Ilker Catak’s ‘Yellow Letters’ wins Golden Bear at Berlin film festival

Director Ilker Catak accepts the Golden Bear for best film for 'Yellow Letters' during the awards ceremony for the International Film Festival, Berlinale, in Berlin, Saturday, Feb. 21, 2026.

BERLIN, Germany - “Yellow Letters”, directed by German filmmaker Ilker Catak, won the Golden Bear for best film at the Berlin Film Festival on Saturday in a ceremony reflecting the controversy over Gaza which has dogged this year’s edition of the event.

A political drama, Catak’s film tells the story of a Turkish director and his actor wife, suddenly barred from working because of their political opinions.

Jury president Wim Wenders called the film “a terrifying premonition, a look into the near future that could possibly happen in our countries as well”.

“This is a movie that speaks up very clearly about the political language of totalitarianism as opposed to the empathetic language of cinema,” Wenders said.

Catak called Wenders “one of my teachers”, adding: “It’s such an incredible thing to receive this award from you.”

The runner-up Silver Bear Grand Jury Prize went to “Salvation” by Emin Alper, who in his speech mentioned his solidarity with several high-profile opposition figures in prison in Turkey, including jailed Istanbul mayor Ekrem Imamoglu.

Alper also took the opportunity to speak up for “the people of Iran suffering under tyranny” and “the Palestinians in Gaza living and dying under the most terrible conditions”.

‘Part of democracy’

Speaking at a press conference at the beginning of the festival last week, jury president Wim Wenders answered a question about the German government’s support for Israel by saying: “We cannot really enter the field of politics.”

At the same press conference, he had said that films had the power to “change the world” but in a different way from politics.

But his comments in response to the question on Israel prompted a storm of outrage.

Award-winning Indian novelist Arundhati Roy, who had been due to present a restored version of a 1989 film she wrote, pulled out of the event, branding Wenders’ words “unconscionable” and “jaw-dropping”.

On Tuesday, an open letter signed by dozens of film industry figures, including actors Javier Bardem and Tilda Swinton and director Adam McKay, condemned the Berlin festival’s “silence on the genocide of Palestinians” and accused it of being involved in “censoring” artists who oppose Israel’s actions.

Director Tricia Tuttle, in her second year at the helm of the Berlinale, has firmly rejected the accusations.

In a speech at the beginning of Saturday’s ceremony she said that “speaking up is part of democracy”.

“We respect people speaking out because it takes a lot of courage to do it,” she said, adding: “We don’t always agree with every claim that’s made about us”.

‘Queen at Sea’

Other big award winners included German actress Sandra Hueller, who received the Silver Bear for Best Performance for her title role in Markus Schleinzer’s “Rose”.

The black-and-white drama tells the story of a woman passing herself off as a man in rural 17th-century Germany to escape the constraints of patriarchy.

“Queen at Sea” by American director Lance Hammer, which stars Juliette Binoche as a woman caring for her mother with dementia, picked up two awards.

The film sensitively portrays the devastation Alzheimer’s disease inflicts on a patient’s loved ones.

Tom Courtenay and Anna Calder-Marshall, who plays the ailing mother in the film, shared the Silver Bear for Best Supporting Performance.

The film also picked up the Silver Bear Jury Prize, considered the third most prestigious award.

The first major event of the film calendar also provided a platform for Iranian filmmakers to address the deadly crackdown on anti-government protests in their home country.

Dissident director Jafar Panahi, who won the Cannes Palme d’Or for “It Was Just An Accident”, also spoke at the Berlinale to denounce the Iranian government’s repression of protestors, which rights groups say left thousands dead.

“An unbelievable crime has happened. Mass murder has happened. People are not even allowed to mourn their loved ones,” Panahi told a talk organised as part of the festival.