“Bad Luck Banging or Loony Porn,” a modern day satire from Romanian director Radu Jude, won the Golden Bear for Best Film at the Berlinale, or the Berlin International Film Festival.
“Bad Luck Banging or Loony Porn” tells the story of a school teacher who finds her reputation under threat after her personal sex tape is leaked onto the Internet, with her refusing to give into pressure from parents to step down. The film challenges the ideas of hypocrisy and prejudice in our society. The jury for the festival said it had the “rare and essential quality lasting art work.”
“It captures on screen the very content and essence, the mind and body, the values and the raw flesh of our present moment in time. Of this very moment of human existence,” the jury wrote. “It does so by provoking the spirit of our time (i.e., zeitgeist), by slapping it, by challenging it to a duel. And while doing that, it also challenges this present moment in cinema, shaking, with the same camera movement, our social and our cinematic conventions. It is an elaborated film as well as a wild one, clever and childish, geometrical and vibrant, imprecise in the best way. It attacks the spectator, evokes disagreement, but leaves no one with a safety distance.”
The 71st Annual Berlinale ran from March 1-5, and the Grand Jury prize was voted on by a jury that included Ildikó Enyedi, Nadav Lapid, Adina Pintilie, Mohammad Rasoulof, Gianfranco Rosi and Jasmila Zbanic.
Second prize went to Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s “Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy,” a drama and romance told in three parts about an unexpected love triangle and failed seduction trap.
“At first it looks almost minor: a man and a woman, sometimes two women, stand in a room with white walls. Then the scene moves forward, and as it advances you feel that the whole universe, including yourself, is standing there with them inside this simple room,” the jury wrote of the film.
Maren Eggert won Best Leading Performance from the festival for her work in “I’m Your Man,” and Lilla Kizlinger won Best Supporting Performance in “Forest – I See You Everywhere.”
The awards will be presented in a ceremony this summer for a special event with an audience between June 9-20. See the full list of awards winners for the Berlinale below.
Berlinale 2021: The Award Winners of the Competition
Golden Bear for Film: “Bad Luck Banging or Loony Porn” by Radu Jude
Silver Bear Grand Jury Prize: “Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy” by Ryusuke Hamaguchi
Silver Bear Jury Prize: “Mr Bachmann and His Class” by Maria Speth
Silver Bear for Director: Dénes Nagy for “Natural Light”
Silver Bear for Leading Performance: Maren Eggert in “I’m Your Man” by Maria Schrader
Silver Bear for Supporting Performance: Lilla Kizlinger in “Forest – I See You Everywhere” by Bence Fliegauf
Silver Bear for Screenplay: Hong Sangsoo for “Introduction” by Hong Sangsoo
Silver Bear for Outstanding Artistic Contribution: Yibrán Asuad for the editing of “A Cop Movie” by Alonso Ruizpalacios
Berlinale 2021: Awards of the Encounters Section
Best Film: “We” by Alice Diop
Special Jury Award: “Taste” by Lê Bảo
Best Director (ex-aequo): “The Girl and the Spider” by Ramon Zürcher, Silvan Zürcher
Best Director (ex-aequo): “Social Hygiene” by Denis Côté
Special Mention: “Rock Bottom Riser” by Fern Silva
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