Michelle Yeoh receives ‘Golden Bear’ at Berlin Film Fest

The Berlin Film Festival opened on Thursday night with the message that new voices matter as Hollywood legend Michelle Yeoh recalled how the festival supported her early ⁠in her career. “When I was still searching for where I belonged, Berlin welcomed me. That early welcome mattered,” said Yeoh as she accepted an Honorary Golden Bear for lifetime achievement.

“It said there was space for voices from the edges, refused to behave, for artists still becoming themselves,” she said, clutching the prize to her chest during her speech. That message was further driven home with the opening ⁠film, “No Good Men,” a political romantic comedy set in Kabul shortly before the Taliban took over in 2021 that was directed by the 35-year-old Iran-born Afghan filmmaker Sharhbanoo Sadat.

“We could choose something really obvious, something from a filmmaker people have heard of, or with recognizable stars,” festival director Tricia Tuttle said on the red carpet. “But this is a film that made us laugh and made us cry.”

Actors including Bella Ramsey, Neil Patrick Harris, Daniel Bruehl and Lars Eidinger assembled on the rainy carpet ahead of the ceremony. Several attendees used their time before the cameras to make a political statement, with one group holding up sheets that said “Watch out, fascists! ⁠We are more!” while another cluster held up signs in support of the Iranian people.

German director Wim Wenders, who is heading this year’s international jury, said that the films he has already watched reminded him why he loved Berlin. “It’s so varied and it’s really about issues more than — well, I love glamour, don’t get me wrong, but sometimes it’s good to scratch a little bit,” Wenders said ahead of the ceremony.

Wenders and the six other jury members will hand out the top Golden Bear prize at the festival’s closing ceremony on Feb.21.

“Anora” director Sean ⁠Baker was also at the festival for the first time to present Yeoh with the lifetime achievement award. Baker, who recently worked with Yeoh on a short film called “Sandiwara” about life in Malaysia, admitted he had been a fan of ⁠the Oscar winner since watching bootleg VHS tapes from her Hong Kong years that he found in New York City’s Chinatown. “There’s no small project for Michelle Yeoh. There’s only the question: how do we make this honest? How do we make ⁠this alive?” said Baker.

Meanwhile, Wenders hailed the power of cinema to “change the world” as the event’s 76th edition kicked off, promising an eclectic selection of films reflecting current upheavals. The Berlinale is the first major international festival on the annual film calendar, and has a reputation for topical and progressive programming. This year’s edition takes place against the backdrop of international tensions and global threats to human rights.

Speaking alongside other members of the jury at a press conference, Wenders, one of Germany’s most celebrated directors, said “movies can change the world”, but cautioned that “no movie has really changed any politician’s idea”. “We can change the idea that people have of how they should live,” said Wenders, who himself won an honorary Golden Bear award at the festival in 2015 in recognition of an illustrious career stretching back to the 1970s.

In comparison with Cannes or Venice, Berlin attracts fewer big productions with A-list-heavy casts. But that is not to say there are no big names on the programme. “The Weight” features Russell Crowe and Ethan Hawke in a tale of a man forced to smuggle gold through the lethal wilderness of Depression-era rural Oregon.

Southern Germany stands in for the US Northwest in the film, one of an increasing number of American productions choosing to shoot abroad to save on costs. In the official competition section, one of the most eagerly awaited films is “Rosebush Pruning”, from Berlinale favourite Karim Ainouz, billed as “a biting satire about the absurdity of the traditional patriarchal family”. The cast boasts Elle Fanning, Callum Turner, Jamie Bell and Pamela Anderson, who are sure to be some of Saturday’s red-carpet highlights.

Agencies