Berlin: ‘The Second Mother’ Wins Panorama Audience Award

The Second Mother, a Brazilian drama from writer-director Anna Muylaert, has won this year’s Panorama Audience Award in Berlin.

The feature, which stars Regina Case (Me You Them) as a live-in housekeeper whose daughter upsets the status quo, premiered in Sundance before heading to the Berlin Film Festival. It garnered the most votes from audience members among films in the festival’s Panorama sidebar

Tell Spring Not To Come This Year, a harrowing look at the Afghan Nation Army’s attempt to fight back insurgent Taliban forces, won best documentary in the Panorama section. Co-directed by cinematographer Saeed Taji Farouky and sound man Michael McEvoy, the film caused an immediate stir on its Berlin premiere.

Stories of Our Lives, a Kenyan drama from director Jim Chuchu, took second place in the voting for best Panorama dramatic film, while boxing docudrama Tough Love from Berlin-based filmmaker/gay activist Rosa von Praunheim (Rent Boys) came third. Runner-ups in the documentary category were The Yes Men Are Revolting, from director Laura Nix and activist pranksters Mike Bonanno and Andy Bichlbaum, and Iraqi Odyssey, a 3D-doc looking at from veteran documentary maker Samir, which looks at the Iraqi diaspora through the lens of his own family’s story.

A total of 31,200 votes were cast and counted in for this year’s Panorama Audience Awards. The awards will be handed out Feb. 14 in Berlin.

Twitter:@sroxborough