aïnouz is also a regular guest at the Berlinale: in 2014, with Praia do Futuro (Futuro Beach) was shown in Competition; at the same time, Cathedrals of Culture ran in Berlinale Special, where he was one of six directors. His two documentaries Zentralflughafen THF (2018), awarded the Amnesty International Prize, and Nardjes A. (2020) were both shown in Panorama. His feature film A Vida Invisível (Invisible Life) won the main prize in Un Certain Regard section at Cannes in 2019, and two years later his autobiographical work O Marinheiro das Montanhas (Mariner of the Mountains) also screened at the Croisette.
Saïd Ben Saïd
Saïd Ben Saïd (France / Tunisia)
Saïd Ben Saïd is a French-Tunisian film producer, founder, and chairman of SBS Productions. His large output of 40 films includes films directed by Paul Verhoeven, David Cronenberg, Roman Polanski, Brian De Palma, Nadav Lapid, Philippe Garrel, Walter Hill, Alain Corneau, Kleber Mendonça Filho, André Téchiné and Ira Sachs. Recent releases include David Cronenberg’s Maps to the Stars with Julianne Moore who won Best Actress in Cannes in 2014, Paul Verhoeven’s Elle which was awarded Best Foreign Picture at the 2017 Golden Globes, Nadav Lapid’s Synonyms which won the 2019 Golden Bear at the Berlinale and Kleber Mendonça Filho’s Bacurau which received the 2019 Jury Prize in Cannes. His latest production is Paul Verhoeven’s Benedetta, which premiered in the Competition at Cannes 2021. In 2015, Ben Saïd founded his distribution company SBS Distribution and his international sales arm SBS International to service his own productions.
Anne Zohra Berrached
Anne Zohra Berrached (Germany)
Anne Zohra Berrached, born in Erfurt in 1982 as the daughter of a German and an Algerian, first studied social pedagogy and worked as a theatre pedagogue in London before turning to filmmaking. After her first own short documentary film Der Pausenclown (2009), she studied at the Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg. Her first feature-length film Zwei Mütter (Two Mothers) was awarded the section prize in the Perspektive Deutsches Kino at the Berlinale in 2013, and three years later 24 Wochen (24 Weeks) ran for the Golden Bear in the Competition. The film was awarded the German Film Award in Silver and received the GUILDE Film Award. Berrached, who usually has professional actors act together with amateurs in her films and focuses on the greatest possible authenticity, presented her most recent film Die Welt wird eine andere sein (Copilot) in the section Panorama of the Berlinale in 2021. In addition to her cinema work, the filmmaker has directed three highly acclaimed Tatort episodes.
Tsitsi Dangarembga
Tsitsi Dangarembga (Zimbabwe)
Zimbabwean filmmaker and writer Tsitsi Dangarembga studied at Cambridge and the University of Zimbabwe before coming to Berlin to study directing at the German Film and Television Academy. As a screenwriter or director, she has been involved in several of her home country’s cinematic milestones, including Neria (1991), Flame (1996), Everyone’s Child (1996) and I Want a Wedding Dress (2011). In 1992, she founded her own production company, Nyerai Films, and in 2003, the International Film Festival for Women in Harare, which also gave birth to the African Women Filmmakers’ Development Hub. She is also one of the co-founders of the Institute of Creative Arts for Progress in Africa (ICAPA) Trust. Dangarembga’s most recent novel “This Mournable Body”, was shortlisted for the Booker Prize in 2020, which belongs to a three-part series including “Nervous Conditions” (1988) and “The Book of Not” (2006). In 2021, she was awarded the “Friedenspreis des deutschen Buchhandels“ as well as the PEN Pinter Prize and the PEN International Award for Freedom of Expression.
Ryûsuke Hamaguchi @Berlinale
Ryûsuke Hamaguchi (Japan)
Ryûsuke Hamaguchi’s episodic film Gûzen to sôzô (Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy) premiered in the Competition at the Berlinale in 2021, where it won the Silver Bear Grand Jury Prize. In the same year, he also received the Best Screenplay Prize for an adaptation of Murakami’s Doiraibu mai kâ (Drive My Car), which premiered at the Cannes Film Festival. Hamaguchi’s graduation film Passion from the Tokyo University of the Arts was screened at the San Sebastián Film Festival in 2008. This was followed by the feature film The Depths and the documentary Tōhoku Trilogy (Nami no oto (Sound of the Waves), Nami no koe (Voices from the Waves), Storytellers), which he directed together with Ko Sakai between 2011 and 2013. His international breakthrough came in 2015 with Happî awâ (Happy Hour), which celebrated its world premiere in Locarno. Three years later, he was invited to the competition in Cannes with Netemo sametemo (Asako I & II). In addition to his directing work, he also wrote the screenplay for Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s Supai no tsuma (Wife of a Spy), which won the Silver Lion for Best Director at Venice in 2020.
