Berlin Golden Bear Winners, Ranked
The Berlinale's top prize — the Golden Bear, awarded since 1951 by a festival founded as a showcase of the free world — every winner in our library, ranked by composite canon score rather than by festival year.
Award results are facts and are listed in full. The score chip is our composite canon score.
- 112 Angry Men1957 · Sidney Lumet · United States · drama5.25
Berlin Golden Bear winner 1957 · Kinema Junpo Best Ten (International) 1959 #1 · Letterboxd Top 250 #3
- 2Spirited Away2001 · Hayao Miyazaki · Japan · fantasy, animation, drama4.98
Berlin Golden Bear winner 2002 · Japan Academy Prize winner 2002 · Kehr's annual top 10 2002 #1
- 3Wild Strawberries1957 · Ingmar Bergman · Sweden · drama4.30
Berlin Golden Bear winner 1958 · Kinema Junpo Best Ten (International) 1962 #1 · Sarris's annual top 10 1959 #1
- 4The Wages of Fear1953 · Henri-Georges Clouzot · France / Italy · drama, adventure3.63
Palme d'Or winner 1953 · BAFTA Best Film winner 1955 · Berlin Golden Bear winner 1953
- 5A Separation2011 · Asghar Farhadi · Iran · drama3.62
Berlin Golden Bear winner 2011 · Kinema Junpo Best Ten (International) 2012 #2 · Ebert's annual top 10 2011 #1
- 6The Thin Red Line1998 · Terrence Malick · United States · war, drama3.46
Berlin Golden Bear winner 1999 · Kinema Junpo Best Ten (International) 1999 #2 · Oscar Best Picture nominee 1998
- 7Sense and Sensibility1995 · Ang Lee · United Kingdom / United States · drama, romance, comedy3.08
BAFTA Best Film winner 1996 · Berlin Golden Bear winner 1996 · Oscar Best Picture nominee 1995
- 8Rain Man1988 · Barry Levinson · United States · drama, comedy2.77
Oscar Best Picture winner 1988 · Berlin Golden Bear winner 1989 · Kinema Junpo Best Ten (International) 1989 #4
- 9Love Streams1984 · John Cassavetes · United States · drama2.77
Berlin Golden Bear winner 1984 · Sight & Sound 2022 critics' poll #185 · Cahiers du Cinéma annual top 10 1985 #5
- 10La Notte1961 · Michelangelo Antonioni · France / Italy · drama2.65
Berlin Golden Bear winner 1961 · Sight & Sound 2022 directors' poll #52 · Cahiers du Cinéma annual top 10 1961 #7
- 11Magnolia1999 · Paul Thomas Anderson · United States · drama2.37
Berlin Golden Bear winner 2000 · Sight & Sound 2022 critics' poll #185 · Ebert's annual top 10 1999 #2
- 12The Ascent1977 · Larisa Shepitko · Soviet Union · drama, war2.36
Berlin Golden Bear winner 1977 · Sight & Sound 2022 directors' poll #72 · Sight & Sound 2022 critics' poll #128
- 13Justice Is Done1950 · André Cayatte · France · drama2.33
Berlin Golden Bear winner 1951 · Venice Golden Lion winner 1950 · Kinema Junpo Best Ten (International) 1954 #7
- 14The Cousins1959 · Claude Chabrol, Philippe de Broca · France · drama2.15
Berlin Golden Bear winner 1959 · Kinema Junpo Best Ten (International) 1959 #4 · Sarris's annual top 10 1959 #4
- 15Synonyms2019 · Nadav Lapid · France / Israel / Germany · drama1.75
Berlin Golden Bear winner 2019 · Cahiers du Cinéma annual top 10 2019 #3 · Film Comment year-end poll 2019 #15
- 16Alphaville1965 · Jean-Luc Godard · France / Italy · sci-fi, drama, crime1.66
Berlin Golden Bear winner 1965 · Cahiers du Cinéma annual top 10 1965 #5 · Criterion Collection spine #25
- 17The People vs. Larry Flynt1996 · Miloš Forman · United States · biography, drama1.61
Berlin Golden Bear winner 1997 · Kinema Junpo Best Ten (International) 1997 #10 · NYT Best 1,000 Movies
- 18Red Sorghum1988 · Zhang Yimou · China · drama, romance, war1.50
Berlin Golden Bear winner 1988 · Kinema Junpo Best Ten (International) 1989 #3
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- 20In the Name of the Father1993 · Jim Sheridan · United Kingdom / United States / Ireland · biography, drama1.45
Berlin Golden Bear winner 1994 · Oscar Best Picture nominee 1993
