"On the Adaman Boat" by Nicola Phillipper
Documentary supporting psychopaths wins 'Golden Bear' at Berlinale
Nicola Philliper holding the 'Golden Bear'. Reuters
The best acting performance went to the child Sofia Otera. Reuters
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The documentary "On the Adaman" about a floating daycare centre in Paris for adults with mental disorders won the Golden Bear at the Berlin Film Festival yesterday.
Director Nicola Philipper said he was deeply moved by the jury's decision to award the festival's first prize to a documentary rather than a work of fiction.
"This documentary can be considered cinematic in itself, and it affects me deeply," he said.
Shot over a period of three years, the film revolves around the interaction of patients at the care center of the Adaman boat anchored on the bank of the Seine.
Philliper added on the red carpet after his film's win: "Psychopaths are always stigmatized. They are always seen from the perspective of violence. I wanted to overturn this stereotype and show how human they are." "I hope this will help awaken the awareness of society."
The director of the feature-length documentary, in which the boundaries between caregivers and patients are blurred, said that "the craziest people are not who thinks they are." In the film, patients are shown participating in therapeutic or artistic workshops, but they also forget about their medical conditions to build a common life, for example helping with budgetary matters.
Documentaries are regularly included in the most prestigious international film competitions, but they rarely win awards. The Venice Festival awarded the Golden Lion last year to a documentary about the opioid crisis in the United States, All the Beauty and the Bloodshed, by Laura Poitras.
American actress Kristen Stewart, 32, who became the youngest president of the jury in the history of the Berlinale, said that "the task of this festival is to go beyond the ordinary." She added before the award was presented that "the invisible criteria set by the industry and the academy about what a film is do not match" and the winning tape.
Frenchman Philippe Garell, 74, also won the Silver Bear for Best Director for "Le Grand Chario", a work akin to an artistic will that the director filmed with his children. The jury, which also included former Golden Bear directors Radu Judy and Carla Simon, and French-Iranian actress Golshefteh Farahani, awarded the award for best acting performance to eight-year-old Spanish girl Sofia Otera for her role in 20000,<> Specials of Peas.
With tears in her eyes like adults, the budding actress received her award, a prize presented by the Berlinale for best acting performance.
Famous
Away from the competition, this 73rd edition of the Berlin Film Festival allowed it to return to normal. After two mini-editions due to pandemic restrictions, the 11-day festival was held in full shape this year, attracting some of the biggest names in the world of cinema, such as actresses Cate Blanchett and Helen Merne, and director Steven Spielberg, who received an honorary Golden Bear.
Also among the celebrities who attended this year's festival was actor Sean Penn, who came to present a documentary about his tours in Ukraine during the war.
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It took years to shoot the winning documentary, which revolves around the interaction of patients at the care center of the Adaman boat anchored on the bank of the Seine.