French-Senegalese filmmaker Mati Diop became the first Black director to win the Golden Bear at the 74th Berlin Film Festival.
Lupita Nyong'o, the first Black person to preside over the Berlinale’s competition jury, presented the top award to Diop for her documentary Dahomey.
For her documentary, Diop took inspiration from the former West African kingdom of Dahomey, situated in the south of today’s Republic of Benin. The documentary is set in 2021, when 26 royal artifacts from the former kingdom prepare to leave Paris to return to their country of origin. Like thousands of others, the artifacts were looted by French colonial troops in 1892.
In addition to Diop’s historic win, other notable winners in the International Competition included German filmmaker Matthias Glasner, who earned the best screenplay award for Dying. Martin Gschlacht received the Silver Bear for Outstanding Artistic Contribution for his Director of Photography work on The Devil’s Bath by Veronika Franz and Severin Fiala, while Nelson Carlos De Los Santos Arias won best director for Pepe.
The Berlin Film Festival introduced gender-neutral acting awards in 2021, and this year’s Silver Bear for Best Supporting Performance went to Emily Watson for the festival opener Small Things Like These, while Sebastian Stan received the Best Leading Performance award for A Different Man.
In the Panorama section, Memories of a Burning Body by Antonella Sudasassi Furniss clinched the Panorama Audience Award for the best feature film. No Other Land by Basel Adra, Hamdan Ballal, Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor won the Panorama Dokumente Award.
Earlier during the festival, Martin Scorsese was presented with the Honorary Golden Bear. German filmmaker Wim Wenders handed over the trophy, describing Scorsese as “the reigning king of cinema”.
Here is the full list of winners at Berlinale 2024
International Jury
Golden Bear — Dahomey by Mati Diop
Silver Bear Grand Jury Prize — A Traveler’s Needs by Hong Sangsoo
Silver Bear — The Empire by Bruno Dumont
Best Leading Performance — Sebastian Stan for A Different Man
Best Supporting Performance — Emily Watson for Small Things Like These
Silver Bear for Outstanding Artistic Contribution — Martin Gschlacht for the cinematography in The Devil’s Bath (Des Teufels Bad) by Veronika Franz and Severin Fiala
Best Director — Nelson Carlos De Los Santos Arias for Pepe
Silver Bear for Best Screenplay — Matthias Glasner for Sterben (Dying)
Encounters Jury
Best Film — Direct Action by Guillaume Cailleau and Ben Russell
Special Jury Prize — Some Rain Must Fall by Qiu Yang and The Great Yawn of History (Khamyazeye bozorg) by Aliyar Rasti
Best Director — Juliana Rojas for Cidade; Campo
GFF First Feature
GFF First Feature Award — Cu Li Never Cries (Cu Li Không Bao Giờ Khóc ) by Phạm Ngọc Lân
Berlinale Documentary Award — No Other Land by Basel Adra, Hamdan Ballal, Yuval Abraham, and Rachel Szor.
Special Mention — Direct Action by Guillaume Cailleau and Ben Russell
Shorts
Golden Bear Best Short Film — An Odd Turn (Un movimiento extraño) by Francisco Lezama
Silver Bear Jury Prize (Short Film) — Remains of the Hot Day (Re tian wu hou) by Wenqian Zhang
