Golden Bear Facts for Kids

Quick facts for kids Golden Bear
2025 recipient: Dag Johan Haugerud
Presented by	Berlin International Film Festival
Location	Berlin
Country	Germany
First awarded	1951

The Golden Bear (which in German is called Goldener Bär) is the most important award given to the best film at the Berlin International Film Festival. It's one of the top film awards in the world, just like the Palme d'Or and the Golden Lion. The bear is a special animal for the city of Berlin, and you can see it on Berlin's coat of arms and flag of Berlin.

History of the Award
What the Award Looks Like
Winning Films
Multiple Winners
Images for kids
See also

History of the Award

The Berlin International Film Festival started in 1951. Back then, a group of people from West Germany chose the winners of the first Golden Bear awards. They gave out five Golden Bears in different categories.

From 1952 to 1955, something cool happened: the audience members got to choose the winners of the Golden Bear!

Then, in 1956, the festival became officially recognized by a big international film group called the Fédération Internationale des Associations de Producteurs de Films. Since then, an international group of judges (called a jury) has chosen the Golden Bear winners.

What the Award Looks Like

The Golden Bear award is a small statue that looks like a bear standing on its back legs. This design was created in 1932 by a German artist named Renée Sintenis. It was inspired by Berlin's city symbol, which is also a bear. This bear statue later became the official symbol of the film festival.

The statuettes have been made by an art company called Hermann Noack since the festival began. The original award was made a bit bigger in 1960. The bear's left arm was raised in the new design, instead of its right arm.

As of 2010, the bear statue is about 20 centimeters (almost 8 inches) tall. It stands on a base where the name of the winning film is carved. The statue is made of bronze and then covered with a layer of real gold. The whole award weighs about 4 kilograms (around 9 pounds).

Winning Films

Many amazing films and directors have won the Golden Bear award over the years. It's a huge honor for filmmakers from all around the world.

For example, in 2024, Mati Diop won for her film Dahomey. In 2023, Nicolas Philibert won for On the Adamant. And in 2022, Carla Simón received the award for her film Alcarràs.

Sometimes, a film might not win an award if there's a big disagreement. This happened in 1970 when the international jury resigned because of a controversial anti-war film.

Multiple Winners

Only one director has won the Golden Bear award twice! That's Ang Lee. He won in 1993 for his film The Wedding Banquet, and again in 1996 for Sense and Sensibility.