Berlinale 2026: The Golden and Silver Bears winners

German director Ilker Çatak, who was nominated for an Oscar in 2023 with "The Teachers' Lounge," explores in "Yellow Letters" how political repression targets artistic freedom in this Turkish-language drama about a celebrated theater couple from Ankara who find themselves targeted by the state. Along with the festival's top award, the Golden Bear, the film also won the Guild Film Prize.

In a remote mountain village in eastern Turkey, an inter-clan conflict escalates into massacre. Turkish director Emin Alper's "Salvation" is inspired by a real-life blood feud that led to the 2009 Mardin engagement ceremony massacre. The timely cautionary tale won the second highest prize of the competition.

Sexual consent in dementia is one of the ethical dilemmas explored in Lance Hammer's drama "Queen at Sea," which stars Juliette Binoche as the daughter of a woman diving deeper into dementia, played by Anna Calder-Marshall. The aging woman is taken care of by her husband, Martin, portrayed by British actor Tom Courtenay. The film won the third prize in the Berlinale competition.

Filmmaker Grant Gee elegantly portrays a somber phase in the life of musician Bill Evans. Norwegian actor Anders Danielsen Lie plays the lead role of the iconic jazz pianist, who is numbed by grief following the death of his bass player, Scott LaFaro, in 1961. The work was honored by the Berlinale jury with a Silver Bear.

In this tale on gender construction directed by Austrian director Markus Schleinzer, a mysterious soldier claims to be the heir of an abandoned farm in an isolated 17th-century village. German actress Sandra Hüller stuns in the title role of "Rose," portraying a woman who dresses as a man to obtain more freedom. Her muscular acting was recognized with a Silver Bear.

The jury honored the shattering performances of Tom Courtenay and Anna Calder-Marshall in "Queen at Sea." They portray a couple who have been together for 19 years, but the nature of their relationship is tested by the advanced dementia of the woman in the couple, Leslie.

French Canadian director Genevieve Dulude-de Celles had already won a Berlinale award in the Generation section in 2019. Her new work, "Nina Roza," follows the journey of a Montreal-based art expert who, after having cut ties with his Bulgarian culture and family years earlier, is sent on assignment to his home country to meet a young art prodigy. The screenplay was honored with a Silver Bear.

Anna Fitch pays tribute to her late friend, Yolanda Shea, through this joyful documentary that uses puppets and small-scale reproductions of the spirited woman's environment to recreate episodes of her life. Adding to the magic, acting roles are given to insects and birds. Fitch and her partner, Banker White, spent a decade working on this project that has now been crowned with a Silver Bear.

Olga (Teresita Sanchez) leads a reclusive life. Facing financial difficulties, she decides to rent a room in her flat and unexpectedly develops a bond with a 9-year-old child (Bastian Escobar). The heart-warming film by Mexican director Fernando Eimbcke won the prize of the Prize of the Ecumenical Jury.

French-Chadian filmmaker Mahamat-Saleh Haroun's magical realist fable follows a young woman troubled by haunting visions who befriends a village outcast. The prize of FIPRESCI Jury (International Federation of Film Critics) went to this arthouse work.