- 21Bloody Sunday2002 · Paul Greengrass · Ireland / United Kingdom · drama, documentary, war1.42
Berlin Golden Bear winner 2002 · Film Comment year-end poll 2002 #15 · NYT Best 1,000 Movies
- 22Grand Canyon1991 · Lawrence Kasdan · United States · drama1.39
Berlin Golden Bear winner 1992 · Ebert's annual top 10 1991 #4 · Siskel's annual top 10 1991 #6
- 23Bushido, Samurai Saga1963 · Tadashi Imai · Japan · action, drama1.39
Berlin Golden Bear winner 1963 · Kinema Junpo Best Ten (Japanese) 1963 #5
- 24Central Station1998 · Walter Salles · France / Brazil · drama1.37
Berlin Golden Bear winner 1998 · Letterboxd Top 250 #103 · Sarris's annual top 10 1998 #null
- 25Heartland1979 · Richard Pearce · United States · drama1.36
Berlin Golden Bear winner 1980 · Ebert's annual top 10 1981 #5 · NYT Best 1,000 Movies
- 26Wetherby1984 · David Hare · United Kingdom / Australia · drama1.36
Berlin Golden Bear winner 1985 · Sarris's annual top 10 1985 #4 · Siskel's annual top 10 1985 #10
- 27Cinderella1950 · Wilfred Jackson, Hamilton Luske, Clyde Geronimi · United States · romance, fantasy, musical1.34
Berlin Golden Bear winner 1951 · National Film Registry (inducted 2018) · Rosenbaum's Essential Cinema
- 28The Garden of the Finzi-Continis1970 · Vittorio De Sica · Italy / West Germany / France · drama1.33
Berlin Golden Bear winner 1971 · NYT Best 1,000 Movies · Ebert's annual top 10 1972 #7
- 29Veronika Voss1982 · Rainer Werner Fassbinder · Germany · drama1.29
Berlin Golden Bear winner 1982 · Criterion Collection spine #205 · Roger Ebert's Great Movies
- 30Palermo or Wolfsburg1980 · Werner Schroeter · Germany / Switzerland · drama1.29
Berlin Golden Bear winner 1980 · Cahiers du Cinéma annual top 10 1981 #10
- 31The House of Smiles1991 · Marco Ferreri · Italy · drama1.29
Berlin Golden Bear winner 1991 · Cahiers du Cinéma annual top 10 1992 #10
- 32Bad Luck Banging or Loony Porn2021 · Radu Jude · Romania / Czech Republic / Croatia · drama, comedy1.28
Berlin Golden Bear winner 2021 · Film Comment year-end poll 2021 #11
- 33Cul-de-sac1966 · Roman Polanski · United Kingdom · comedy, thriller, drama1.27
Berlin Golden Bear winner 1966 · Criterion Collection spine #577 · Edgar Wright's 1,000 favorite movies
- 34Head-On2004 · Fatih Akin · Germany / Turkey · romance, drama1.25
Berlin Golden Bear winner 2004 · Film Comment year-end poll 2005 #15
- 35The Wedding Banquet1993 · Ang Lee · United States / Taiwan, China · comedy, romance, drama1.23
Berlin Golden Bear winner 1993 · National Film Registry (inducted 2023)
- 36In This World2002 · Michael Winterbottom · United Kingdom · drama, documentary1.20
Berlin Golden Bear winner 2003 · Film Comment year-end poll 2003 #34
- 37The Bait1995 · Bertrand Tavernier · France · crime, drama1.18
Berlin Golden Bear winner 1995 · Kehr's annual top 10 1995 #6
- 38Distant Thunder1973 · Satyajit Ray · India · drama1.17
Berlin Golden Bear winner 1973 · NYT Best 1,000 Movies
- 39Hobson's Choice1954 · David Lean · United Kingdom · drama, comedy1.16
Berlin Golden Bear winner 1954 · Criterion Collection spine #461
- 40Dry Summer1964 · Metin Erksan · Turkey · drama1.16
Berlin Golden Bear winner 1964 · Criterion Collection spine #688
- 41The Canterbury Tales1972 · Pier Paolo Pasolini · France / Italy · fantasy, comedy1.16
Berlin Golden Bear winner 1972 · Criterion Collection spine #633
- 42Adoption1975 · Márta Mészáros · Hungary · drama1.16
Berlin Golden Bear winner 1975 · Criterion Collection spine #1115
- 43Buffalo Bill and the Indians, or Sitting Bull's History Lesson1976 · Robert Altman · United States · western, comedy1.16
Berlin Golden Bear winner 1976 · Siskel's annual top 10 1976 #8
- 44Larks on a String1990 · Jiří Menzel · Czechoslovakia · comedy1.14
