Ukrainian film named best at Berlinale 2026: full list of winners
22 February 08:06
The closing ceremony of the 76th Berlin Film Festival took place on the evening of February 21. The Golden Bear, the Berlinale’s top prize, went to Gelbe Briefe (Yellow Letters), a drama by German director of Turkish origin İlker Çatak, whose film The Teacher was nominated for an Oscar in 2024, reports "Komersant Ukrainian" with reference to DW.
The Grand Prix went to Emin Elper’s Turkish thriller Kurtuluş/Salvation. The plot is based on a conflict between two villages located in the mountains. News that one clan will take the land of another forces people to arm themselves and causes them to become paranoid.
Who else received awards at the Berlinale
The Silver Bear for Best Actress went to German actress Sandra Hüller, star of the film Rose.
The Jury Prize and the award for Best Supporting Actor went to Anna Calder-Marshall and Tom Courtenay, who starred in the film Queen at Sea by director Lance Hammer. In the film, Amanda (Juliette Binoche) tries to protect her mother Leslie (Anna Calder-Marshall), who has dementia, from her stepfather Martin (Tom Courtenay). He does not understand that his wife can no longer actively consent to sex and, worse still, that she herself initiates physical contact.
The award for Best Director went to Grant Gee for the biopic Everybody Digs Bill Evans, which tells the story of one of the most famous and influential jazz musicians of the 20th century. In 1961, Bill’s partner, bassist Scott LaFaro, dies in a car accident, and Evans falls into heroin addiction, trying to cope with his grief. The award for best screenplay went to the drama Nina Roza by director and screenwriter Geneviève Dulud-De Salles. In it, a Canadian art dealer learns about a Bulgarian girl who creates stunning works of art at a young age. The trip to Europe proves to be difficult for the man, as he left Bulgaria many years ago and cut off contact with his relatives.
The award for artistic contribution to cinema went to the documentary film Yo (Love Is a Rebellious Bird) by Anna Fitch and Benker White. The film tells the story of Fitch’s friendship with an elderly woman named Yolanda (Yo).
The winners in the secondary sections were announced earlier. Viewers in the Panorama section gave awards to Faraz Shariat’s feature film Staatsschutz/Prosecution and Alisa Kovalenko and Marisa Nikityuk’s documentary project Traces about Russian military violence against Ukrainian women. On February 20, the Teddy Awards ceremony was held, which honors the best LGBT-themed films with its statuette. This year’s winner was the Spanish romantic film Iván & Hadoum by director Ayan de la Rosa, and the jury prize went to the historical drama Der Heimatlose (The Homeless) by German director Kai Stänicke.
