The Berlinale closed this Friday the race for the Golden Bear and the Silver Bears, which are decided tomorrow, with French documentary films and German crime fiction. Sur l’Adamant, by director Nicolas Philibert, films mental health patients and caregivers in a Paris activity center floating on the River Seine, while Bis ans Ende der Nacht (until the end of the night), by Christoph Hochhäusler, mixes genre and auteur cinema to tell how an undercover policeman chases a drug dealer who operates via the Internet, with actress Thea Ehre in the role of a transsexual recently released from jail who is used as bait.
In total, 19 films of the most diverse genres, including the Spanish 20,000 species of bees, by Estibaliz Urresola Solaguren, which deals with a trans girl and her family on vacation in the town, and two Asian animated films, the Japanese Suzume and the Chinese Art collage 1994, aspire to win statuettes in the main section of the Berlin contest. Also competing is the Mexican Tótem, by Lila Avilés, about the look of a girl at the birthday party of her father, a young man who is dying.
The decision on the Bears has already been made, according to what the Catalan director Carla Simón, Golden Bear at the Berlinale’2022 with Alcarràs, told the Efe agency on Friday, who is part of the international jury for this edition, chaired by the American actress Kristen Stewart. “There has been a lot of dialogue and the result is a very shared track record, in accordance with Kristen’s desire for everyone to feel represented,” said Simón, and also under the premise that “no one will totally agree with all the awards”.
The jury also included: the Iranian actress Golshifteh Farahani, the German director Valeska Grisebach, the American Francine Maisler, the Romanian director Radu Jude and the Chinese Johnnie To. For several days – the festival began on February 16 – the jury has viewed the 19 films in the competition, in an event that has included the awarding of an honorary Golden Bear to Steven Spielberg, for his versatile and successful career as a director , screenwriter and producer.
