The Berlin International Film Festival has revealed its 2026 awards winners, with Ilker Çatak’s Yellow Letters taking the Golden Bear.
The Turkey-set drama follows an actress and her professor husband who find themselves targeted by the state and lose their jobs and their home.
Elsewhere, the Silver Bear Grand Jury Prize went to Emin Alper’s Kurtuluş and the Silver Bear Jury Prize was presented to Lance Hammer’s Queen at Sea.
Grant Gee picked up Best Director for Everybody Digs Bill Evans, while Best Screenplay went to Geneviève Dulude-de Celles for Nina Roza.
In front of the camera, Best Leading Performance was presented to Sandra Hüller for her turn in Rose, and Best Supporting Performance was given to Anna Calder-Marshall and Tom Courtenay for Queen at Sea.
Outstanding Artistic Contribution went to Anna Fitch and Banker White for Yo (Love Is a Rebellious Bird).
The members of the 2026 International Jury included Wim Wenders (president), Min Bahadur Bham, Bae Doona, Shivendra Singh Dungarpur, Reinaldo Marcus Green, HIKARI and Ewa Puszczyńsk.
Before the celebration of the winners, festival director Tricia Tuttle said a few words about the event: “This Berlinale has taken place in a world that feels raw and fractured. Many people arrived carrying grief, anger and urgency about what is happening far beyond these cinema walls. Those feelings are real. They belong in our community. We hear them.
“We have also been publicly challenged this year. That comes with being a visible cultural institution in a polarised moment. Criticism is part of democracy. So is disagreement. We respect people speaking out, even when we do not agree with every claim that is made about us.
“What I am proud of is this. Over these 10 days, the Berlinale has remained what it was founded to be. A place where people gather in public, where everyone is welcome, across difference, to sit together in the dark and look at the world through the eyes of others.
“278 films from 80 countries. Filmmakers who risked a great deal to tell their stories. There are films about violence, injustice, memory and survival, and also art and love and friendship.
“Free expression at the Berlinale is not one voice. It is many voices. Sometimes calm. Sometimes angry. Sometimes it looks silent but it is speaking through cinema. These voices can be contradictory. A festival does not resolve the world’s conflicts. But it can make space for complexity, listening, and humanising each other.
“And we see this complexity reflected in the films — these do not offer one perspective — though they do all share something. They share a deep care about this world, and about people. They urge, they inspire, they demand, and they quietly or loudly insist that we SEE.
“And this diversity of perspective will be reflected in the films which will be awarded tonight. Tonight is their space, and a chance for us to listen.
“If this Berlinale has been noisy and emotionally charged, that is not a failure of cinema. That is the Berlinale doing its job. This is cinema doing its job.
“Thank you to our filmmakers, our audiences, and our extraordinary, wonderful Berlinale team.”
More information is available on the Berlinale website.
