{"id":353,"date":"2026-03-30T08:45:23","date_gmt":"2026-03-30T08:45:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/353\/"},"modified":"2026-03-30T08:45:23","modified_gmt":"2026-03-30T08:45:23","slug":"yellow-letters-wins-golden-bear-at-berlin-film-festival","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/353\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Yellow Letters’ Wins Golden Bear at Berlin Film Festival"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tIn the end, political cinema won out. At the closing ceremony of a Berlin Film Festival<\/a> blighted by controversy and discourse over the political responsibilities or otherwise of art, German-Turkish filmmaker \u0130lker \u00c7atak lifted the Golden Bear for his bold, statement-making film \u201cYellow Letters,\u201d a portrait of a married playwright and actress in contemporary Turkey who find themselves targeted by the state for their particular brand of protest theater.<\/p>\n

\n\tIt\u2019s a stirring film with a compelling formal twist: Though it\u2019s set entirely in Turkey, it was shot entirely \u2014 and without disguise \u2014 in \u00c7atak\u2019s home country of Germany, with major cities credited as \u201cplaying\u201d their Turkish counterparts in prominent title cards. Before presenting it with the prize, jury president Wim Wenders<\/a> commended the film for \u201c[speaking] up very clearly about the political language of totalitarianism as opposed to the empathetic language cinema,\u201d and declared it \u201ca terrifying vision into the future.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tWenders\u2019 words were pointed, given the backlash he weathered at the start of a festival for a press conference statement about the role of politics in cinema, in response to a question about the festival\u2019s perceived complicity with the German government\u2019s support of Israel in the ongoing war on Palestine. \u201cWe have to stay out of politics because if we make movies that are dedicatedly political, we enter the field of politics. But we are the counterweight of politics, we are the opposite of politics. We have to do the work of people, not the work of politicians.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tTonight, Wenders addressed the controversy with a carefully prepared and more nuanced statement on the subject, before the Competition prizes were handed out. Directing his words toward those who have criticized him for not taking a stronger activist stance, he said: \u201cThe language of cinema is empathetic, the language of social cinema is effective. The dignity and protection of human life \u2014 these are our causes as well. You do necessary and courageous work, but does it need to be in competition with ours? Do our voices need to clash?\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe prize confirms the 42-year-old \u00c7atak\u2019s entry into the world-cinema major leagues, after his previous feature \u201cThe Teachers\u2019 Lounge\u201d broke out of the Panorama sidebar at the 2023 Berlinale and landed an Oscar nomination for Best International Feature. He\u2019s the first homegrown filmmaker in 22 years to take the top prize at Berlin, since fellow German-Turkish director Fatih Akin won in 2004 for \u201cHead-On.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI did prepare a speech [and] it was political,\u201d said \u00c7atak, \u201cbut allow me to not engage in that speech right now, because so many people have said so many smart things, and I want to leave this stage to the wonderful people that I made this film with, because they are the real heroes for this award, and I would never have been able to make this film without them. I think the film speaks for itself in its political message, or questions rather.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201c[It is] as though the film itself were in political exile,\u201d wrote Variety critic Siddhant Adlakha in his review<\/a> of \u201cYellow Letters,\u201d praising it as \u201ca drama of surprising universality, in which a well-to-do couple becomes the target of unjust dismissals and persecution for political wrongthink against the Turkish regime.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tCertainly, whether coincidentally or in response to the festival scandal, the jury collectively gravitated toward works that might well be described as \u201cdedicatedly political.\u201d The second most prestigious award, the Grand Jury Prize, went to another incendiary Turkish-set film, Emin Alper\u2019s \u201cSalvation,\u201d described by Variety\u2019s Catherine Bray in her review<\/a> as \u201ca film notionally about the longtail fallout from a land dispute, but more elementally about how violence happens.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThough it\u2019s inspired by real events from 2009 in the country\u2019s Kurdish region, \u201cSalvation\u201d also presents a brutal rural massacre as an allegory for wider conflicts, as Alper himself explicitly clarified in his director\u2019s statement on the film: \u201cI believe this story has global relevance. We are living through a moment where ethnic hostility, \u2018survivalist\u2019 claims over land and the feeling of a constant threat from an \u2018enemy\u2019 culminated in the genocide in Palestine.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tAlper doubled down on that statement with a fiery speech dedicated to \u201cPalestinians in Gaza living and dying in the most terrible conditions\u201d and \u201cPeople in Iran suffering under the most terrible tyranny,\u201d among other groups \u201closing your rights day by day, when you are bombarded by those who do not consider you a human being.\u201d \u201cYou are not alone,\u201d he concluded, to massive cheers from the audience.<\/p>\n

