Shot over three years, the documentary takes viewers onto a Seine barge in Paris that serves as a floating daycare heart for adults affected by a psychological sickness.
The French documentary “On the Adamant” — a movie a couple of floating daycare heart in Paris for adults with a psychological sickness — has gained the Berlin Worldwide Movie Competition’s prime Golden Bear prize.
Its director Nicolas Philibert mentioned on Saturday that he was deeply touched by the jury’s determination to award the Berlinale’s prime prize to a documentary moderately than a piece of fiction.
“That documentary could be thought of cinema in its personal proper touches me deeply,” he mentioned. “For 40 years I’ve all the time fought for it to be seen as a lot.”
Shot over three years, the movie follows life at a daycare heart on board The Adamant, a barge moored on the fitting financial institution of the Seine, the place sufferers and carers work together in ways in which break with what Philibert sees because the dehumanisation of psychiatry.
The 72-year-old director mentioned that within the movie, he had tried to “reverse the picture” that folks have of these with a psychological sickness and permit viewers to see “what unites us past our variations”.
“As everyone knows, the craziest persons are not these we expect they’re,” he added.
The award for greatest director went to fellow French filmmaker Philippe Garrel for “The Plough”, about three siblings who’re attempting to maintain alive the household puppeteering enterprise after the demise of their father.
Garrel devoted the prize to his kids and to French-Swiss director Jean-Luc Godard, “a fantastic grasp for many people”, who died final September.
The very best main efficiency prize was awarded to Spanish actor Sofia Ortero, who performs an 8-year-old baby trying to find identification and acceptance in “20,000 Species of Bees”.
“It is uncommon to see somebody convey so many feelings however stay easy and shattering,” mentioned jury president Kristen Stewart. “Particularly in performances given to us by a baby.”
Otero, who fought again tears when accumulating the award, later instructed reporters she was “very grateful, very pleased”.
The award for greatest supporting efficiency went to Austrian actor Thea Ehre for her function in “Until the Finish of the Night time”, whereas the very best screenplay went to “Music” by German filmmaker Angela Schanelec.
French cinematographer Helene Louvart obtained the Silver Bear for excellent creative contribution for her work on “Disco Boy”.
The 73rd Berlinale kicked off with an deal with by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who requested artists and filmmakers to unequivocally declare their help for his nation in its effort to fend off Russia’s invasion forces.
Zelenskyy, a former comic and actor, featured prominently in Sean Penn’s movie concerning the struggle in Ukraine, “Superpower,” which had its world premiere in Berlin.
The competition, which ranks alongside Cannes and Venice as one in every of Europe’s prime cinema showcases, additionally highlighted antigovernment protests in Iran with new characteristic movies and documentaries.
There have been 19 movies from around the globe vying for this 12 months’s Golden Bear.
