Berlin Film Festival: Norwegian Queer Love Story “Dreams” Takes Home the Top Prize

Norwegian director Dag Johan Haugerud just scored a major triumph at the 75th Berlin Film Festival, picking up the coveted Golden Bear for Dreams. The film rounds out his candid yet understated Sex, Love, Dreams trilogy—a body of work that has quickly established Haugerud as a force in Scandinavian cinema.

Dreams dives into a teenage writer’s recollections of her intense bond with a female teacher, layering fiction and memory to produce a tale both intimate and oddly universal. Critics have been quick to shower it with praise. The Hollywood Reporter’s David Rooney called it “tender, captivating and often very funny,” adding that “three thematically related but narratively distinct features in a year is remarkable enough; that they are all terrific, even more so.”

This newest award underlines Haugerud’s global ascent. In his native Norway, he’s known for thoughtful storytelling—just think back to his critically praised Beware of Children, which represented Norway in the 2020 Academy Awards race. Dreams, judged by a panel led by Todd Haynes, further cements Haugerud’s reputation for merging raw dialogue with a spare visual style. Viewers get a jolt of honesty without the usual movie gloss, while the story’s reflective format taps into something sharp, fresh, and unfiltered.

With Dreams capturing the Golden Bear, Haugerud caps off a year of breakthroughs. The Sex, Love, Dreams trilogy has managed to capture and keep attention in an industry that rarely stops for introspection. And now, as Berlin’s top honor glints on his mantle, it feels like Haugerud’s moment has truly arrived.