\n\tOther jury awards in the festival\u2019s main Competition went to less outwardly provocative, but no less trenchant, works. The third place Jury Prize went to U.S. director Lance Hammer \u2014 who competed at Berlin with his 2008 debut \u201cBallast\u201d \u2014 for his long-awaited second feature \u201cQueen at Sea.\u201d A devastating family portrait centered on an elderly London couple grappling with the ravages of dementia, it also won the gender-neutral Best Supporting Performance award for veterans Tom Courtenay (a Berlinale Best Actor winner in 2015 for \u201c45 Years\u201d) and Anna Calder-Marshall.<\/p>\n

\n\tHammer begins his speech with a dedication to Wenders himself, citing the veteran\u2019s 1987 classic \u201cWings of Desire\u201d as a film that changed his life, while Courtenay celebrated the international nature of the film, a European co-production set in the Britain, from an American filmmaker. \u201cHow wonderful, when America seems to be turning its back on Europe, to be in this film,\u201d he said from the stage.<\/p>\n

\n\tGerman star Sandra H\u00fcller, an Oscar nominee two years ago for \u201cAnatomy of a Fall,\u201d won the gender-neutral Best Leading Performance award for her extraordinary turn as a 17th-century woman living as a man in Austrian director Markus Schleinzer\u2019s historical tragedy \u201cRose.\u201d In a rave review<\/a>, Variety called her performance in \u201cRose\u201d the auteurist film\u2019s \u201chuman factor\u201d: \u201cat once armored, guarded and intensely vulnerable.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tIt\u2019s H\u00fcller\u2019s second win at the Berlinale, as exactly 20 years ago, she took Best Actress for her feature film debut in \u201cRequiem.\u201d \u201cIt was my first film festival ever, I didn\u2019t know what it was, and I thought I would die,\u201d she recalled in her speech, to laughter from the audience \u2014 who tonight applauded her as a veritable national treasure.<\/p>\n

\n\tGrant Gee, a renowned British director of music videos and documentaries, won the Best Director prize for his debut narrative feature \u201cEverybody Digs Bill Evans,\u201d an elegant, fine-grained biopic of the late American jazz pianist, played by Norwegian star Anders Danielsen Lie. Variety\u2018s review praised<\/a> the film as \u201cnimble, restrained but quietly plangent \u2026 [pulled] off with considerable beauty and feeling.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tIt was \u201clovely, also slightly lonesome-making\u201d to be honored as a solo director, Gee said in speech, citing how easy his collaborators made his job for him. Praising his \u201cwonderful\u201d cast, which also includes Bill Pullman and Laurie Metcalf, he admitted: \u201cHonestly, I directed them so little.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tBest Screenplay went to Qu\u00e9b\u00e9cois director Genevi\u00e8ve Dulude-De Celles for her sophomore feature \u201cNina Roza,\u201d a deftly layered and complex exploration of immigrant identity and alienation, celebrated<\/a> by Variety as \u201ca film of many subtle, tricky marvels.\u201d A special jury prize went to the lone documentary in Competition, American duo Anna Fitch and Banker White\u2019s intimate, unusual \u201cYo (Love is a Rebellious Bird),\u201d described<\/a> by Adlakha as \u201ca sentimental arts-and-crafts project given cinematic form, in ways that occasionally blur the line between reality and artistic representation.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tPolitics resurfaced in the festival\u2019s secondary Perspectives competition, dedicated to debut features, where Palestinian-Syrian filmmaker Abdallah Alkhatib took the top prize for \u201cChronicles From the Siege,\u201d a series of powerful vignettes dramatizing the travails of everyday life in a war zone in an unspecified country that is nonetheless clearly identifiable as Palestine. (The film was shot, however, in Algeria.) An honorable mention went to \u201cForest High,\u201d French director Manon Coubia\u2019s quietly beguiling triptych portrait of the women managing a remote Alpine hikers\u2019 lodge.<\/p>\n

