‘Bad Luck Banging Or Loony Porn’ wins Golden Bear at 2021 Berlin Film Festival

The Golden Bear for best film at the 2021 Berlin International Film Festival has been won by Radu Jude’s Bad Luck Banging Or Loony Porn.

Scroll down for full list of winners

The social satire was shot in Romania during the summer of 2020 during a lull in the pandemic, and stars Katia Pascariu as a school teacher who finds her career and reputation on the line after a personal sex tape is leaked onto the Internet. Heretic Outreach handles sales.

Romanian filmmaker Jude was last in competition at the Berlinale in 2015, when he won the best director Silver Bear with Aferim!. 

Traditionally the awards are handed out during a glitzy ceremony at the Berlinale Palast. But for the 71st edition of the festival, which ran as an industry-focused, online-only edition from March 1-5, the Competition and Encounters prizes were revealed via a video presentation by the juries, hosted by artistic director Carlo Chatrian.

It saw the Berlinale award its first ever gender-neutral acting awards, replacing the best actor and actress prizes.

Maren Eggert won the inaugural best performance prize for Maria Schrader’s I’m Your Man, whilst Lilla Kizlinger won best supporting performance for Bence Fliegauf’s Forest — I See You Everywhere.

The jury awarded the Silver Bear Grand Jury Prize to Japanese filmmaker Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s episodic Wheel Of Fortune And Fantasy. Hamaguchi’s previous feature,  Asako I & II, debuted in Competition at Cannes in 2018.

The Silver Bear for best director was presented to Hungary’s Dénes Nagy for his feature debut Natural Light, about a Hungarian army officer in the Second World War.

The best screenplay Silver Bear went to South Korea’s Hong Sangsoo for Introduction. He won Berlin’s best director prize last year with The Woman Who Ran.

The Silver Bear for outstanding artistic contribution was awarded to Yibrán Asuad for editing A Cop Movie, directed by Mexcio’s Alonso Ruizpalacios, for which Netflix has acquired world rights.

This year’s international jury comprised six previous Golden Bear winners: Ildikó Enyedi, Nadav Lapid, Adina Pintilie, Mohammad Rasoulof, Gianfranco Rosi and Jasmila Žbanić.

Five of the jury members saw the films in person in a cinema in Berlin. Rasoulof watched the films from Tehran as he remains under house arrest.

The Berlinale is planning to hold a physical awards ceremony to hand out the honours during its Summer Special event, set to run June 9-20.

Encounters prizes

Meanwhile, the jury for the Encounters competition, comprising French programmer Florence Almozini, festival director Cecilia Barrionuevo and editor and publisher Diedrich Diederichsen, awarded its best film prize to Alice Diop’s We.

The film explores the diversity of Paris through a trip on its suburban trainline. French filmmaker Diop broke out with her 2016 documentary On Call. Totem Films is handling sales.

The Encounters section was introduced last year to support new voices in cinema.

Other winners included Ramon Zürcher and Silvan Zürcher (The Girl And The Spider), and Denis Côté (Social Hygiene), who jointly picked up the director award. A special mention was given to US feature Rock Bottom Riser, directed by Fern Silva.

Berlin 2021 winners

Competition

Golden Bear for Best Film - Bad Luck Banging Or Loony Porn, Radu Jude

Silver Bear Grand Jury Prize - Wheel Of Fortune And Fantasy, Ryusuke Hamaguchi

The Silver Bear Jury Prize - Mr Bachmann And His Class, Maria Speth

Silver Bear for Best Director - Dénes Nagy, Natural Light

Silver Bear for Best Performance - Maren Eggert, I’m Your Man

Silver Bear for Best Supporting Performance - Lilla Kizlinger, Forest - I See You Everywhere

Silver Bear for Best Screenplay - Hong Sangsoo, Introduction

Silver Bear for Outstanding Artistic Contribution - Yibrán Asuad for editing A Cop Movie

Encounters

Best Film - We, Alice Diop

Special Jury Award - Taste, Le Bao 

Best director - (joint winners): Ramon Zürcher, Silvan Zürcher, The Girl And The Spider and Denis Côté, Social Hygiene

Special mention - Rock Bottom Riser, Fern Silva