Berlinale 2025 winners announced: Ukrainian documentary loses to a movie about Hamas attack

On Saturday, February 22, the 75th Berlin International Film Festival held its awards ceremony. Dag Johan Haugerud's Drømmer (Dreams) received the coveted Golden Bear, the top prize at the gala.

The full list of winners is available on the festival's official website. Unfortunately, the Ukrainian director Kateryna Hornostai's film Timestamp did not win an award for best documentary, but it managed to win over foreign audiences.

The Berlinale 2025 winner, Dreams, tells the story of a 17-year-old teenage girl who falls in love with her French teacher and decides to write a book about her experience. The film completes Dag's trilogy Sex/Love/Dreams, the previous parts of which were screened in Venice and Cannes.

Berlinale 2025 winners

Golden Bear for Best Film - Dreams

Silver Bear Grand Jury Prize - The Blue Trail by Gabriel Mascaro

It tells the story of a 77-year-old pensioner who refuses to live in a retirement community and instead takes a trip through the Amazon forest.

Silver Bear Jury Prize - The Message by Ivan Fund

It's a film about a unique girl who understands animals and can talk to them.

Silver Bear for Best Director - Huo Meng for Living the Land

Silver Bear for Best Leading Performance - Rose Byrne for If I Had Legs, I’d Kick You

Silver Bear for Best Supporting Performance - Andrew Scott for Blue Moon

Silver Bear for Best Screenplay - Radu Jude for Kontinental ’25

Silver Bear for Outstanding Artistic Contribution - The Ice Tower by Lucile Hadzihalilovic

Best Documentary - Holding Liat by Brandon Kramer

The film reveals the life story of one of the hostages who was taken during the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, 2023.

Despite the fact that Kateryna Hornostai's Timestamp did not win, the film stunned the Berlinale audience. The first screening gathered a full room and a 10-minute ovation.

The film shows the lives of Ukrainian students and teachers during the war, including in Cherkasy, Kharkiv, Borodianka, and Bucha. The central event was the tragedy in the town of Romny in Sumy region, where a missile attack destroyed a school and killed its staff.

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