Best of Berlin film festival 2020: banned Iranian director claims top prize, Asian cinema shines
- Dissident Iranian director Mohammad Rasoulof’s powerful drama There Is No Evil was named the Golden Bear winner at the 2020 Berlin film festival
- South Korea’s Hong Sang-soo won best director for The Woman Who Ran, with Taiwan’s Tsai Ming-liang praised for his movie Days
This year’s Berlin Film Festival felt a little different. Marking the 70th edition of this august European cinematic gathering, it ran two weeks later than usual because of the Oscars moving forward in the calendar.
There was also a new artistic director, Carlo Chatrian, replacing the long-standing Dieter Kosslick. Adding to this fresh feeling, Chatrian was joined by Mariette Rissenbeek, in the newly created role of the festival’s managing director.
Their collaboration brought the new section Encounters, which promised new and diverse filmmaking voices. Among the films that I caught from that section, Tim Sutton’s Funny Face stood out; a Brooklyn-set tale of gentrification, it starred Cosmo Jarvis, the hugely charismatic young British actor who has all the hallmarks (and the talent) of a young Tom Hardy.
But largely, this year’s Berlinale still promoted the same politically engaged world cinema that has characterised the festival for years.
Certainly, the festival’s strong association with Iranian cinema continued. This was the platform that launched Asghar Farhadi’s A Separation, and here – playing on the final day – came Mohammad Rasoulof’s There Is No Evil.