The prestigious festival’s top honchos, Mariette Rissenbeek and Carlo Chatrian, have announced that, starting in 2021, the Silver Bear acting prizes will go gender-neutral. A statement from the festival reads: “Instead of the awards for the Best Actor and the Best Actress, a ‘Silver Bear for Best Leading Performance’ and a ‘Silver Bear for Best Supporting Performance’ shall each be awarded on a gender-neutral basis.” And just like that, Risenbeek and Chatrian have opened the door for predictable outrage if a male actor were to win and a female actress wins nothing — did they not think about this before announcing today’s changes? It’s actually been argued that this would hurt women as most meaty acting roles are for men, so they would have a better chance of winning every time. Although, in the age of virtue signaling, this could also mean that rewarding a woman with the award could be perceived as unearned and deliberately done due to her gender. It’s a lose-lose situation for Berlin, they just don’t know it yet. If anything, the problem and lack of gender parity should be solved within the industry, in creating better roles for women. Performance is subjective and if you’re a major film festival you’re getting some of the best performances in the world. So what happens when the best performances are all male? I mean, just from a numbers perspective alone, there are still more male-led films than female, so, technically, there will be a greater chance of the acting award going to a man, and yet, if you’re only rewarding men then there will be the predictable perception of sexism. However, on the flip side, if you’re attempting to appear impartial by deliberately selecting women then you’ll appear to be pandering. Again, there is no winner here. Contribute Hire me
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