22/02/2025 - BERLINALE 2025: Dag Johan Haugerud’s final instalment in his trilogy, Dreams (Sex Love), has received the FIPRESCI Award for Best Competition Film and the Guild Film Prize

The Berlinale, which this year unspools from 13-23 February, has announced the winners of its Panorama strand, along with the recipients of its numerous parallel awards.

The 27th Panorama Audience Award for Best Fiction Feature went to Deaf [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Eva Libertad
film profile] by Eva Libertad (Spain). The picture zooms in on Ángela, a deaf woman, and her hearing partner Héctor, who await the birth of their child, unsure if she will be deaf or hearing. As they navigate the uncertainty, their relationship is tested, forcing them to confront identity, acceptance and their roles as parents. Deaf also scooped the CICAE Art Cinema Award for Best Panorama Film.

Meanwhile, Martina Priessner’s The Moelln Letters [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Martina Priessner
film profile] (Germany) was crowned with the Panorama Audience Award for Best Documentary. The feature tells the stories of the victims and survivors of the racist arson attacks in Mölln in 1992. Both prizes were handed out by the Berlinale together with radioeins and rbb television. This year, more than 28,300 votes were cast and evaluated. The Panorama strand showcased a total of 33 titles (including ten documentaries) produced by 28 different countries. The Moelln Letters also received the Amnesty International Film Award.

Among the other prominent European victors of the independent awards are Dag Johan Haugerud’s final instalment in his trilogy, Dreams (Sex Love) [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Dag Johan Haugerud
film profile] (Norway), in receipt of the FIPRESCI Award for Best Competition Film and the Guild Film Prize; Urška Djukić’s Little Trouble Girls [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] (Slovenia/Croatia/Italy/Serbia), winner of the FIPRESCI Prize for Best Perspectives Film; and If You Are Afraid You Put Your Heart into Your Mouth and Smile [+see also:
film review
film profile] (Austria) by Marie Luise Lehner, which snagged both the CICAE Art Cinema Award for Best Forum Film and the Teddy Jury Award.

Here is the list of the main parallel award winners:

Panorama Audience Award Winner – Feature Film
Deaf [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Eva Libertad
film profile] – Eva Libertad (Spain)

2nd Place Panorama Audience Award Winner – Feature Film
Lesbian Space Princess - Emma Hough Hobbs, Leela Varghese (Australia)

3rd Place Panorama Audience Award Winner – Feature Film
Home Sweet Home [+see also:
film review
interview: Frelle Petersen
film profile] – Frelle Petersen (Denmark)

Panorama Audience Award Winner – Documentary
The Moelln Letters [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Martina Priessner
film profile] - Martina Priessner (Germany)

2nd Place Panorama Audience Award Winner – Documentary
Yalla Parkour [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] - Areeb Zuaiter (Sweden/Qatar/Saudi Arabia/Palestine)

3rd Place Panorama Audience Award Winner – Documentary
Khartoum [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Ibrahim “Snoopy” Ahmad, Tim…
film profile] - Anas Saeed, Rawia Alhag, Ibrahim Snoopy, Timeea M Ahmed, Phil Cox (Sudan/UK/Germany/Qatar)

Ecumenical jury prizes

Prize Winner Competition
The Blue Trail [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] – Gabriel Mascaro (Brazil/Mexico/Chile/Netherlands)

Prize Winner Panorama
The Heart Is a Muscle - Imran Hamdulay (South Africa/Saudi Arabia)

Prize Winner Forum
Holding Liat - Brandon Kramer (USA)

FIPRESCI jury prizes

Prize Winner Competition
Dreams (Sex Love) [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Dag Johan Haugerud
film profile] – Dag Johan Haugerud (Norway)

Prize Winner Perspectives
Little Trouble Girls [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] - Urška Djukić (Slovenia/Croatia/Italy/Serbia)

Prize Winner Panorama
Under the Flags, the Sun [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] – Juanjo Pereira (Paraguay/Argentina/USA/France/Germany)

Prize Winner Forum
The Memory of Butterflies [+see also:
film review
interview: Tatiana Fuentes Sadowski
film profile] - Tatiana Fuentes Sadowski (Peru/Portugal)

CICAE Art Cinema Award

Prize Winner Panorama
Deaf – Eva Libertad

Prize Winner Forum
If You Are Afraid You Put Your Heart into Your Mouth and Smile [+see also:
film review
film profile] - Marie Luise Lehner (Austria)

Guild Film Prize
Dreams (Sex Love) – Dag Johan Haugerud
Special Mention
What Marielle Knows [+see also:
film review
interview: Frédéric Hambalek
film profile] - Frédéric Hambalek (Germany)

Europa Cinemas Label
Hysteria [+see also:
film review
interview: Devrim Lingnau
interview: Mehmet Akif Büyükatalay
film profile] - Mehmet Akif Büyükatalay (Germany)

Teddy Awards

Best Feature Film
Lesbian Space Princess – Emma Hough Hobbs, Leela Varghese

Best Documentary/Essay Film
Satanic Sow - Rosa von Praunheim (Germany)

Best Short Film
Lloyd Wong, Unfinished - Lesley Loksi Chan (Canada)

Jury Award
If You Are Afraid You Put Your Heart into Your Mouth and Smile – Marie Luise Lehner

Special Teddy Award
Todd Haynes

Caligari Film Prize
Fwends - Sophie Somerville (Australia)

Berliner Morgenpost Readers' Jury Award
The Blue Trail – Gabriel Mascaro

Tagesspiegel Readers' Award
The Swan Song of Fedor Ozerov [+see also:
film review
interview: Yuri Semashko
film profile] - Yuri Semashko (Lithuania/Germany)

Amnesty International Film Award
The Moelln Letters – Martina Priessner

Heiner Carow Prize
Palliative Care Unit [+see also:
film review
film profile] - Philipp Döring (Germany)

AG Kino Gilde – Cinema Vision 14plus
Paternal Leave [+see also:
interview: Alissa Jung
film profile] – Alissa Jung (Germany/Italy)
Honourable Mention
Têtes brûlées [+see also:
film review
interview: Maja-Ajmia Yde Zellama
film profile] - Maja-Ajmia Yde Zellama (Belgium)