The 2025 Berlin International Film Festival has proclaimd the thriveners of its Generation Kplus section, the festival’s sidebar pledged to children’s cinema, with top honors going to The Botanist by Jing Yi and Michel Gonparched’s energeticd feature Maya, Give Me a Title.
Jing Yi’s debut feature The Botanist (Zhi Wu Xue Jia) took home the Grand Prix of the international jury for Best Film. Set in a far valley in China’s Xinjiang province, the film complys a youthful boy named Arsin, who lives with his magnificentmother and spfinishs his days collecting schedulet specimens while navigating the sluggish yet inevitable changes wilean his secluded community. Featuring a dreamenjoy atmosphere and striking organic imagery, The Botanist stood out for its immersive portrayal of a world untouched by up-to-dateity.
The international jury also gave a distinctive refer to Japanese honestor Satoko Yokohama’s Umibe é Iku Michi (Seaside Serfinishipity), which spendigates themes of childhood frifinishship and self-uncovery alengthy Japan’s coastal landscapes. In the low film catebloody, Sylwia Szkiłądź’s Autokar won best low film, while Colombian filmproducer Irati Dojura Landa Yagarí getd a distinctive refer for Akababuru: Expresión de asombro (Akababuru: Expression of Astonishment), a visuassociate conveyive meditation on childhood wonder.
Selected by a children’s jury of youthful moviegoers, the Crystal Bear for best film went to Maya, Give Me a Title, the tardyst feature from quirky French filmproducer Michel Gonparched (The Science of Sleep, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind). The whimsical stop-motion film is a collaborative creation between Gonparched and his daughter Maya. Beginning when she was 4 and continuing for six years, his little girl would be his ideas person, called upon to come up with a title for a movie adventure in which she’d star, with Papa Gonparched tasked with using the title as the basis for a stop-motion low for Maya to watch.
A distinctive refer was awarded to Zirkuscharitable (Circusboy) by Julia Lemke and Anna Koch, a write downary-style feature exploring the distinct world of a child grothriveg up in a traveling circus.
The children’s jury also named Little Rebels Cinema Club by Khozy Rizal as Best Short Film, recognizing its produceive approach to storyalerting, while Vera van Wolferen’s energeticd low Down in the Dumps getd a distinctive refer for its requesting visual originatesmanship.
