Berlin (EFE).- The international jury of the Berlinale will announce today the list of winners of its 73rd edition and will present its Golden Bear among the 19 films included in its official section, among them the Spanish “20,000 species of bees” and the Mexican “Totem”.
The jury chaired by the American actress Kristen Stewart and with the Spanish director Carla Simón among its members will present the awards in their different categories, up to the maximum prize, in a ceremony that will open at 18:00 GMT at the Berlinale Palast.
Simón attends the festival after having won the Gold in 2022 with “Alcarràs”.
Last night the International Federation of Film Critics (FIPRESCI) prize was awarded, which was won by the Australian “The survival of Kindness”, a film directed by Rolf de Heer, which begins with the image of an aboriginal woman abandoned in a cage, in the middle of the desert, by a group of white men.
Both “20,000 species of bees”, directed by Estíbaliz Urresola, and “Tótem”, by Lila Avilés, are centered on two girls over eight years old: in the Mexican one, Naima Senties is the daughter of a young man, terminally ill who your loved ones prepare their last birthday party.
In the Spanish version, Sofía Otero plays a child who does not recognize himself by gender or by the name that has been given to him, Aitor, but rather feels the identity of Lucía being born within himself.
As for German cinema, which competes with five representatives in the official section, “Roter Himmel” -“A fire”-, by Christian Petzold, stands among the favorites for the sixth time in the Berlinale competition.
The preferences of the Berlinale magazine, “Screen”, these days leaned towards “Past Lives”, by the South Korean-Canadian Celine Song and around an interrupted love story, but never abandoned, between South Korea, Canada and NY.
Two premieres in the last few days could turn around in favor of Asia, with the Japanese “Suzume”, by Makoto Shinkai, as the favourite. It is the first Japanese animated film at the Berlinale after Hayao Miyazaki’s “Spirited Away”, Gold winner in 2002 -ex aequo with “Bloody Sunday”.
The other Asian option is the Chinese “Art College 1994”, by Liu Jian, also animated.