\n\tTaking to the stage with a Palestinian flag, Alkhatib was forthright in his speech: \u201cPalestine will be free and one day we\u2019ll have a great festival in the middle of Gaza, where we\u2019ll speak about politics before cinema.\u201d Himself a refugee in Germany, the filmmaker then directly addressed the German government: \u201cPeople have told me to be careful \u2026 but I don\u2019t care. You are partners in the genocide of Gaza by Israel, but you choose not to care. Free Palestine from now until the end of the world.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tFestival director Tricia Tuttle was clearly prepared for a night of strong statements, as she discussed in her opening remarks at the top of the ceremony: \u201cWe were publicly challenged this year, and that doesn\u2019t always feel good, but it is good. Criticism and speaking up is part of democracy, and so is disagreement.\u201d Continuing, she said: \u201cIf this Berlinale has been emotionally charged, that\u2019s not a failure of the Berlinale, and it\u2019s not a failure of cinema. That\u2019s the Berlinale doing its job, and that\u2019s cinema doing its job.\u201d <\/p>\n

\n\tFull list of winners below.<\/p>\n

\n\tMAIN COMPETITION<\/p>\n

\n\tGolden Bear for Best Film: \u201cYellow Letters,\u201d \u0130lker \u00c7atak<\/p>\n

\n\tSilver Bear Grand Jury Prize: \u201cSalvation,\u201d Emin Alper<\/p>\n

\n\tSilver Bear Jury Prize: \u201cQueen at Sea,\u201d Lance Hammer<\/p>\n

\n\tSilver Bear for Best Director: \u201cEverybody Digs Bill Evans,\u201d Grant Gee<\/p>\n

\n\tSilver Bear for Best Lead Performance: \u201cRose,\u201d Sandra H\u00fcller<\/p>\n

\n\tSilver Bear for Best Supporting Performance: \u201cQueen at Sea,\u201d Anna Calder-Marshall and Tom Courtenay<\/p>\n

\n\tSilver Bear for Best Screenplay: \u201cNina Roza,\u201d Genevi\u00e8ve Dulude-De Celles<\/p>\n

\n\tSilver Bear for Outstanding Artistic Contribution: \u201cYo (Love is a Rebellious Bird),\u201d Anna Fitch and Banker White<\/p>\n

\n\tPERSPECTIVES COMPETITION<\/p>\n

\n\tGWFF Best First Feature Award: \u201cChronicles From the Siege,\u201d Abdallah Alkhatib<\/p>\n

\n\tSpecial Mention (Coup de Coeur): \u201cForest High,\u201d Manon Coubia<\/p>\n

\n\tBERLINALE DOCUMENTARY AWARD<\/p>\n

\n\tBest Documentary: \u201cIf Pigeons Turned to Gold,\u201d Pepa Lubojacki<\/p>\n

\n\tSpecial Mentions: \u201cTutu,\u201d Sam Pollard; \u201cSometimes I Imagine Them All at a Party,\u201d Daniela Magnani H\u00fcller<\/p>\n

