The Berlin International Film Festival has just become a little bit more inclusive. Starting next year, the performance awards will be gender neutral, said the festival directors Mariette Rissenbeek and Carlo Chatrian in a
joint statement.This means that the previous Best Actor and Best Actress categories will be condensed into one category, ‘Silver Bear for Best Leading Performance.’ There will also be a supporting performance category, ‘Silver Bear for Best Supporting Performance,’ both of which will be awarded on a gender-neutral basis and will presumably comprise of nominees from across the gender spectrum.[video_embed id='1837779']RELATED: Google aims to make gaming world more inclusive with gender neutral controller[/video_embed]“We believe that not separating the awards in the acting field according to gender comprises a signal for a more gender-sensitive awareness in the film industry,” said Rissenbeek and Chatrian in their official
statement.Berlinale’s decision makes it the first international film festival to make such a change. Other major international film festivals like Cannes, Venice, and others still have Best Actor and Best Actress categories. The Toronto International Film Festival does not currently award prizes for performances.This change comes on the heels of Asia Kate Dillion, a non-gender-binary performer who uses the pronouns they/them,
asking the SAG Awards to drop their gender specific categories in favour of more inclusive titles. The SAG committee
declined the push.The Berlinale Silver Bear awards for Best Actor and Actress have been around since 1956 and the last recipients of it were Elio Germano (
Hidden Away) and Paula Beer (
Undine) in 2020. Other notable recipients from past years include Charlize Theron for
Monster, Benicio del Toro for
Traffic, and Charlotte Rampling for
45 Years.In addition to the gender-neutral change, the festival directors also signalled that the 2021 awards, which will take place in February of next year, will also be physical and in-person awards, and not virtual.“We see an important and unique feature of festivals in their lively relationship with the audience,” Rissenbeek and Chatrian said. “In times of the corona pandemic, it has become even clearer that we still require analogue experience spaces in the cultural realm. We are pleased that festivals with physically present audiences are slowly taking place again around the world, and we wish our colleagues much success.”[video_embed id='2019565']BEFORE YOU GO: Tiny Toronto home listed for $1 million just sold for a lot more[/video_embed]
