Berlin Film Festival 2026: Complete Winners List and All Nominees
MAIN COMPETITION
The 76th Berlin International Film Festival concluded on February 21, 2026. This year, a total of 22 films competed for the Golden and Silver Bears in the main competition . Let’s see which film won which award:
| Award Category | Film | Director |
|---|---|---|
| 🏆 GOLDEN BEAR (Best Film) | YELLOW LETTERS (Gelbe Briefe) | Ilker Çatak |
| 🥈 SILVER BEAR – Grand Jury Prize | SALVATION (Kurtuluş) | Emin Alper |
| 🥉 SILVER BEAR – Jury Prize | QUEEN AT SEA | Lance Hammer |
| 🎬 SILVER BEAR – Best Director | EVERYBODY DIGS BILL EVANS | Grant Gee |
| 🎭 SILVER BEAR – Best Actress | Sandra Hüller in ROSE | Markus Schleinzner |
| 👥 SILVER BEAR – Best Supporting Actor | Anna Calder-Marshall and Tom Courtenay in QUEEN AT SEA | Lance Hammer |
| ✍️ SILVER BEAR – Best Screenplay | NINA ROSA | Geneviève Dulude-De Celles |
| 🎨 SILVER BEAR – Outstanding Artistic Contribution | YO (LOVE IS A REBELLIOUS BIRD) | Anna Fitch |
OTHER FILMS IN MAIN COMPETITION:
The complete list of films that competed for the top honors at Berlinale 2026 :
- At the Sea – Kornél Mundruczó (starring Amy Adams)
- Dao – Alain Gomis
- Dust – Director unknown
- Flies (Moscas) – Fernando Aimebke
- Home Stories (Etwas ganz Besonderes)
- Josephine – Beth De Araújo
- The Loneliest Man in Town
- My Wife Cries (Meine Frau weint)
- A New Dawn
- Nightborn (Yön Lapsi)
- Rosebush Pruning – (starring Callum Turner)
- Soumsoum, the Night of the Stars (Soumsoum, la nuit des astres) – Mahamat-Saleh Haroun
- In a Whisper (À Voix Basse)
- We Are All Strangers (Wo Men Bu Shi Mo Sheng Ren)
- Wolfram – Warwick Thornton
THE JURY
This year’s jury was presided over by renowned German filmmaker Wim Wenders . The other jury members included:
- Bae Doona (South Korean actress)
- Ewa Puszczyńska (Polish producer – ‘The Zone of Interest’)
- Reinaldo Marcus Green (American director – ‘King Richard’)
- Hikari (Japanese director)
- Min Bahadur Bham (Nepali filmmaker)
- Shivendra Singh Dungarpur (Indian film archivist)
PERSPECTIVES – First Films
| Award | Film | Director |
|---|---|---|
| GWFF Best First Film Award | CHRONICLES FROM THE SEAS | Abdallah Al-Khatib |
| Special Mention | FOREST HIGH (Forêt Ivre) | Manon Coubia |
📌 Interesting fact: Palestinian director Abdallah Al-Khatib, while accepting his award, expressed concern about the humanitarian situation in Gaza and urged Germany to support genocide accusations against Israel .
DOCUMENTARY AWARDS
| Award | Film | Director |
|---|---|---|
| Berlinale Documentary Award | IF PIGEONS TURNED TO GOLD | Pepa Lubojacki |
| Special Mention | TUTU | Sam Pollard |
| Special Mention | SOMETIMES I IMAGINE THEM ALL AT A PARTY | Daniela Magnani Huler |
SHORT FILMS
The short film competition featured a total of 22 films . The awards were as follows:
| Award | Film | Director |
|---|---|---|
| GOLDEN BEAR – Best Short Film | SOMEDAY A CHILD | Marie-Rose Osta |
| SILVER BEAR – Jury Prize (Short Film) | A WOMAN’S PLACE IS EVERYWHERE | Fanny Texier |
| CuprA Filmmaker Award | KLEPTOMANIA | Jingkai Ku |
OTHER NOTABLE SHORT FILMS IN COMPETITION:
- An Accident (Ein Unfall) – Angelika Spangel
- Chuuraa – Evgeniya Arbugaeva
- Cosmonauts – Leo Cernic
- Flim Flam – Siegfried A. Fruhauf
- Graft Versus Host – Giorgi Gago Gagoshidze
- Henry is a Girl Who Likes to Sleep – Marthe Peters
- Incident on the Mountain (Oupatevak het tam phnom) – Savunthara Seng
- The Rich Jews (Les juifs riches) – Yolande Zauberman
- Kontrewers – Zuza Banasińska
- Miriam – Carla Condado
- Shot Reverse Shot (Plan contraplan) – Radu Jude and Adrian Cioflâncă
- Souls of Fouta (Les âmes du Fouta) – Alpha Diallo
- Stallion and a Crystal Ball (Stallion y la bola de cristal) – Christian Avilés
- TAXI MOTO – Gael Kamilindi
- Time to Go (La hora de irse) – Renzo Cozza
- Unidentified Nonflying Objects (UUO) – Sasha Svirsky
- With a Kind Regard (Mit einem freundlichen Gruss) – Pavel Mozhar
- Yuragim – Varya Garij and Kirill Komar
