After a few ups and downs, the Berlinale came to a happy ending with the Golden Bear for ‘Yellow Letters’ (Germany, France, Turkey 2026). Three years ago, Ilker Çatak was relegated to the Panorama sidebar with ‘Teachers' Room’. After numerous German Film Awards and an Oscar nomination, he was now invited to compete. In my opinion, ‘Yellow Letters’ was the best film in the competition and rightly won the Golden Bear.
The jury also showed good judgement with the other awards. Another Turkish film, ‘Kurtuluş’ (Salvation, Turkey, France, Netherlands, Greece, Sweden, Saudi Arabia 2026) by Emin Alper, won the Grand Jury Prize. Alper is one of the most renowned directors in Turkish cinema, who manages to combine thriller and genre elements with political themes in his films. This is also the case in ‘Kurtuluş’, where he illustrates in an exemplary manner how the fear of losing property and prosperity leads to violence and what the consequences are.
The story is based on a real event in a Kurdish village in eastern Turkey, where, fuelled by religious fanaticism, rivalry with a neighbouring village escalates. In its fight against the PKK (the Kurdish militant political organisation and armed guerilla group), the state has armed the villagers and used them as a militia against the so-called ‘terrorists’. This sets the stage for violent clashes, in which Emin Alper uses dream sequences to great dramatic effect.
‘Yellow Letters’ and “Kurtuluş” are two films that vividly depict the current political situation in Turkey without ever becoming simplistic. Another outstanding entry was the English contribution ‘Queen at Sea’ (Great Britain, USA 2026) by Lance Hammer. This film is not about political conflicts, but rather domestic conflicts related to dementia. Director Lance Hammer was awarded the Jury Prize, while actors Anna Calder-Marshall and Tom Courtenay, brilliant in their portrayal of a married couple who still have sex in their old age, were named best (supporting) actors, even though they are actually the main characters. But as we know, the unisex acting award in Berlin always goes to a woman, and this time it was Sandra Hüller in the historical transgender drama ‘Rose’ (Austria, Germany 2026). Markus Schleinzer's film was also considered by many critics to be the frontrunner for the Golden Bear. The Ecumenical Jury Prize went to the Mexican entry ‘Moscas’ (Flies, Mexico 2026) by Fernando Eimbcke.
The political debate surrounding the Gaza war flared up once again at the award ceremony, like the proverbial return of the repressed. Right at the start of the festival, Wim Wenders had been asked about his stance on Gaza at the jury's press conference. Eighty directors and actors, former participants in the Berlinale, including Tilda Swinton, Javier Bardem and Mike Leigh, had called on the festival to take a clear pro-Palestinian stance, and Indian author Arundhati Roy had cancelled her participation.
Syrian-Palestinian director Abdallah Alkhatib, who studied sociology in Damascus and was active as a human rights activist, won the award for best debut film for 'Chronicles from the Siege' (Algeria, France, Palestine 2026). When he appeared at the award ceremony wearing a kufiya and Palestinian flag, criticising the German government for its military support of Israel in the Gaza war and even speaking of ‘genocide’, there was widespread outrage. The Berlinale had another ‘anti-Semitism scandal’.
The Federal Environment Minister, Carsten Schneider, left the hall, for which he was expressly lauded by the Israeli Ambassador, Ron Prosor, who said that the Berlinale was gambling away its good reputation ‘by turning itself into a stage for those who hate Israel’. CSU regional group leader Alexander Hoffmann spoke of ‘repulsive scenes at the award ceremony’ that could be classified as ‘a particularly serious case of incitement to hatred.’ The Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media Wolfram Weimer also weighed in, adding that ‘the Palestinian activist scene showed its ugly face at the Berlinale with hatred of Israel, aggression and coercion to declare one's beliefs.’
The right to freedom of expression, which Berlinale director Tricia Tuttle had invoked at the opening, no longer seems to apply when an opinion that does not correspond to German state policy is expressed at an award ceremony broadcast live on television. At least the Berlinale was able to reaffirm its self-image as a political festival on this occasion, albeit in a way that did not please government officials at all.
The balance sheet for the 2026 competition is rather mixed.There were some excellent films which, unlike in previous years, were also recognised in the selection of award winners. At the same time, the number of films in competition was increased from 18 to 22, which meant that there were quite a few films that would have been better placed in the side sections. In any case, the Berlinale suffers from an overabundance of films that are shown side by side in separate sections. Unlike in Cannes or Venice, there is no connection between the Competition, Panorama, Forum and, more recently, Perspectives sections, creating the impression of several parallel festivals. This represents a problematic outlook for the future.