The Ecumenical Jury Prize at the 76th Berlinale in the international competition went to ‘Moscas’ (Flies) by Fernando Eimbcke (Mexico 2026). In the Panorama section, the jury awarded its prize to ‘Bucks Harbor’ by Pete Muller (USA 2026) and in the Forum section to ‘River Dreams’ by Kristina Mikhailova (Kazakhstan, Switzerland, Great Britain 2026). The prizes in Panorama and Forum are each endowed with €2,500, donated by the German Bishops' Conference (DBK; Panorama) and the Evangelical Church in Germany (EKD; Forum).
The Golden Bear for Best Film in the international competition went to ‘Yellow Letters’ by Ilker Çatak (Germany, France, Turkey 2026), marking the first time in 20 years that a German film has won the award. The film deals with the repression of artists and intellectuals in Turkey under President Erdoğan, declaring Berlin to be Ankara and Hamburg to be Istanbul in a successful artistic coup. The film also won the Gilde Cinemas Award. The Grand Jury Prize (Silver Bear) went to ‘Kurtuluş’ (Salvation) by Emin Alper (Turkey, France, Netherlands, Greece, Sweden, Saudi Arabia 2026). Grant Gee received a Silver Bear for Best Director for ‘Everybody Digs Bill Evans’ (Ireland, Great Britain 2026) and Sandra Hüller received a Silver Bear for Best Leading Performance in ‘Rose’ by Markus Schleinzer (Austria, Germany 2026).
The jury of the International Federation of Film Critics (Fipresci) awarded its prizes to ‘Soumsoum, la nuit des astres’ (Soumsoum, the Night of the Stars) by Mahamat-Saleh Haroun (France, Chad 2026; International Competition), ‘Animol’ by Ashley Walters (Great Britain 2026: Perspectives), “Narciso” by Marcelo Martinessi (Paraguay, Germany, Uruguay, Brazil, Portugal, Spain, France 2026; Panorama) and ‘AnyMart’ by Yusuke Iwasaki (Japan 2026: Forum). The Caligari Film Prize went to the Forum film ‘If Pigeons Turned to Gold’ by Pepa Lubojacki (Czechia, Slovakia 2026), which also won the Berlinale Documentary Film Prize, the festival's most highly endowed prize worth €40,000.
The Berlinale opened with a festive ceremony on 12 February. Festival director Tricia Tuttle, who was responsible for her second festival in 2026, welcomed the guests and introduced the international jury, chaired by Wim Wenders, which awarded the Golden and Silver Bears. Malaysian actress Michelle Yeoh, who rose to fame for her role as a Chinese agent in the Bond film 'Tomorrow Never Dies' (1997) and gained worldwide recognition for her artistic performance in the female lead role in Ang Lee's 'Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon' (2000), was awarded a Honorary Golden Bear. The opening film was the feature film ‘No Good Men’ by Hamburg-based Afghan director Sharbanoo Sadat, which tells a story of Afghan women and is set shortly before the return of the Taliban.
In addition to the international competition, the festival includes the Perspectives section, newly created by Tricia Tuttle in 2025 and dedicated to international debut films, as well as the established sections Berlinale Special, Panorama, Forum, Berlinale Shorts, Berlinale Classics and Generation with films for children and young people. The retrospective, entitled ‘Lost in the 90s’, was dedicated to films from the decade after the fall of the Iron Curtain. It included, among others, from Germany 'Run Lola Run’ by Tom Tykwer (1998), ‘Johanna d'Arc of Mongolia’ by Ulrike Ottinger (1989) and ‘Videograms of a Revolution’ by Harun Farocki (1992), as well as ‘Allemagne année 90 neuf zéro’ by Jean-Luc Godard and ‘La double vie de Véronique’ by Krzysztof Kieslowski, both from 1991.
A total of 278 films were included in the festival programme. The Ecumenical Jury awards prizes in the International Competition, Forum and Panorama sections.