The Prizes of the International Jury
The most important awards at the Berlinale are the Golden Bear and the Silver Bears. They are presented by the International Jury to films in the Competition and belong to the most renowned awards in the international film industry.
Jury President 2025: Todd Haynes
The US-American director, screenwriter and producer Todd Haynes will be President of the International Jury of the 75th Berlin International Film Festival.
Over nearly 40 years, Todd Haynes has been one of the most bold and distinctive filmmaking voices in US-American cinema, beloved for his great sensitivity in exploring the interior worlds of outsiders and women, and his fascinating investigations into gender and identity.
His skill at creating complex characters has attracted many of the world’s finest actors. Stars such as Julianne Moore, Cate Blanchett, Rooney Mara, Kate Winslet, Anne Hathaway, Natalie Portman, Mark Ruffalo, Christian Bale and Ewan McGregor have played the multi-layered characters in his films. Todd Haynes' films and their actors have won awards at numerous international film festivals.
Emerging into international prominence in the early 1990s as part of a thrilling new generation of US-American directors (dubbed “New Queer Cinema” by critic B. Ruby Rich), by the time of his four-time Oscar nominated film, Far from Heaven (2002), Haynes was fully established as a major force in US filmmaking. His feature film debut Poison received the TEDDY AWARD, the queer film prize at the Berlinale, in 1991, and won the Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival. Other key works include Safe (1995), Velvet Goldmine (1998), the fictional Bob Dylan biopic I'm Not There (2007), which won the Grand Jury Prize in Venice, the mini-series Mildred Pierce (2011), Carol (2015), Wonderstruck (2017), Dark Waters (2019), The Velvet Underground (2021) and May December (2023).
The International Jury is selected every year by the Festival Director and presents the following awards:
- Golden Bear for Best Film (awarded to the film’s producers)
- Silver Bear Grand Jury Prize
- Silver Bear Jury Prize
- Silver Bear for Best Director
- Silver Bear for Best Leading Performance
- Silver Bear for Best Supporting Performance
- Silver Bear for Best Screenplay
- Silver Bear for Outstanding Artistic Contribution
None of the Bears may be awarded ex aequo. The Jury may not award more than one prize to the same film, except in the case of the acting awards, which may be awarded in addition to any other prize (Golden Bear, Silver Bear Grand Jury Prize etc.).
In recent years, internationally recognised personalities from the world of film such as Kristen Stewart, Wong Kar Wai, Mike Leigh, Isabella Rossellini, Werner Herzog, Tilda Swinton, Darren Aronofsky, Meryl Streep and Paul Verhoeven were invited to head the jury. Jury members include directors, actresses and actors as well as producers, but also writers and artists.
festival.
Award Winners from earlier festival years are available in the archive.