‘My Favorite Cake,’ directed by Behtash Sanaeeha and Maryam Moqaddam, which is a joint production of Iran and France, won the Eurimages Co-Production Development Award, IRNA reported.
‘See You Friday, Robinson’ by Mitra Farahani won the Special Jury Award. The film has been co-produced by France, Switzerland, Iran, and Lebanon.
The jury’s statement about the movie reads, “The encounter of two poets in the autumn of their lives, orchestrated by the director with mischief and a loving yet discerning regard. A playful battle of egos, that doubles as an intimate and moving meditation on language, communication and artistic creation.”
In addition, the Iranian short film, ‘Deer,’ directed by Hadi Babaeifar, grabbed the Special Prize of the International Jury in Generation Kplus for the Best Short Film.
The Catalan-language drama, ‘Alcarràs,’ won the Golden Bear at the Berlin Film Festival as the headline awards were dominated by women. Two of the three best film prizes went to films from female directors, while both acting awards, which are gender-neutral, went to women, as did the Best Director Award, theguardian.com reported.
Alcarràs, directed by Carla Simón, came away with the festival’s top prize: A drama set in the Catalan countryside, it follows the difficulties of a farming family after their landowner decides to replace their peach trees with solar panels. It is the second feature from Simon, after the well-received ‘Summer 1993’, released in 2017.
The third place jury prize went to acclaimed Mexican drama, ‘Robe of Gems,’ a debut feature from director Natalia López Gallardo, who previously worked as an editor on Carlos Reygadas’ ‘Silent Light’ and ‘Post Tenebras Lux’. Separating them was South Korean director Hong Sang-soo, whose ‘The Novelist’s Film’ took the second place grand jury prize.
Berlin introduced gender-neutral acting awards in 2021 and, as previously, both went to women. Best lead performance was won by Meltem Kaptan for her portrayal of a mother who takes on the U.S. justice system to get her son released from Guantánamo Bay in ‘Rabiye Kurnaz vs. George W Bush’, while best supporting performance went to Laura Basuki for her role in Indonesian drama, ‘Nana’.
‘Rabiye Kurnaz vs. George W Bush’ also took the Best Screenplay Award for Laila Stieler, while veteran French filmmaker Claire Denis won Best Director Award for ‘Fire’ (Or Both Sides of the Blade), her new film, starring Juliette Binoche.
Source: Iran Daily