The 73rd annual Berlin International Film Festival, usually called the Berlinale (), took place from 16 to 26 February 2023. It was the first completely in-person Berlinale since the 70th in 2020. The festival added a new competition section for television series.
The festival opened with American filmmaker and novelist Rebecca Miller's drama film She Came to Me. A live video stream with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was part of the opening ceremony, which was accompanied by a speech by jury member Golshifteh Farahani on the Mahsa Amini protests in Iran. On 21 February 2023, American filmmaker Steven Spielberg was presented with the Honorary Golden Bear for lifetime achievement by Irish singer-songwriter Bono. Spielberg's films were screened in the Homage section for the occasion.
On the Adamant, directed by French filmmaker Nicolas Philibert, won the Golden Bear. The Silver Bear Grand Jury Prize was awarded to Afire by German filmmaker Christian Petzold. The Silver Bear for Best Leading Performance was awarded to Sofía Otero for 20,000 Species of Bees; Otero, at age nine, became the youngest winner of the award in the Berlinale history.
Festival closed on 26 February with total sales of tickets touching 320,000, and around 20,000 accredited professionals from 132 countries including 2,800 media representatives attending the festival.
Background
The film registration for the festival began in September 2022 with the closing date for submission fixed on 23 November 2022. On 13 October 2022, with the slogan of "Let's Get Together", signifying in-person interactions in all the programmes of the festival after two years of the programmes held online due to COVID-19. It was also announced that Berlinale Series Award would be inaugurated in 2023.
The festival poster was designed by Claudia Schramke, who had also created the previous year's Berlinale poster. The executive director of the Berlinale, , described the poster as the key visual for the 2023 Berlinale, saying that it directed the attention toward the audience—the indispensable core of the festival. Rissenbeek said, "We're very pleased that with this year's poster, we can honour those whose curiosity, enthusiasm, and applause make the Berlinale a vibrant, inspiring, and joyful event."
Opening and closing ceremonies
The opening ceremony of the festival was held on 16 February with jury members and international and German stars walking the red carpet. The jury president Kristen Stewart, in her opening speech, pointed out about "oppressions against our physical selves". She said that, albeit she was a woman, she represented "the least marginal version of a woman". On that topic, Golshifteh Farahani, Iranian-French actress and one of the jury members, noted that "some women are not as fortunate".
Russia's war on Ukraine and Human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran were topical discussions at the ceremony. After Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy appeared via satellite and introduced by American actor and filmmaker Sean Penn, Zelenskyy remarked, "A logical question comes up: On which side should culture and art be?" and added, "Can art be outside of politics? Should cinema be outside of politics? It's an eternal question but today it is extremely [pertinent]." Afterward, the opening film of the festival, Rebecca Miller's drama film She Came to Me, was screened.
The closing ceremony or award night was held on 25 February, hosted by the German radio and television presenter Hadnet Tesfai. French documentary film On the Adamant, about a Paris daycare centre for people with mental disorders, by Nicolas Philibert won the Golden Bear. Stewart called the film "masterfully crafted" and a "cinematic proof of the vital necessity of human expression". Philibert asked in his acceptance speech if the jury members were "crazy" and yet nevertheless thanked them, saying "that documentary can be considered to be cinema in its own right touches me deeply".
The Silver Bear Grand Jury Prize was won by Afire by Christian Petzold. Sofía Otero, a nine-year-old girl was the winner of Silver Bear for Best Leading Performance for the role of eight-year-old Lucía in 20,000 Species of Bees. She became the youngest winner of the gender-neutral award in the Berlinale history. Stewart commented that Otero had defied "a system designed to diminish the intelligence of the performer", particularly that of child performers. After the ceremony, Otero said to the press that she wanted to dedicate her life to acting. The ceremony closed with a screening of the Golden-Bear winning film On the Adamant.
Juries
Main Competition
The following were on the jury for the Berlinale Main Competition section: Kristen Stewart, American actor, director, and screenwriter (Jury President) Golshifteh Farahani, Iranian-French actor Valeska Grisebach, German director and screenwriter Radu Jude, Romanian director and screenwriter Francine Maisler, American casting director and producer Carla Simón, Spanish director and screenwriter Johnnie To, Hong Kong director and producer
Encounters
Angeliki Papoulia, Greek actress and theatre director Dea Kulumbegashvili, Georgian film director and writer Paolo Moretti, Italian festival programmer and academic
International Short Film
Cătălin Cristuțiu, Romanian editor Sky Hopinka, American visual artist and filmmaker Isabelle Stever, German director and screenwriter
Generation Kplus International Venice Atienza, Filipino documentarist Alise Ģelze, Latvian producer Gudrun Sommer, German festival programmer
Generation 14plus International
Kateryna Gornostai, Ukrainian film director, screenwriter and film editor Fion Mutert, German cinematographer and media educator Juanita Onzaga, Colombian filmmaker and artist
GWFF Best First Feature Award Judith Revault d'Allonnes, French festival programmer Ayten Amin, Egyptian director Cyril Schäublin, Swiss film director
Documentary Award
Emilie Bujès, artistic director of Switzerland's Visions du Réel Diana Bustamante, Colombian producer, director and programmer Mark Cousins, Northern Irish director and writer
Berlinale Series Award André Holland, American actor Danna Stern, Israeli international executive, founder of Shtisel and Your Honor firm, Yes Studios Mette Heeno, Danish screenwriter, showrunner and executive producer
Perspektive Deutsches Kino Dela Dabulamanzi, German actor Anne Fabini, German film editor Jöns Jönsson, Swedish director
Heiner Carow Prize Freya Arde, German film composer, guitarist and music producer Peter Kahane, German director Mirko Wiermann, German film archivist .