\n\tSHORT FILM COMPETITION<\/p>\n

\n\tGolden Bear for Best Short Film: \u201cSomeday a Child,\u201d Marie-Rose Osta<\/p>\n

\n\tSilver Bear for Best Short Film: \u201cA Woman\u2019s Place is Everywhere,\u201d Fanny Texier<\/p>\n

\n\tBerlinale Shorts Filmmaker Award: \u201cKleptomania,\u201d Jingkai Qu<\/p>\n

\n\tMeanwhile, films such as Faraz Sharia\u2019s courtroom drama \u201cProsecution\u201d and Fernando Eimbcke\u2019s family study \u201cFlies\u201d are among the multiple prizewinners from the festival\u2019s various independently juried awards, listed in full below.<\/p>\n

\n\tPREVIOUSLY ANNOUNCED:<\/p>\n

\n\tPANORAMA AUDIENCE AWARDS<\/p>\n

\n\tAudience Award (Fiction): \u201cProsecution,\u201d Faraz Sharia<\/p>\n

\n\tFirst Runner-up: \u201cFour Minus Three,\u201d Adrian Goiginger<\/p>\n

\n\tSecond Runner-up: \u201cMouse,\u201d Kelly O\u2019Sullivan and Alex Thompson<\/p>\n

\n\tAudience Award (Documentary): \u201cTraces,\u201d Alisa Kovalenko and Marysia Nikitiuk<\/p>\n

\n\tFirst Runner-up: \u201cThe Other Side of the Sun,\u201d Tawfik Sabouni<\/p>\n

\n\tSecond Runner-up: \u201cBucks Harbor,\u201d Pete Muller<\/p>\n

\n\tGENERATION COMPETITION<\/p>\n

\n\tInternational Jury<\/p>\n

\n\tGrand Prix for the Best Film in Generation Kplus: \u201cGugu\u2019s World,\u201d Allan Deberton<\/p>\n

\n\tSpecial Mention: \u201cAtlas of the Universe,\u201d Paul Negoescu<\/p>\n

\n\tSpecial Prize for the Best Short Film in Generation Kplus: \u201cSpi,\u201d Navroz Shaban<\/p>\n

\n\tSpecial Mention: \u201cUnder the Wave off Little Dragon,\u201d Luo Jian<\/p>\n

\n\tGrand Prix for the Best Film in Generation 14plus:\u00a0\u201cSad Girlz,\u201d Fernanda Tovar<\/p>\n

\n\tSpecial Mention:\u00a0\u201cMatapanki,\u201d\u00a0Diego Mapache Fuentes<\/p>\n

\n\tSpecial Prize for the Best Short Film in Generation 14plus:\u00a0\u201cThe Thread,\u201d Fenn O\u2019Meally<\/p>\n

\n\tSpecial Mention:\u00a0\u201cMemories of a Window,\u201d Mehraneh Salimian and Amin Pakparvar<\/p>\n

\n\tYouth Jury<\/p>\n

\n\tCrystal Bear for the Best Film\u00a0in Generation Kplus: \u201cGugu\u2019s World,\u201d Allan Deberton<\/p>\n

\n\tSpecial Mention: \u201cNot a Hero,\u201d Rima Das<\/p>\n

\n\tCrystal Bear for the Best Short Film\u00a0in Generation Kplus: \u201cWhale 52 \u2013 Suite for Man, Boy, and Whale,\u201d Daniel Neiden<\/p>\n

\n\tSpecial Mention: \u201cUnder the Wave off Little Dragon,\u201d Luo Jian<\/p>\n

\n\tCrystal Bear for the Best Film\u00a0in Generation\u00a014plus:\u00a0\u201cSad Girlz,\u201d Fernanda Tovar<\/p>\n

\n\tSpecial Mention:\u00a0\u201cA Family,\u201d Mees Peijnenburg<\/p>\n

\n\tCrystal Bear for the Best Short Film\u00a0in Generation 14plus:\u00a0\u201dMemories of a Window,\u201d Mehraneh Salimian and Amin Pakparvar<\/p>\n

