Berlin competition titles Soumsoum, the Night of the Stars, and Moscas won over the independent juries at this year’s Berlinale, with Soumsoum, from Franco-Chadian auteur Mahamat-Saleh Haroun, taking top prize for best film from the Fipresci jury of international film critics, and Moscas from Mexican Director Fernando Eimbcke, winning the top honor of this year’s Ecumenical jury.
Soumsoum follows a 17-year-old girl haunted by visions and supernatural powers she cannot understand. In our review, The Hollywood Reporter critic Jordan Mintzer called the film “a modern-day fable of adolescence and resilience that plays, at times, like a classic teen horror flick — minus the jump scares but with similar twists and motifs.” Films Boutique is handling worldwide sales.
The black-and-white drama Moscas plays on a sweeter register, following a young boy who, while waiting for news of his hospitalized mother, slowly breaks down the resistance of a lonely woman who has forgotten the value of human connection. In his review, THR chief critic David Rooney gave Moscas a rave, saying it was precisely the kind of “low-key observational comedy and incisive character definition [that] Mexican director Eimbcke does best.” Alpha Violet is handling world sales for Moscas.
The Fipresci prize for best film in the Berlinale Perspectives section went to British prison drama Animol, the directorial debut of Adolescence actor Ashley Walters, which features Adolescence star Stephen Graham alongside Tut Nyuot (Steve, The Long Walk). Marcelo Martinessi’s Paraguayan drama Narciso took the prize for best film in Panorama, and Japanese horror comedy AnyMart, from director Iwasaki Yusuke, won for best Forum film.
The Ecumenical jury gave its Panorama honor to Pete Muller’s documentary Bucks Harbor, set among the fishermen of Downeast Maine, and its prize for best film in Berlin’s Forum section to Kristina Mikhailova’s Kasachstani-set documentary River Dreams.
Iván & Hadoum, Ian de la Rosa’s star-crossed romance about a trans man and woman working as seasonal pickers in a greenhouse in southern Spain, won the Teddy Award for best LGBTQ+ feature film at the 2026 Berlinale.
The full list of the independent jury winners is below.
PRIZES OF THE FIPRESCI JURYCompetitionSoumsoum, la nuit des astres (Soumsoum, the Night of the Stars)PerspectivesAnimolPanoramaNarcisoForumAnyMart
PRIZES OF THE ECUMENICAL JURYCompetitionMoscas (Flies)PanoramaBucks HarborForumRiver Dreams
TEDDY AWARDSBest Feature FilmIván & HadoumBest Documentary/Essay FilmBarbara ForeverBest Short FilmTAXI MOTOJury AwardDer Heimatlose (Trial of Hein)Special Teddy AwardCéline Sciamma
CICAE ART CINEMA AWARDPanoramaStaatsschutz (Prosecution)ForumDe capul nostru (On Our Own)
GUILD FILM PRIZEWinnerGelbe Briefe (Yellow Letters)
LABEL EUROPA CINEMASWinnerVier Minus Drei (Four Minus Three)
CALIGARI FILM PRIZEWinnerIf Pigeons Turned to Gold
PEACE FILM PRIZEWinnerTUTU
AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL FILM AWARDWinnerWhat Will I Become?
HEINER CAROW PRIZEWinnerStaatsschutz (Prosecution)
PRIZE OF AG KINO – GILDE – CINEMA VISION 14PLUSWinnerWhat Will I Become?Special MentionSunny Dancer
BERLINER MORGENPOST READERS’ JURY AWARDWinnerMoscas (Flies)
TAGESSPIEGEL READERS’ JURY AWARDWinnerI Built a Rocket Imagining Your Arrival
KOMPAGNON FELLOWSHIPWinnerMaya with YWinnerMother/Tongue
ARTEKINO INTERNATIONAL AWARDWinnerLotus Feet
EURIMAGES CO-PRODUCTION DEVELOPMENT AWARDWinnerLiberations
VFF TALENT HIGHLIGHT AWARDMain AwardThe Most Romantic Man in the WorldNomination AwardWatch It BurnNomination AwardActs of Kindness
BERLINALE TALENTS MASTERCARD ENABLEMENT PROGRAMMEMain AwardAudiovisual Entrepreneurs Laboratory (AVEL)Main AwardenREDaderaAlumni Project AwardMajoaneng – Academy of Images and LettersAlumni Project AwardSuper Sohni
GEN Z AUDIENCE AWARDWinnerCura Sana
THE DREAM MAKERS SHORT FILM CONTESTMain AwardThe ZebraNomination AwardDay One