Connie Nielsen
Connie Nielsen (Denmark / USA)
Connie Nielsen was born in Denmark where she started her career on stage alongside her mother in political Revue and Variety shows. She moved to France and Italy as a young woman to continue her studies and further her acting career internationally. Once in the US, she starred in Ridley Scott’s Oscar winner Gladiator (2000), Mission to Mars (2000) by Brian de Palma, and Basic (2003). She first appeared in a Danish production for Susanne Bier’s Brothers (2004) for which she was nominated for the European Film Award, among others, and received Best Actress awards in San Sebastián and the Danish film prize The Bodil. Nielsen has also worked with directors such as Olivier Assayas (Demonlover, 2002) and Lars von Trier (Nymphomaniac: Vol.1, 2013) and appeared in blockbusters such as Wonder Woman (2017) by Patty Jenkins and Zack Snyder’s Justice League (2021). Most recently, she was a lead actress and executive producer on the British series Close to Me (2021). Nielsen is also the founder of the organization’s Human Needs Project and Road to Freedom Scholarships.
The Panorama Audience Awards Go to Baqyt (Happiness) and Aşk, Mark ve Ölüm (Love, Deutschmarks and Death)
Film stills of Baqyt (Happiness) and Aşk, Mark ve Ölüm (Love, Deutschmarks and Death)
The audience has voted: The 24th Panorama Audience Award for the best feature film goes to Baqyt (Happiness) by Askar Uzabayev. Aşk, Mark ve Ölüm (Love, Deutschmarks and Death) by Cem Kaya wins in the category Panorama Dokumente. The prizes are awarded by the Berlinale section Panorama together with radioeins and rbb television (Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg).
Film still of Baqyt (Happiness)
In the film Baqyt, the main character wears orange for her job as an influencer and a broad smile. The “Happiness” brand is her doctrine, but her home is a dark place where brute force has ruled for years. This film shows us what it costs to escape the trap of misogyny.
Aşk, Mark ve Ölüm (Love, Deutschmarks and Death)
Cem Kaya’s dense documentary essay Aşk, Mark ve Ölüm (Love, Deutschmarks and Death) celebrates 60 years of Turkish music in Germany. An alternative post-war history that is at the same time a musical Who’s Who – from Yüksel Özkasap to Derdiyoklar and Muhabbet.
The award-winning feature film will be shown on Sunday, February 20, at 6 pm, the winner of the Panorama Dokumente at 9 pm. Both screenings will take place at Zoo Palast 1.
The Panorama Audience Award has been bestowed since 1999. As of 2011, both the best feature film and the best documentary have been honoured. During the Berlinale, all cinema-goers are invited to rate the films in the Panorama section on a voting card. In total around 8,000 votes were cast and evaluated.
This year, Panorama presented a total of 29 feature films from 33 production countries, ten of them were in Panorama Dokumente.
Panorama Audience Award Winner – Feature Film 2022:
Baqyt (Happiness)
Kazakhstan
by Askar Uzabayev
2nd Place Panorama Audience Award Winner – Feature Film 2022:
Klondike
Ukraine / Turkey
by Maryna Er Gorbach
3rd Place Panorama Audience Award Winner – Feature Film 2022:
Fogaréu
Brazil / France
by Flávia Neves
Panorama Audience Award Winner –Panorama Dokumente 2022:
Aşk, Mark ve Ölüm (Love, Deutschmarks and Death)
Germany
by Cem Kaya
2nd Place Panorama Audience Award Winner – Panorama Dokumente 2022:
Nel mio nome (Into My Name)
Italy
by Nicolò Bassetti
3rd Place Panorama Audience Award Winner Panorama Dokumente 2022:
The members of the Children’s Jury in Generation Kplus– Tilda Aue, Maria Fock, Connar Beck Lowe, Henri Marioth, Leonardo Urrutia Schwarze, Kerstin Teichmann and Ida Lilli Zschaubitz – have awarded the following prizes:
Crystal Bear for the Best Film: Comedy Queen by Sanna Lenken, Sweden
A great protagonist, powerful and vulnerable at the same time, provided us with her captivatingly told, bittersweet story of loss, grief, anger and healing. This film was a rollercoaster ride full of emotions: sometimes sad, sometimes funny, sometimes embarrassing. The music was always most appropriate and appealing. The camera was occasionally stable, yet also shaky. In a word, the film was superb.
Special Mention: An Cailín Ciúin (The Quiet Girl) by Colm Bairéad, Ireland
A beautiful film led us into an emotional, natural world full of love. The acting performance of the protagonist truly impressed us. The profoundly explored feelings were accompanied by sensitive music.
Crystal Bear for the Best Short Film: Vlekkeloos(Spotless) by Emma Branderhorst, Netherlands
A taboo subject is finally being addressed. Something which all of mankind knows about, but hardly addresses. Stress, panic and desperation just because you don’t have enough money for tampons. That has to change!
Special Mention: Luce and the Rock by Britt Raes, Belgium / France / Netherlands
A sweet animated film takes us to a fairy tale-like, colourful and yet literally rocky world. It reminds us that home is not necessarily where you were born, but where you have friends.
