A surprise awaited attendees of the 75th Berlin Film Festival. The Golden Bear was awarded to Norwegian filmmaker Dag Johan Haugerud’s “Dreams (Sex Love).” This is the third film in Daugerud’s trilogy about relationships.
“Dreams” centers on a young woman’s (Ella Øverbye) infatuation on her female French teacher (Selome Emnetu). It’s still looking for U.S. distribution. The first installment, “Sex,” played the Panorama in Berlin last year. The second instalment, “Love,” premiered at the 2024 Venice Film Festival.
A more predicted outcome was Rose Byrne winning the Lead Performance award for Mary Bronstein’s “If I Had Legs I’d Kick You.”
Byrne now only needs a Cannes Best Actress prize to join Juliette Binoche, and Julianne Moore as the performers to win all three major festival acting prizes — she won at Venice 2000 for her performance in “The Goddess of 1967.”
Other films that took home awards include Radu Jude’s “Kontinental ’25” (screenplay), Gabriel Mascaro’s “The Blue Trail” (Silver Bear), Richard Linklater’s “Blue Moon” (Supporting Performance — Andrew Scott), Huo Meng’s “Living the Land” (Best Director), and Lucile Hadžihalilović’s “The Ice Tower” (Artistic Contribution winner).
Golden Bear: “Dreams” (Haugerud)
Silver Bear: “Blue Trail” (Gabriel Mascaro)
Jury Prize: “The Message” (Iván Fund)
Best Director: Huo Meng (“Living the Land”)
Best Supporting Performance: Andrew Scott (“Blue Moon”)
Best Screenplay: “Kontinental ’25” (Radu Jude)
Outstanding Artistic Contribution: “The Ice Tower” for the film’s creative ensemble and director Lucile Hadžihalilovic
Lead Performance: Rose Byrne (“If I Had Legs I’d Kick You”)