# Golden Bear

The Golden Bear (German: Goldener Bär) is the highest prize awarded for the best film at the Berlin International Film Festival and is, along with the Palme d'Or and the Golden Lion, the most important international film festival award. The bear is the heraldic animal of Berlin, featured on both the coat of arms and flag of Berlin.

## History

The winners of the first Berlin International Film Festival in 1951 were determined by a West German panel, with five winners of the Golden Bear, divided by categories and genres.
Between 1952 and 1955, the winners of the Golden Bear were determined by the audience members.
In 1956, the Fédération Internationale des Associations de Producteurs de Films formally accredited the festival, and since then, the Golden Bear has been awarded by an international jury.

## The award

The statuette shows a bear standing on its hind legs and is based on the 1932 design by German sculptor Renée Sintenis of Berlin's heraldic mascot that later became the symbol of the festival. It has been manufactured since either the first or third edition by art foundry Hermann Noack.
The original award was redesigned in a larger version in 1960, with the left arm of the bear raised as opposed to the right in the former model.
As of 2010, the bear is 20 cm (7.9 in) high and is fixed onto a base where the winning name is engraved. The figurine consists of a bronze core, which is then plated with a layer of gold. The total weight of the award is 4 kg (8.8 lb).

## Winners

Below is a list of all Golden Bear winners since 1951:
| Year | English Title | Original Title | Director | Production Country |
| 1951 | Four in a Jeep (Drama) | Die Vier im Jeep | Leopold Lindtberg | |
| 1951 | Without Leaving an Address (Comedy) | ...Sans laisser d'adresse | Jean-Paul Le Chanois | |
| 1951 | In Beaver Valley (Documentary) | In Beaver Valley (Documentary) | James Algar | |
| 1951 | Justice Is Done (Thriller & Adventure) | Justice est faite | André Cayatte | |
| 1951 | Cinderella (Music Film) | Cinderella (Music Film) | Wilfred Jackson | |
| 1952 | One Summer of Happiness | Hon dansade en sommar | Arne Mattsson | |
| 1953 | The Wages of Fear | Le salaire de la peur | Henri-Georges Clouzot | / |
| 1954 | Hobson's Choice | Hobson's Choice | David Lean | |
| 1955 | Die Ratten | Die Ratten | Robert Siodmak | |
| 1956 | Invitation to the Dance | Invitation to the Dance | Gene Kelly | |
| 1957 | 12 Angry Men | 12 Angry Men | Sidney Lumet | |
| 1958 | Wild Strawberries | Smultronstället | Ingmar Bergman | |
| 1959 | Les Cousins | Les Cousins | Claude Chabrol | |
| 1960 | El Lazarillo de Tormes | El Lazarillo de Tormes | César Fernández Ardavín | |
| 1961 | La Notte | La Notte | Michelangelo Antonioni | |
| 1962 | A Kind of Loving | A Kind of Loving | John Schlesinger | |
| 1963 | Bushido, Samurai Saga | 武士道残酷物語 | Tadashi Imai | |
| 1963 | To Bed or Not to Bed | Il diavolo | Gian Luigi Polidoro | |
| 1964 | Dry Summer | Susuz yaz | Metin Erksan | |
| 1965 | Alphaville | Alphaville, une étrange aventure de Lemmy Caution | Jean-Luc Godard | / |
| 1966 | Cul-de-Sac | Cul-de-Sac | Roman Polanski | |
| 1967 | Le Départ | Le Départ | Jerzy Skolimowski | |
| 1968 | Who Saw Him Die? | Ole dole doff | Jan Troell | |
| 1969 | Early Works | Rani radovi | Želimir Žilnik | |
| 1970 | No awards given because of the controversy surrounding Michael Verhoeven's anti-war film o.k. | No awards given because of the controversy surrounding Michael Verhoeven's anti-war film o.k. | No awards given because of the controversy surrounding Michael Verhoeven's anti-war film o.k. | No awards given because of the controversy surrounding Michael Verhoeven's anti-war film o.k. |
| 1971 | The Garden of the Finzi-Continis | Il giardino dei Finzi Contini | Vittorio De Sica | / |
| 1972 | The Canterbury Tales | I racconti di Canterbury | Pier Paolo Pasolini | |
| 1973 | Distant Thunder | অশনি সংকেত | Satyajit Ray | |
