The 76th Berlin International Film Festival concluded with a dazzling array of honours celebrating cinematic excellence across competitions, documentaries, shorts, and emerging talents. Under the leadership of jury president Wim Wenders, the festival showcased diverse voices from around the world. From the prestigious Golden Bear to audience favourites and development grants, here’s a full roundup of the winners, drawn from the official press release issued on February 21, 2026.

Prizes of the Official Juries

International Jury Awards
Jury: Wim Wenders (President), Min Bahadur Bham, Bae Doona, Shivendra Singh Dungarpur, Reinaldo Marcus Green, HIKARI, Ewa Puszczyńska

• Golden Bear for Best Film: Gelbe Briefe (Yellow Letters) by İlker Çatak, produced by Ingo Fliess
• Silver Bear Grand Jury Prize: Kurtuluş (Salvation) by Emin Alper
• Silver Bear Jury Prize: Queen at Sea by Lance Hammer
• Silver Bear for Best Director: Grant Gee for Everybody Digs Bill Evans
• Silver Bear for Best Leading Performance: Sandra Hüller in Rose by Markus Schleinzer
• Silver Bear for Best Supporting Performance: Anna Calder-Marshall & Tom Courtenay in Queen at Sea by Lance Hammer
• Silver Bear for Best Screenplay: Geneviève Dulude-de Celles for Nina Roza by Geneviève Dulude-de Celles
• Silver Bear for Outstanding Artistic Contribution: Anna Fitch, Banker White for Yo (Love is a Rebellious Bird) by Anna Fitch, Banker White

Perspectives Jury Awards (Best First Feature)
Jury: Sofia Alaoui, Frédéric Hambalek, Dorota Lech

• Best First Feature Award (endowed with €50,000, funded by GWFF): Chronicles From the Siege by Abdallah Alkhatib, produced by Taqiyeddine Issaad, Salah Issaad
• Special Mention: Forêt Ivre (Forest High) by Manon Coubia

Berlinale Documentary Award
Jury: Lemohang Mosese, B Ruby Rich, Shaunak Sen

• Berlinale Documentary Award (endowed with €40,000): If Pigeons Turned to Gold by Pepa Lubojacki, produced by Klára Mamojková, Wanda Kaprálová
• Special Mention: TUTU by Sam Pollard
• Special Mention: Was an Empfindsamkeit bleibt (Sometimes, I Imagine Them All at a Party) by Daniela Magnani Hüller

International Short Film Jury Awards
Jury: Ameer Fakher Eldin, Stefan Grissemann, Gabriele Stötzer

• Golden Bear for Best Short Film: Yawman ma walad (Someday a Child) by Marie-Rose Osta
• Silver Bear Jury Prize (Short Film): A Woman’s Place Is Everywhere by Fanny Texier
• Berlinale Shorts Cupra Filmmaker Award (endowed with €20,000): Jingkai Qu for Di san xian (Kleptomania)
• Berlin Short Film Candidate for the European Film Awards: Not specified in the release

Generation Kplus Awards
Children’s Jury: Walter Moritz Arndt, Gustav Arnz, Thabani Dabulamanzi, Rosa Sophie Krasznahorkai, Vera Marsh, Emir Efe Özeren, Alma Sofia Villanueva Bullemer

• Crystal Bear for the Best Film: Feito Pipa (Gugu’s World) by Allan Deberton
• Special Mention: Not a Hero by Rima Das
• Crystal Bear for the Best Short Film: Whale 52 – Suite for Man, Boy, and Whale by Daniel Neiden
• Special Mention: Under the Wave off Little Dragon by Luo Jian

International Jury: Khozy Rizal, Lena Urzendowsky, Kim Yutani

• Grand Prix for the Best Film (endowed with €7,500 by Deutsches Kinderhilfswerk): Feito Pipa (Gugu’s World) by Allan Deberton
• Special Mention: Atlasul universului (Atlas of the Universe) by Paul Negoescu
• Special Prize for the Best Short Film (endowed with €2,500 by Deutsches Kinderhilfswerk): Spî (White) by Navroz Shaban
• Special Mention: Under the Wave off Little Dragon by Luo Jian

Generation 14plus Awards
Youth Jury: Lorin Aktaş, Sherwin Lo-Kuo, Minou Monfared, Elda Pfäfflin, Curt Willemeit

• Crystal Bear for the Best Film: Chicas Tristes (Sad Girlz) by Fernanda Tovar
• Special Mention: A Family by Mees Peijnenburg
• Crystal Bear for the Best Short Film: Memories of a Window by Mehraneh Salimian, Amin Pakparvar
• Special Mention: Allá en el cielo (Nobody Knows the World) by Roddy Dextre

International Jury: Khozy Rizal, Lena Urzendowsky, Kim Yutani

• Grand Prix for the Best Film (endowed with €7,500 by Bundeszentrale für politische Bildung): Chicas Tristes (Sad Girlz) by Fernanda Tovar
• Special Mention: Matapanki by Diego „Mapache“ Fuentes
• Special Prize for the Best Short Film (endowed with €2,500 by Bundeszentrale für politische Bildung): The Thread by Fenn O‘Meally
• Special Mention: Memories of a Window by Mehraneh Salimian, Amin Pakparvar

Prizes of the Independent Juries

Ecumenical Jury Awards
Jury (Competition/Panorama/Forum): Various members including Jean-Jacques Cunnac, Douglas P. Fahleson, Daria Pezzoli-Olgiati, Stephen Brown, Ingrid Stapf, Lea Wohl von Haselberg

• Competition: Moscas (Flies) by Fernando Eimbcke
• Panorama (endowed with €2,500): Bucks Harbor by Pete Muller
• Forum (endowed with €2,500): River Dreams by Kristina Mikhailova

