Romanian Director's Debut Work Snatches 68th Berlinale's Golden Bear
The 68th Berlin International Film Festival culminated festively with the Award Ceremony on February 24, 2018. Over the eleven days of the Berlinale, the various sections of the Festival made it possible for viewers to make many cinematic discoveries. However, the brightest spotlight was on the Competition and Golden Bear.
This year’s Golden Bear has gone to Touch Me Not by the Romanian director Adina Pintilie. It was a real surprise for many and even a catastrophe, as some media has called it. Selected from 18 films in Competition category, Touch Me Not is a quasi-fictional documentary essay about an English woman's attempts to overcome her intimacy issues. It is the first Adina Pintilie's fiction film.
Meanwhile Silver Bear Grand Jury Prize went to Mug (aka Twarz), from Polish director Małgorzata Szumowska, about a building worker who needs a face transplant after a gruesome accident.
One of the Festival favourites Isle of Dogs has also been honoured by awarding the Silver Bear for Best Director to Wes Anderson. The film tells a story of a dystopian future in Japan and a pack of dogs living on a garbage island.
The two Silver Bears for Best Acting went to Ana Brun, star of The Heiresses, a Paraguayan film directed by Marcelo Martinessi about two apparently-prosperous women in a lesbian relationship who run into financial troubles, and Anthony Bajon as a junkie trying to beat his addiction in a priest-run retreat in the Cédric Kahn-directed drama The Prayer.
You can look through a complete list of Berlinale awards here.
Despite controversial comments on the main winner, Berlinale has introduced a great number of new cinematographic works that are worth of our attention. Not to mention that Berlinale's European Film Market set a new record with over 10,000 visitors from 112 countries. On the nine days it was open, the market reconfirmed its position as one of the world’s most important marketing hubs for audiovisual content. The number of buyers (1,838), exhibitors (546), films (800), and screenings (1,112) also increased.
The 69th Berlin International Film Festival will be held from February 7 to 17, 2019.
Source: www.berlinale.de
