Israeli films win in Berlin

Udi Aloni’s 'Junction 48' and Tomer and Barak Heymann’s 'Who's Gonna Love Me Now?' win viewer awards at the Berlin International Film Festival.

By HANNAH BROWN
Updated: FEBRUARY 21, 2016 14:15
Israeli-Palestinian hip-hop film Junction 48 wins Audience Award at Berlinale
The two winners of the Panorama Audience Awards presented at the 66th Berlinale, the Berlin International Film Festival, are from Israel: Udi Aloni’s Junction 48 in the fiction film category and Tomer and Barak Heymann’s Who's Gonna Love Me Now? in the documentary section.
The winners were announced on Saturday at noon. Aloni’s Junction 48 tells the story of a Palestinian rapper in Lod. Since 2003 he has presented all of his films at Berlin. Junction 48 was the sixth production to premiere in the Panorama section.
The Heymann brothers’ Who’s Gonna Love Me Now? is about an Israeli gay man with HIV who lives in London, and his relationship with his family. This is the second Panorama Audience Award for Tomer Heymann, whose documentary, Paper Dolls, won in 2006.
The Heymann brothers recently released the popular documentary, Mr. Gaga, a portrait of the Batsheva Dance Company’s artistic director, Ohad Naharin, which Tomer directed and Barak produced.
During the festival, moviegoers were asked to rate the films shown in the Panorama section on voting cards after the screenings. A total of 30,000 votes were cast.
This year, 51 feature-length films from 33 countries were shown in the Panorama section. The Panorama awards are given by the Berlinale Panorama section in collaboration with radioeins, Berlin-Brandenburg’s public radio and television station (rbb).
The Panorama Awards will be presented February 21 in CinemaxX 7 at Potsdamer Platz. The winners of the main Competition, a section in which Meryl Streep was the head of the International Jury, were announced Saturday night in a ceremony at the Berlinale Palast.
The winner of the Golden Bear for Best Film went to Fire at Sea by Gianfranco Rosi, a documentary about migrants arriving in Lamepdusa.
The Silver Bear Grand Jury Prize went to Death in Sarajevo, a movie by Danis Tanovic about contemporary problems in that city, while the Silver Bear for Best Director went to Mia Hansen-Løve for L' avenir (Things to Come), about a woman played by Isabelle Huppert coping with a divorce.