FIPRESCI Jury Awards
Jury (Various sections): Multiple panels

• Competition: Soumsoum, la nuit des astres (Soumsoum, the Night of the Stars) by Mahamat-Saleh Haroun
• Perspectives: Animol by Ashley Walters
• Panorama: Narciso by Marcelo Martinessi
• Forum: AnyMart by Yusuke Iwasaki

Teddy Awards
Jury: Saagar Gupta, Skadi Loist, Daniela Vega, Sigal Yehuda, Ray Yeung

• Best Feature Film: Iván & Hadoum by Ian de la Rosa
• Best Documentary/Essay Film: Barbara Forever by Brydie O’Connor
• Best Short Film: Taxi Moto by Gaël Kamilindi
• Jury Award: Der Heimatlose (Trial of Hein) by Kai Stänicke
• Special Teddy Award: Céline Sciamma

CICAE Art Cinema Award
Jury (Panorama/Forum): Various members

• Panorama: Staatsschutz (Prosecution) by Faraz Shariat
• Forum: De capul nostru (On Our Own) by Tudor Cristian Jurgiu

Guild Film Prize
Jury: Hans-Jörg Blondiau, Kathrin Bohm-Berg, Claudia Dostal

• Guild Film Prize: Gelbe Briefe (Yellow Letters) by İlker Çatak
• Special Mention: The Loneliest Man in Town by Tizza Covi, Rainer Frimmel

Label Europa Cinemas
Jury: Maja Holek, Ute Mader, Minna Nurmi, Kristiina Saar

• Label Europa Cinemas: Vier Minus Drei (Four Minus Three) by Adrian Goiginger

Caligari Film Prize (endowed with €4,000)
Jury: Jonas Helmerichs, Marlene Hofmann, Moritz Mutter

• If Pigeons Turned to Gold by Pepa Lubojacki

Peace Film Prize (endowed with €5,000)
Jury: Mahdiye Agahi, Jasmina Barckhausen, Therese Berg, Jakobine Motz, Christiane Mudra

• TUTU by Sam Pollard

Amnesty International Film Award (endowed with €5,000)
Jury: Gizem Emre, Sheri Hagen, Ines Wildhage

• What Will I Become? by Lexie Bean, Logan Rozos

Heiner Carow Prize
Jury: Maren Liese, Şafak Şengül, Jan Soldat

• Staatsschutz (Prosecution) by Faraz Shariat

Prize of AG Kino – Gilde – Cinema Vision 14plus
Jury: Ophelia Sophia Hertel, Nadine Melzer, Dina Schilke

• What Will I Become? by Lexie Bean, Logan Rozos
• Special Mention: Sunny Dancer by George Jaques

Further Prizes

Audience Awards

• Panorama Audience Award – Feature Film: Staatsschutz (Prosecution) by Faraz Shariat
• Panorama Audience Award – Documentary Film: Traces by Alisa Kovalenko, Marysia Nikitiuk

Readers’ Juries

• Berliner Morgenpost Readers’ Jury Award: Moscas (Flies) by Fernando Eimbcke
• Tagesspiegel Readers’ Jury Award: I Built a Rocket Imagining Your Arrival by Janaína Marques

Development Awards

Kompagnon Fellowship
Jury: Sara Fazilat, Dieu Hao Do, Linda Kirmse

• Maya with Y by Elmar Imanov
• Mother/Tongue by Mala Reinhardt

ArteKino International Award (endowed with €6,000)
Jury: Rémi Burah, Julie Savary

• Lotus Feet by Amanda Nell Eu, produced by Ghost Grrrl Pictures

Eurimages Co-Production Development Award (endowed with €20,000)
Jury: Pablo Pérez de Lema, Ioanna Stais, Jonas Dornbach

• Liberations by Laurynas Bareiša, produced by afterschool production

VFF Talent Highlight Award (endowed with €10,000)
Jury: Alexander Thies, Tobias Pausinger

• The Most Romantic Man in the World by Simon Jaquemet, produced by 8horses
• Nomination Awards (endowed with €1,000 each): Watch It Burn by Yulia Evina Bhara (produced by KawanKawan Media); Acts of Kindness by Gary Cranner (produced by Mantra Film)

Berlinale Talents Mastercard Enablement Programme (endowed with €10,000 each)
Jury: Lamin Leroy Gibba, Mala Reinhardt, Maximilian Floegel

• Audiovisual Entrepreneurs Laboratory (AVEL) by Tapiwa Chipfupa
• enREDadera by Jaimar Marcano Vivas
• Alumni Projects (endowed with €2,000 each): Majoaneng – Academy of Images and Letters by Phillip Leteka; Super Sohni by Ammar Aziz

Gen Z Audience Award (endowed with €5,000)
Jury: Daniel Beschareti, Isidora Lazić, Nicolas Chapt, Pauline Szczesny, Sophia Beatrice

• Cura Sana by Lucía G. Romero, produced by Filmax

The Dream Makers Short Film Contest by Cupra (in collaboration with Berlinale Talents and Studio Babelsberg)
Jury: Daniel Brühl, Ignacio Prieto, J.A. Bayona, Marcus Loges, Tricia Tuttle

• Main Prize (funded with €200,000): The Zebra by Alfie Barker
• Special Recognition (funded with €100,000): Day One by Renis Hyka

This year’s Berlinale highlighted themes of resilience, identity, and innovation, with standout wins for films like Gelbe Briefe and If Pigeons Turned to Gold. The festival continues to champion global storytelling, setting the stage for these winners to influence the cinematic landscape in the coming year.