Berlin Golden Bear winner 1990 · Hoberman's annual top 10 1991 #11
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- 47One Summer of Happiness1951 · Arne Mattsson · Sweden · drama, romance1.00
Berlin Golden Bear winner 1952
- 48Without Leaving an Address1951 · Jean-Paul Le Chanois · France · comedy, drama1.00
Berlin Golden Bear winner 1951
- 49
- 50Invitation to the Dance1956 · Gene Kelly · United States · musical, fantasy1.00
Berlin Golden Bear winner 1956
- 51El Lazarillo de Tormes1959 · César Fernández-Ardavín · Spain / Italy · drama1.00
Berlin Golden Bear winner 1960
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- 57The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz1974 · Ted Kotcheff · Canada · drama, comedy1.00
Berlin Golden Bear winner 1974
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- 63Deprisa, Deprisa1981 · Carlos Saura · Spain / France · drama, crime1.00
Berlin Golden Bear winner 1981
- 64
- 65Ascendancy1983 · Edward Bennett · United Kingdom / Australia · drama1.00
Berlin Golden Bear winner 1983
- 66The Woman and the Stranger1985 · Rainer Simon · Germany / German Democratic Republic · romance, drama1.00
Berlin Golden Bear winner 1985
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- 71In Good Company2004 · Paul Weitz, Lawrence Pressman · United States · comedy, romance, drama1.00
Berlin Golden Bear winner 2005
- 72U-Carmen eKhayelitsha2005 · Mark Dornford-May · South Africa · drama1.00
Berlin Golden Bear winner 2005
- 73Grbavica2006 · Jasmila Žbanić · Bosnia and Herzegovina / Austria / Germany · drama, war1.00
Berlin Golden Bear winner 2006
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- 78Caesar Must Die2012 · Vittorio Taviani, Paolo Taviani · Italy · documentary, drama1.00
Berlin Golden Bear winner 2012
- 79
- 80Black Coal, Thin Ice2014 · Diao Yinan · China / Hong Kong, China · thriller, film-noir1.00
Berlin Golden Bear winner 2014
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- 84Touch Me Not2018 · Adina Pintilie · Romania / Germany / Czech Republic · drama1.00
Berlin Golden Bear winner 2018
- 85There Is No Evil2020 · Mohammad Rasoulof · Iran / Czech Republic / Germany · drama1.00
Berlin Golden Bear winner 2020
- 86
- 87The Works and Days2022 · Anders Edström, C.W. Winter · United States / Sweden / Japan · drama1.00
Berlin Golden Bear winner 2020
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- 90Yellow Letters2026 · İlker Çatak · Germany / Turkey / France · drama1.00
Berlin Golden Bear winner 2026
The political festival's top prize
The Berlinale is the political festival, by geography and temperament. Founded in 1951 in a divided city — deliberately placed as a "showcase of the free world" — it programs with a civic conscience the other festivals only visit. Its Golden Bear record reflects that identity: 12 Angry Men (1957), a jury-room argument about civic duty, was a perfectly Berlin choice in the festival's early years; Spirited Away (2002) made history as the first animated film to win a major festival's top prize; and A Separation (2011) — an Iranian domestic drama that doubles as an anatomy of a society's institutions — carried the Bear to Tehran and then to the Oscars, the Berlinale's model canonization.
Reading the Bear against the canon
The Bear preserves a record of cinema's political conscience, frequently crowning films from cinemas under pressure — Iranian, Eastern European, East Asian — years before other institutions catch up. On this page every Golden Bear winner in our library appears with our composite canon score attached, so Berlin's verdicts can be read against the wider cross-list canon: which Bears the rest of the measurement apparatus ratified, and which remain the festival's own minority reports.