Awards of the Generation KplusInternational Jury, sponsored by the Deutsches Kinderhilfswerk (The Children’s Charity of Germany)
The members of the Generation Kplus International Jury – Daniela Cajías, Nicola Jones, Samuel Kishi Leopo – have awarded the following prizes:
The Grand Prix of the Generation Kplus International Jury for the Best Film, endowed with 7,500 Euros:
An Cailín Ciúin (The Quiet Girl) by Colm Bairéad, Ireland
As many films in this year’s Generation Kplus competition, the winning film deals with the hardships of family life. It is a film with a delicate story full of details about childhood, grief, parenthood and rebuilding a family. The very strong narrative is combined with a stunning cinematography. The sound and the images create a unique atmosphere.
Special Mention: Shabu by Shamira Raphaëla, Netherlands
A film full of life, music and endearing characters. Freshness and energy are the main narrative elements, which transfer directly from the screen to the audience.
The Special Prize of the Generation Kplus International Jury for the Best Short Film, endowed with 2,500 Euros:
Gavazn (Deer) by Hadi Babaeifar, Iran
Through an amazing and poetic cinematography as well as authentic acting, this film tells a story about a boy who uses an ancient tale as a means of empowerment to save his brother. The storytelling was magnetic, mystic and truthful.
Special Mention: To Vancouver (Vancouver) by Artemis Anastasiadou, Greece
A film full of life, music and endearing characters. Freshness and energy are the main narrative elements, which transfer directly from the screen to the audience.
Awards of the Youth Jury Generation 14plus
The members of the Youth Jury in Generation 14plus – Luise Dahns, Christian Fock, Quintus Gramowski, Viola Weiser and Helene Zschaubitz – have awarded the following prizes:
Crystal Bear for the Best Film: Alis by Clare Weiskopf, Nicolas van Hemelryck, Colombia / Chile / Romania
A moving film which, utilising the simplest of means, creates an unbelievable closeness and intimacy. The protagonists and the audience are all confronted with pain and memories, albeit in a gentle manner. How do I manage to come to terms with my past without falling apart beneath it? The film answers this question with impressive honesty and directness.
Special Mention: Stay Awake by Jamie Sisley, USA
Raw and frighteningly concrete, the film thrusts us into an everyday life that is shaped by a recurring traumatic event. Throughout their common journey, the actors and their characters became our confidants while alternating between hope and disappointment. The film left us speechless and agitated.
Crystal Bear for the Best Short Film: Born in Damascus by Laura Wadha, United Kingdom
Impressive and intimate in its narrative style, this short film convinced us and also prevailed against the strong competition. By virtue of this film, we have gained access to a new reality that we had never encountered before in everyday life. In an impenetrable style, the film examines the influence that repressed memories have on our identity. Long after the end of the film, each one of us had something to think about. We were all touched by this film in a very special way, and now we want to award this with our Crystal Bear for the best short film.
Special Mention: Nada para ver aqui (Nothing to See Here) by Nicolas Bouchez, Portugal / Belgium / Hungary
This short film is a work of art! Expressive and rich in contrast to the fast pace of daily life; at the same time observing and value-free, it allows itself the freedom to connect its own self to the images. The film conveys its content in a playful way, mostly without many words, and it invites you to think. Through the interaction of shapes, colours, edges, curves, sections, light and shadows, it clearly stands out from the other films.
Awards of the Generation 14plusInternational Jury, sponsored by the Bundeszentrale für Politische Bildung (the Federal Agency for Civic Education):
The members of the Generation 14plus International Jury – Paolo Bertolin, Rubika Shah, Dash Shaw – have awarded the following prizes:
The Grand Prix of the Generation 14plus International Jury for the Best Film, endowed with 7,500 Euros:
Kind Hearts by Olivia Rochette, Gerard-Jan Claes, Belgium
The first of two equal Grand Prix goes to a film that effortlessly plunges us into the lives of two ordinary young people, sharing a delicate insight in their emotional growth, while reminding us of the unpredictable and elusive nature of that thing called love.
ex aequo
Skhema by Farkhat Sharipov, Kazakhstan
The film is an intimate lens into some of the darker challenges facing young people today. But its strength is in its universality and strong and authentic performances. It explores the vulnerability of teenage girls at that pivotal moment in their lives when they are neither child nor adult. With moments of lightness and darkness — and a fantastic ending.
Special Prize of the Generation 14plus International Jury for the Best Short Film, endowed with 2,500 Euros:
Au revoir Jérôme ! (Goodybye Jérôme !) by Adam Sillard, Gabrielle Selnet, Chloé Farr, France
When this short film appeared on screen, all of us gasped with delight. The dark theatre was illuminated by brilliant colours, strange kaleidoscopic creatures in trees, hot dog dogs, and a fragile man who ultimately plummets and shatters to pieces. To the filmmakers, we say: Thank you for this trip.
Special Mentions:
Blaues Rauschen (Blue Noise) by Simon Maria Kubiena, Germany / Austria
We awarded a special mention to a film that, with just a few neat and precise strokes, portrays the struggle of a young conflicted man trying to finding his footing and his place in the world.
Tinashé by Tig Terera, Australia
Part of the joy of watching short films is to transport one into new worlds. There is an interesting truth in this film, where it reveals something about young people that feels fresh. It is complex and deep — and taps into a side of life in Australia we don’t usually see on screen.
