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The 76th Berlin Film Festival concluded its program with an evening of awards that recognized films across the main competition and several separately juried sections. With Competition prizes under the supervision of jury president Wim Wenders and distinct juries for shorts, documentaries and first features, the festival handed out a wide range of honors that reflect both critical taste and audience response.
Among the films positioned as strong contenders were Karim Aïnouz’s Rosebush Pruning, İlker Çatak’s Yellow Letters and Lance Hammer’s Queen at Sea. Parallel to the main prizes, the Berlinale’s independent juries and audience voting produced multiple winners, including Faraz Shariat’s courtroom drama Prosecution and Fernando Eimbcke’s family drama Flies.
Main competition and jury leadership
At the heart of the festival, the main Competition jury, presided over by Wim Wenders, was responsible for awarding the top honors in the festival’s flagship slate. The structure of the Berlinale separates certain categories into their own juried contests—short films, documentaries and debut features—so the awards reflect a mix of jury-driven selection and audience preferences.
Audience and parallel jury awards
The festival’s audience votes and specialty juries often highlight films that resonate directly with viewers or address urgent social themes. The Panorama audience awards recognized Faraz Shariat’s Prosecution as the fiction winner, with Adrian Goiginger’s Four Minus Three and Kelly O’Sullivan and Alex Thompson’s Mouse as runner-ups. Documentary viewers chose Traces by Alisa Kovalenko and Marysia Nikitiuk, followed by Tawfik Sabouni’s The Other Side of the Sun and Pete Muller’s Bucks Harbor.
Generation and youth jury highlights
In the festival’s youth-centered strand, the Generation competition split into Kplus and 14plus sections. Allan Deberton’s Gugu’s World won the Grand Prix in Generation Kplus, while Fernanda Tovar’s Sad Girlz took the top prize in Generation 14plus. The youth juries echoed those choices with Crystal Bear awards, also offering special mentions and short film prizes that emphasized storytelling for younger audiences.
Teddy Awards, critical prizes and special recognitions
The Berlinale’s inclusion of LGBTQ+ cinema and critical organizations produced a diverse set of honors. The Teddy Awards named Ian de la Rosa’s Ivan & Hadoum best feature, Brydie O’Connor’s Barbara Forever best documentary and Gaël Kamilindi’s Taxi Moto best short, with a jury award going to Kai Stänicke’s Trial of Hein and a special award to Céline Sciamma.
International critics and industry juries also weighed in: the FIPRESCI critics selected Mahamat-Saleh Haroun’s Soumsoum, the Night of the Stars in the main competition, while other sections received their own critics’ choices. The Ecumenical Jury honored Fernando Eimbcke’s Flies in the main slate, and Pete Muller’s Bucks Harbor in Panorama, reflecting the festival’s tendency to reward works with moral and humanistic engagement.
Awards for first features and art-house cinemas
Emerging filmmakers received targeted recognition: the Label Europa Cinemas went to Adrian Goiginger’s Four Minus Three, while the Guild of German Arthouse Cinemas recognized İlker Çatak’s Yellow Letters. The C.I.C.A.E. Art Cinema Award highlighted both Faraz Shariat’s Prosecution and Tudor Cristian Jurgiu’s On Our Own, underlining a focus on films likely to find traction in independent theaters.
Social context and festival discourse
Beyond the trophies, the Berlinale was a forum for heated conversations about the role of film festivals in political discourse. Press briefings and public statements generated debate about whether cultural events should take explicit stands on international conflicts and human rights issues. High-profile attendees and invited speakers added fuel to those discussions, and several screenings became focal points for wider social commentary.
How programming intersected with politics
The selection included films tackling state power, social justice and displacement—works that prompted journalists and festivalgoers to question how a festival platform should respond to geopolitical crises. Such debates amplified attention on certain titles and shaped how audiences and juries perceived films that engaged directly with contemporary events.
In sum, the 76th edition of the Berlin Film Festival combined a traditional awards evening with a broad array of independently adjudicated prizes and audience-selected winners. From the spotlight on Prosecution and Flies to the youth-focused awards and specialized recognitions, the Berlinale once again offered a snapshot of current filmmaking priorities and the cultural conversations that accompany them.