| 1974 | The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz | The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz | Ted Kotcheff | |
| 1975 | Adoption | Örökbefogadás | Márta Mészáros | |
| 1976 | Buffalo Bill and the Indians, or Sitting Bull's History Lesson | Buffalo Bill and the Indians, or Sitting Bull's History Lesson | Robert Altman | |
| 1977 | The Ascent | Восхождение | Larisa Shepitko | |
| 1978 | Ascensor | Ascensor | Tomás Muñoz | |
| 1978 | Las truchas | Las truchas | José Luis García Sánchez | |
| 1978 | What Max Said | Las palabras de Max | Emilio Martínez-Lázaro | |
| 1979 | David | David | Peter Lilienthal | |
| 1980 | Heartland | Heartland | Richard Pearce | |
| 1980 | Palermo or Wolfsburg | Palermo oder Wolfsburg | Werner Schroeter | |
| 1981 | Deprisa, deprisa | Deprisa, deprisa | Carlos Saura | |
| 1982 | Veronika Voss | Die Sehnsucht der Veronika Voss | Rainer Werner Fassbinder | |
| 1983 | Ascendancy | Ascendancy | Edward Bennett | |
| 1983 | La colmena | La colmena | Mario Camus | |
| 1984 | Love Streams | Love Streams | John Cassavetes | |
| 1985 | Wetherby | Wetherby | David Hare | |
| 1985 | The Woman and the Stranger | Die Frau und der Fremde | Rainer Simon | |
| 1986 | Stammheim | Stammheim – Die Baader-Meinhof-Gruppe vor Gericht | Reinhard Hauff | |
| 1987 | The Theme | Teмa | Gleb Panfilov | |
| 1988 | Red Sorghum | 红高粱 | Zhang Yimou | |
| 1989 | Rain Man | Rain Man | Barry Levinson | |
| 1990 | Larks on a String | Skřivánci na niti | Jiří Menzel | |
| 1990 | Music Box | Music Box | Costa-Gavras | |
| 1991 | The House of Smiles | La casa del sorriso | Marco Ferreri | |
| 1992 | Grand Canyon | Grand Canyon | Lawrence Kasdan | |
| 1993 | The Wedding Banquet | 喜宴 | Ang Lee | / |
| 1993 | Woman Sesame Oil Maker | 香魂女 | Xie Fei | |
| 1994 | In the Name of the Father | In the Name of the Father | Jim Sheridan | / |
| 1995 | The Bait | L'appât | Bertrand Tavernier | |
| 1996 | Sense and Sensibility | Sense and Sensibility | Ang Lee | |
| 1997 | The People vs. Larry Flynt | The People vs. Larry Flynt | Miloš Forman | |
| 1998 | Central Station | Central do Brasil | Walter Salles | / |
| 1999 | The Thin Red Line | The Thin Red Line | Terrence Malick | |
| 2000 | Magnolia | Magnolia | Paul Thomas Anderson | |
| 2001 | Intimacy | Intimacy | Patrice Chéreau | |
| 2002 | Bloody Sunday | Bloody Sunday | Paul Greengrass | / |
| 2002 | Spirited Away | 千と千尋の神隠し | Hayao Miyazaki | |
| 2003 | In This World | In This World | Michael Winterbottom | |
| 2004 | Head-On | Gegen die Wand | Fatih Akin | |
| 2005 | U-Carmen eKhayelitsha | U-Carmen eKhayelitsha | Mark Dornford-May | |
| 2006 | Grbavica | Grbavica | Jasmila Žbanić | / |
| 2007 | Tuya's Marriage | 图雅的婚事 | Wang Quan'an | |
| 2008 | Elite Squad | Tropa de Elite | José Padilha | |
| 2009 | The Milk of Sorrow | La teta asustada | Claudia Llosa | / |
| 2010 | Honey | Bal | Semih Kaplanoğlu | |
| 2011 | A Separation | جدایی نادر از سیمین | Asghar Farhadi | |
| 2012 | Caesar Must Die | Cesare deve morire | Paolo and Vittorio Taviani | |
| 2013 | Child's Pose | Poziția copilului | Călin Peter Netzer | |
| 2014 | Black Coal, Thin Ice | 白日焰火 | Diao Yinan | |
| 2015 | Taxi | تاکسی | Jafar Panahi | |
| 2016 | Fire at Sea | Fuocoammare | Gianfranco Rosi | |
| 2017 | On Body and Soul | Testről és lélekről | Ildikó Enyedi | |
| 2018 | Touch Me Not | Nu mă atinge-mă | Adina Pintilie | |
| 2019 | Synonyms | Synonymes | Nadav Lapid | / |
| 2020 | There Is No Evil | شیطان وجود ندارد | Mohammad Rasoulof | |
| 2021 | Bad Luck Banging or Loony Porn | Babardeală cu bucluc sau porno balamuc | Radu Jude | |
| 2022 | Alcarràs | Alcarràs | Carla Simón | / |
| 2023 | On the Adamant | Sur l'Adamant | Nicolas Philibert | / |
| 2024 | Dahomey | Dahomey | Mati Diop | / / |
| 2025 | Dreams (Sex Love) | Drømmer | Dag Johan Haugerud | |

## Multiple winners

As of 2025, Ang Lee is the only filmmaker to win the award twice, for The Wedding Banquet in 1993 and for Sense and Sensibility in 1996.