PANORAMA AWARDS
The winners of the 28th Panorama Audience Award in the Panorama section were:
| Category | Position | Film | Director |
|---|---|---|---|
| FICTION | 1st Place | PROSECUTION (Staatsschutz) | Faraz Shariat |
| 2nd Place | FOUR MINUS THREE | Adrian Goiginger | |
| 3rd Place | MOUSE | Kelley O’Sullivan and Alex Thompson | |
| DOCUMENTARY | 1st Place | TRACES | Alisa Kovalenko and Marisya Nikityuk |
| 2nd Place | THE OTHER SIDE OF THE SUN | Tawfik Saboni | |
| 3rd Place | BOX’S HARBOR | Piet Muller |
GENERATION AWARDS
The following films were honored in this section created for young audiences:
GENERATION Kplus
| Award | Film | Director |
|---|---|---|
| Crystal Bear (Best Film) | GUGU’S WORLD | Alain Deveberton |
| Special Mention | NOT A HERO | Reema Das |
| Crystal Bear for Best Short Film | WHALE 52 – SUITE FOR MAN, BOY, AND WHALE | Daniel Neiden |
| Special Mention (Short Film) | UNDER THE WAVE OF LITTLE DRAGON | Luo Jian |
GENERATION 14plus
| Award | Film | Director |
|---|---|---|
| Crystal Bear (Best Film) | SAD GIRLS (Chicas Tristes) | Fernanda Tovar |
| Special Mention | A FAMILY | Mees Peijnenburg |
| Crystal Bear for Best Short Film | MEMORIES OF A WINDOW | Mehraneh Salimian and Amin Pakparvar |
| Special Mention (Short Film) | NOBODY KNOWS THE WORLD | Roddy Dextre |
TEDDY AWARDS – LGBTQ+ Cinema
| Award | Film | Director |
|---|---|---|
| Best Feature Film | EVAN & HADOUM | Ian De La Rosa |
| Best Documentary | BARBARA FOREVER | Brydie O’Connor |
| Best Short Film | TAXI MOTO | Gael Kamilindi |
| Jury Award | TRIAL OF HEN | Kai Stanicke |
| Special Award | Céline Sciamma | – |
FILM CRITICS AWARDS
FIPRESCI AWARDS (International Federation of Film Critics)
| Section | Film | Director |
|---|---|---|
| Competition | SOUMSOUM, THE NIGHT OF THE STARS | Mahamat-Saleh Haroun |
| Perspectives | ANIMALE | Ashley Walters |
| Panorama | NARCISO | Marcelo Martinessi |
| Forum | ANYMART | Yusuke Iwasaki |
ECUMENICAL JURY AWARD
| Section | Film | Director |
|---|---|---|
| Competition | FLIES | Fernando Aimebke |
| Panorama | BOX’S HARBOR | Piet Muller |
| Forum | RIVER DREAMS | Kristina Mikhailova |
OTHER SPECIAL AWARDS
| Award | Film | Director |
|---|---|---|
| Label Europa Cinemas Award | FOUR MINUS THREE | Adrian Goiginger |
| German Art House Cinema Guild Prize | YELLOW LETTERS | Ilker Çatak |
| Berliner Morgenpost Readers’ Award | FLIES | Fernando Aimebke |
| Tagessspiegel Readers’ Award | I BUILT A ROCKET IMAGINING YOUR ARRIVAL | Janaina Marques |
| Caligari Film Prize | IF PIGEONS TURNED TO GOLD | Pepa Lubojacki |
| Peace Film Prize | TUTU | Sam Pollard |
| Amnesty International Film Award | WHAT WILL I BECOME? | Lexy Bean and Logan Rozos |
| Heiner Carow Prize | PROSECUTION | Faraz Shariat |
| C.I.C.A.E. Art Cinema Award | PROSECUTION | Faraz Shariat |
| ON OUR OWN | Tudor Cristian Jurgiu |
FESTIVAL HIGHLIGHTS
Berlinale 2026 was not just a celebration of films, but also a platform for political expression. Despite jury president Wim Wenders’ statement at the beginning of the festival that “filmmakers should stay away from politics” , many winners used the stage to speak about Palestine and other issues.
Festival Director Tricia Tuttle said at the closing ceremony that this year’s edition took place “in a world that feels very raw and fragmented” .
Malaysian actress Michelle Yeoh was honored with an Honorary Golden Bear at the opening ceremony .
CONCLUSION
The Berlin Film Festival 2026 has once again proven that cinema is not just entertainment, but a mirror of thoughts and emotions. The German film ‘Yellow Letters’ winning the Golden Bear symbolizes that the theme of political oppression in art remains as relevant today as ever. The recognition of actresses like Sandra Hüller and new directors like Abdallah Al-Khatib shows that Berlinale will continue to maintain an important place in the world of cinema in the years to come.
Which of these films are you excited to watch? Do let us know in the comments! 👇