\n\tSpecial Mention:\u00a0\u201dNobody Knows the World,\u201d Roddy Dextre<\/p>\n

\n\tTEDDY AWARDS<\/p>\n

\n\tBest Feature Film: \u201cIvan & Hadoum,\u201d Ian de la Rosa<\/p>\n

\n\tBest Documentary: \u201cBarbara Forever,\u201d Brydie O\u2019Connor<\/p>\n

\n\tBest Short Film:\u00a0\u201cTaxi Moto,\u201d Ga\u00ebl Kamilindi<\/p>\n

\n\tJury Award:\u00a0\u201cTrial of Hein,\u201d Kai St\u00e4nicke<\/p>\n

\n\tSpecial Award: C\u00e9line Sciamma<\/p>\n

\n\tFIPRESCI AWARDS<\/p>\n

\n\tCompetition: \u201cSoumsoum, the Night of the Stars,\u201d Mahamat-Saleh Haroun\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tPerspectives: \u201cAnimol,\u201d Ashley Walters<\/p>\n

\n\tPanorama: \u201cNarciso,\u201d Marcelo Martinessi<\/p>\n

\n\tForum: \u201cAnyMart,\u201d Yusuke Iwasaki\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tECUMENICAL JURY AWARDS<\/p>\n

\n\tCompetition: \u201cFlies,\u201d Fernando Eimbcke<\/p>\n

\n\tPanorama: \u201cBucks Harbor,\u201d Pete Muller<\/p>\n

\n\tForum: \u201cRiver Dreams,\u201c Kristina Mikhailova<\/p>\n

\n\tLABEL EUROPA CINEMAS AWARD<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cFour Minus Three,\u201d Adrian Goiginger<\/p>\n

\n\tPRIZE OF THE GUILD OF GERMAN ARTHOUSE CINEMAS<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cYellow Letters,\u201d \u0130lker \u00c7atak<\/p>\n

\n\tSpecial Mention: \u201cThe Loneliest Man in Town,\u201d Tizza Covi and Rainer Frimmel<\/p>\n

\n\tREADERS\u2019 JURIES<\/p>\n

\n\tBerliner Morgenpost Readers\u2019 Award: \u201cFlies,\u201d Fernando Eimbcke<\/p>\n

\n\tTagesspiegel\u00a0Readers\u2019 Award:\u00a0\u201cI Built a Rocket Imagining Your Arrival,\u201d Jana\u00edna Marques<\/p>\n

\n\tCALIGARI FILM PRIZE<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cIf Pigeons Turned to Gold,\u201d Pepa Lubojacki<\/p>\n

\n\tPEACE FILM PRIZE<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cTutu,\u201d Sam Pollard<\/p>\n

\n\tAMNESTY INTERNATIONAL FILM AWARDd<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cWhat Will I Become?,\u201d Lexie Bean and Logan Rozos<\/p>\n

\n\tHEINER CAROW PRIZE<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cProsecution,\u201d Faraz Shariat<\/p>\n

\n\tPRIZE AG KINO \u2013 GILDE \u2013 CINEMA VISION 14PLUS<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cWhat Will I Become?,\u201d Lexie Bean and Logan Rozos<\/p>\n

\n\tSpecial Mention: \u201dSunny Dancer,\u201d George Jaques<\/p>\n

\n\tC.I.C.A.E. Art Cinema Award<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cProsecution,\u201d Faraz Shariat\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cOn Our Own,\u201d Tudor Cristian Jurgiu\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In the end, political cinema won out. At the closing ceremony of a Berlin Film Festival blighted by…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":354,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[18,323,325],"class_list":{"0":"post-353","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-berlin","8":"tag-berlin","9":"tag-berlin-film-festival","10":"tag-wim-wenders"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/353","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=353"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/353\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/354"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=353"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=353"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=353"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}