Two decades after the immense success of To be and to Have, the 72-year-old documentary filmmaker Nicolas Philibert is enjoying new success. After school, the director immersed himself in the psychiatric universe. On the Adamantthe first film in an upcoming trilogy on the subject, was awarded the Golden Bear at the Berlinale last night, the most prestigious award at the German film festival.
Baptized after the name of the barge moored on the banks of the Seine in Paris, the film, without voice-over, scrutinizes the faces of the patients welcomed each day on the deck of the ship. Philibert’s work shows the boundary that is gradually blurred between caregivers and patients. On the Adamant East “an attempt to reverse the image we have of people with madness”explained the director when he received his award. “The clichés are tenacious, the film tries to unravel them (but) there is a long way to go”nevertheless conceded Nicolas Philibert.
In his film, we can see patients participating in therapeutic or artistic workshops, and thus forgetting their sick status to build a common life. “The craziest people are not the ones you think”added on stage the director of this long-term film.
“A story of humanity and commitment”
Regularly, documentaries are selected in major international film competitions. But they are rarely awarded. Last September, the Venice Film Festival decided to award its Golden Lion to documentary film All the beauty and the bloodshed by Laura Poitras, a work on the opiate crisis that has hit the United States for more than a decade. For Philibert, receiving the Berlin Golden Lion “is a recognition of documentary films, my type of art”he praised, hoping that it can help other documentary filmmakers to develop their projects.
Congratulations to Nicolas Philibert, awarded in Berlin with a Golden Bear for his new documentary “On the Adamant”! He is a humanist author who is honored. And also its heroes, the patients and caregivers of the psychiatric world. A story of humanity and commitment.
—Emmanuel Macron (@EmmanuelMacron) February 25, 2023
The success of Nicolas Philibert has not failed to be hailed, including by the President of the Republic. “He is a humanist author who is honored. And also its heroes, the patients and caregivers of the psychiatric world. A story of humanity and commitment», greeted Emmanuel Macron on Saturday evening in a tweet. Another Frenchman, Philippe Garrel, 74, received the Silver Bear for best director for The Big Carta film that looks like an artistic testament shot with his children.
The jury, which also included the former holders of the Golden Bear Radu Jude and Carla Simon, and the Franco-Iranian actress Golshifteh Farahani, chose to reward the performance of the Spaniard Sofia Otera, an 8-year-old girl years, for his role in 20,000 species of bees. The budding actress received the award for best performance, a gender-neutral award that replaces the award for best actor or best actress in Berlin.
In the film directed by the Spaniard Estíbaliz Urresola, Sofia Otera plays a nine-year-old child, born a boy who considers himself a girl. The question of gender and transidentity, which more and more filmmakers are looking into, was present as never before in the Berlin awards. Thus, the Austrian trans actress Thea Ehre received the interpretation award for a secondary character in Till The End of The Nightand the thinker Paul B. Preciado, a key figure on these issues, was rewarded in the parallel sections for his first film Orlando, my political biography.
Beyond the competition, this 73rd edition also saw Sean Penn present a documentary on his wanderings in Ukraine at war. On the Golden Bear of Honor side, U2 singer Bono and legendary director Steven Spielberg came to collect their golden statuette.