Festival organizers have announced that the 2021 festival will be planned as a physical event and not a virtual one.
Directors of the Berlin Film Festival, Mariette Rissenbeek and Carlo Chatrian, have announced a major change for the annual event: Starting with the 2021 festival, the silver bear awards will go gender neutral. A statement from the festival read: “Instead of the distinction for best actor and best actress, a ‘Silver Bear for Best Leading Performance’ and a ‘Silver Bear for Best Supporting Performance’ will each be awarded on a gender-neutral basis. . ”The Silver Bear Actor and Actress Awards have been presented since 1956. The most recent recipients are Antonio Ligabue (” Hidden Away “) and Paula Beer (” Undine “) of the 2020 festival.
“We believe that not separating the genders in the acting field by gender is a signal for a more gender-sensitive awareness in the film industry,” Berlinale directors Rissenbeek and Chatrian said in a statement.
Berlinale’s announcement makes it the first major international film festival to change the way it awards its acting awards based on gender. Cannes still has its awards for best actor and best actress, as well as the Venice Film Festival with the Volpi Cup for actor and actress. Past Berlin acting winners include Tom Courtenay and Charlotte Rampling for “45 Years,” Benicio del Toro for “Traffic,” Paulina García for “Gloria,” Charlize Theron for “Monster,” and more.
In addition to the category-neutral acting categories, the Berlinale directors have also confirmed that the 2021 Berlin Film Festival in 212 will take place as a physical edition and not as a virtual one. A hybrid physical-virtual plan is being drawn up for the European Film Market (EFM).
“Festivals and markets are places of meeting and communication,” said Rissenbeek and Chatrian. “This applies to both the public and the sector. We see an important and unique feature of festivals in their lively relationship with the public. In times of the corona pandemic, it has become even clearer that we still need analogous spaces of experience on the cultural realm. We are happy that festivals with physically present audiences are slowly taking place around the world again, and we wish our colleagues success. ‘
The International Jury of the Competition will award the following eight prizes in 2021:
Golden Bear for best film (awarded to the producers of the film)
Silver Bear Grand Jury Prize
Silver Bear for best director
Silver Bear Jury Prize
Silver bear for best leading performance
Silver bear for best supporting performance
Silver bear for best screen font
Silver bear for exceptional artistic contribution
The 71st Berlin Film Festival will take place February 11-21, 2021.
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