Official sections
Main Competition The following 19 films were selected for the main competition for the Golden Bear and Silver Bear awards: English title Original title Director(s) Production country 20,000 Species of Bees20.000 especies de abejas Estibaliz Urresola Solaguren Spain Afire Roter Himmel Christian Petzold Germany Art College 1994 Liu Jian China Bad Living Mal Viver João Canijo Portugal, France BlackBerry Matt Johnson Canada Disco Boy Giacomo Abbruzzese Italy Ingeborg Bachmann – Journey into the Desert Ingeborg Bachmann – Reise in die Wüste Margarethe von Trotta Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Luxembourg Limbo Ivan Sen AustraliaManodrome John Trengove United Kingdom, United States Music Angela Schanelec Germany, France, Serbia On the Adamant Sur l'Adamant Nicolas Philibert France, JapanPast Lives Celine Song United States The Plough Le grand chariotPhilippe Garrel France, Switzerland The Shadowless Tower 白塔之光 Zhang Lü China Someday We'll Tell Each Other Everything Irgendwann werden wir uns alles erzählen Emily Atef Germany The Survival of Kindness Rolf de Heer Australia Suzumeすずめの戸締まり Makoto Shinkai Japan Till the End of the Night Bis ans Ende der Nacht Christoph Hochhäusler GermanyTótem Lila Avilés Mexico, Denmark, France
Berlinale Special Events The following titles received were selected for the sections below:
English title Original title Director(s) Production countryBerlinale Special Gala Golda Guy Nattiv United States, United KingdomKiss the Future Nenad Cicin-Sain Slovenia Last Night of AmoreL'ultima notte di Amore Andrea Di Stefano ItalySeneca – On the Creation of Earthquakes Robert Schwentke Germany, Morocco She Came to Me (opening film) Rebecca Miller US Sun and ConcreteSonne und Beton David Wnendt GermanySuperpower Sean Penn, Aaron Kaufman United StatesTár Todd Field United States, GermanyBoom! Boom!: The World vs. Boris Becker Alex Gibney United States, United KingdomBerlinale Special100 Years of Disney Animation – a Shorts Celebration Walt Disney, Dave Hand, Ben Sharpsteen, Lauren Jackson, Wilfred Jackson, Jack Hannah, Jon Kahrs, Brian Menz, Jacob Frey, Hillary Bradfield United States Infinity Pool Brandon Cronenberg Canada The InnocentsLes Innocentes Anne Fontaine France, Poland Kill Boksoon길복순 Byun Sung-hyun South Korea Loriot's Great Cartoon Revue Peter Geyer, Loriot GermanyLove to Love You, Donna Summer Roger Ross Williams, Brooklyn Sudano United States Mad Fate 命案 Soi Cheang Hong Kong, China #Manhole#マンホール Kazuyoshi Kumakiri Japan Massimo Troisi: Somebody Down There Likes MeLaggiù qualcuno mi ama Mario Martone Italy Measures of MenDer vermessene Mensch Lars Kraume Germany Talk to Me Danny and Michael Philippou Australia
Encounters The following 16 films are selected for the Encounters section: English title Original title Director(s) Production country Absence 雪云 Wu Lang ChinaThe Adults Dustin Guy Defa United States The Cage is Looking for a Bird Kletka ishet ptitsu Malika Musaeva France, Russian Federation Eastern Front Shidniy front (Східний фронт) Vitaly Mansky, Yevhen Titarenko Latvia, Czechia, Ukraine, United States The Echo El eco Tatiana Huezo Mexico, Germany Here Bas Devos Belgium Family TimeMummola Tia Kouvo Finland, Sweden In the Blind Spot Im toten Winkel Ayşe Polat Germany In Water 물 안에서 Hong Sang-soo South Korea The Klezmer ProjectAdentro mío estoy bailando Leandro Koch, Paloma Schahmann Argentina, Austria Living Bad Viver Mal João Canijo Portugal, France My Worst Enemy Mon pire ennemi Mehran Tamadon France, Switzerland Orlando, My Political Biography Orlando, ma biographie politique Paul B. Preciado FranceSamsara Lois Patiño Spain The Walls of Bergamo Le mura di Bergamo Stefano Savona Italy White Plastic Sky Müanyag égboltTibor Bánóczki, Sarolta Szabó Hungary, Slovakia
Berlinale Series Competition English titleOriginal titleDirector(s)Production countryAgent Nikolaj Lie Kaas Denmark The Architect Arkitekten Kerren Lumer-Klabbers NorwayBad Behaviour Corrie Chen Australia The Good Mothers Le buone madri Elisa Amoruso, Julian Jarrold Italy Roar Dahaad Reema Kagti, Ruchika Oberoi IndiaSpy/Master Christopher Smith Germany, Romania Why Try to Change Me Now 平原上的摩西 Zhang Dalei ChinaOut of Competition The SwarmDer Schwarm Barbara Eder, Philipp Stölzl, Luke Watson Germany, France, Italy, Japan, Austria, Sweden, Switzerland
Berlinale Short Films Competition