[Source: Reuters]

“Dreams (Sex Love)”, a tender coming-of-age drama about a young woman’s first crush on a teacher.

And the art of writing by Norwegian director Dag Johan Haugerud, won the Golden Bear top prize at the 75th Berlin Film Festival.

The film starring Ella Overbye is the last in a three-part series by Haugerud exploring emotional and physical intimacy.

Jury president and U.S. director Todd Haynes praised the film’s flawless performances and clear-sighted observations about desire, and how it portrayed the act of writing.

“This film cuts you to the quick with its keen intelligence and its sudden, astonishing moments of revelation,” he said.

Haugerud, who is also a novelist, said winning the prize was beyond his wildest dreams and encouraged the audience to write and read more.

There was a total of 19 films in competition this year.

The grand jury Silver Bear prize was awarded to Brazilian filmmaker Gabriel Mascaro’s film “The Blue Trail”, a dystopian story set in the Amazon about an elderly woman who chooses to reject living the rest of her life in a senior housing colony.

Chinese director Huo Meng won best director for “Living the Land”, his feature about four generations of farmers, while the jury prize was given to “The Message” by Argentina’s Ivan Fund.

Fund said the award would serve as a counterweight to the dismantling of culture currently happening in Argentina.

“Times are rough in Argentina, cinema is under attack,” he said. “So this little bear with its weight is a counterweight and shows that film will continue to live and thrive.”

Australian Rose Byrne won best actor for the tense reflection on motherhood, “If I Had Legs, I’d Kick You”, while best supporting actor went to Ireland’s Andrew Scott for his role in U.S. director Richard Linklater’s “Blue Moon”.

Scott, who plays Richard Rodgers, one half of the famous U.S. songwriting duo Rodgers and Hart, could not attend the ceremony in person and thanked the jury with a video message.

Romanian director Radu Jude, who won a Golden Bear in 2021, was awarded best screenplay for “Kontinental ’25”, a meditation on guilt and systemic inequality.

This year’s closing ceremony, which took place on the eve of national elections in Germany, was comparatively light on politics after the 2024 event drew criticism over expressions of solidarity for Palestinians.

Only Jude mentioned the elections, saying: “I just hope that next year’s festival doesn’t open with ‘Triumph of the Will’ by Leni Riefenstahl,” in reference to the documentary about the 1934 Nuremberg Rally by Adolf Hitler’s favourite filmmaker.

Opinion polls show Germany’s far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) with support of around 20%, and it is forecast to come second in Sunday’s parliamentary election.