Berlin film festival top prize for coming-of-age drama, best director for China’s Huo Meng

Dreams (Sex Love), a tender coming-of-age drama about a young woman’s first crush on a teacher and the art of writing won the Golden Bear top prize at the 75th Berlin Film Festival.

The grand jury Silver Bear prize was awarded to Brazilian filmmaker Gabriel Mascaro’s film The Blue Trail, a dystopian story set in the Amazon about an elderly woman who chooses to reject living the rest of her life in a senior housing colony.

Chinese director Huo Meng won best director for Living the Land, his feature about four generations of farmers.

The Golden Bear-winning film by Dag Johan Haugerud, starring Ella Overbye, is the last in a three-part series by the Norwegian director exploring emotional and physical intimacy.

The jury president, American director Todd Haynes, praised the film’s flawless performances and clear-sighted observations about desire, and how it portrayed the act of writing.