Radu Jude won the Silver Bear for best screenplay at the Berlin International Film Festival on Saturday for “Kontinental ’25.” The film directed by Radu Jude was also in competition for the Golden Bear. “Kontinental ’25” was one of 19 films competing for the top prize at this year’s festival, with other films competing for the top prize: “Blue Moon” by American director Richard Linklater and “What Does that Nature Say to You” by South Korean filmmaker Hong Sangsoo.
Radu Jude dedicated the award he received for “Kontinental ’25”, filmed in just ten days, with a smartphone, to the legacy of Spanish director Luis Bunuel (1900-1983) – associated with the surrealist movement –, whose birth marked 125 years on Saturday.
“I am a weak screenwriter, so receiving this award is very funny”, the director joked on the Berlinale stage.
The Romanian filmmaker also thanked his team and stated that “this award demonstrates that there is a lot of talent in Romania and, although we are currently living in terrible times, I hope there will be more money for culture, because there is a lot of talent”.
“And I hope that we will have more solidarity in Europe, in these moments when we are under pressure from all sides. But let it be solidarity in the true sense of the word. I hope that the International Court in The Hague will continue to hold all the villainous and murderous leaders to account. And, since elections are being held in Germany, I hope that next year’s festival will not open with Leni Riefenstahl’s “Triumph of the Will” (a Nazi propaganda film). Good evening!”
Radu Jude returned to the Berlin Film Festival with Kontinental ’25, a film about the moral crisis of a court bailiff, marking the Romanian director’s attempt to win a second Golden Bear, an award he previously received four years ago for the dark comedy Bad Luck Banging or Loony Porn (Babardeală cu bucluc sau porno balamuc).
Kontinental ’25 is based on a news article that Jude read about a female court bailiff who feels guilty after evicting a person who later takes their own life.
Shot in just 10 days using a smartphone, this feature film was one of the favorites of the international critics’ jury assembled by Screen magazine.
The Grand Prize, Won by “Dreams (Sex Love)”
A total of 19 films competed in the main competition at the 2025 Berlinale to succeed the documentary “Dahomey” by the French-Senegalese filmmaker Mati Diop, about the restitution of works of art in formerly colonized countries.
This time, the trophy was won by the Norwegian film “Dreams (Sex Love)” (Drømmer), directed by Dag Johan Haugerud and produced by Yngve Sæther and Hege Hauff Hvattum.
The second most important trophy of the Berlinale, the Silver Bear Grand Jury Prize, was handed over by Chinese actress Fan Bingbing to Brazilian director Gabriel Mascaro for the production “The Blue Trail” (“O último azul”). British actress Tilda Swinton, 64, was awarded an honorary Golden Bear, an award given for her entire career.