Berlinale Press

Asghar Farhadi’s Nader and Simin, A Separation, has won the Golden Bear at the Berlin International Film Festival (Berlinale) which concluded on 19 February. This Iranian film also won Best Actor Silver Bears for its ensemble female and male casts.

The Jury Grand Prix went to The Turin Horse by Hungarian director Bela Tarr, while the Silver Bear for Director when to Germany’s Ulrich Kohler’s for Sleeping Sickness, which is set in Africa.
Here is the list of winners: 

Golden Bear for Best Film
Nader And Simin, A Separation – Asghar Farhadi

Silver Bear – Grand Jury Prize
The Turin Horse – Bela Tarr

Silver Bear for Best Director
Ulrich Kohler – Sleeping Sickness

Silver Bear for Best Actress
Actress-ensemble in Nader And Simin, A Separation

Silver Bear for Best Actor
Actor-ensemble in Nader And Simin, A Separation)

Silver Bear for Best Screenplay
Joshua Marston and Andamion Murataj – The Forgiveness of Blood

Silver Bear for Outstanding Artistic Achievement (ex aequo)
Wojciech Staron – The Prize
Barbara Enriquez – The Prize

Alfred Bauer Prize
If Not Us, Who – Andres Veiel

Collateral Awards

Prize of the Guild of German Art House Cinemas
Ecumenical Jury Prize
Competition:
Nader and Simin, A Separation – Asghar Farhadi
Panorama:
Invisible – Michal Aviad
Forum:
Familiar Ground – Stephane Lafleur

FIPRESCI Prize
Competition:
The Turin Horse – Bela Tarr
Panorama:
Top Floor Left Wing – Angelo Cianci
Forum :
Heaven’s Story – Zeze Takahisa

Gild German of Art House Cinemas
If Not Us, Who – Andres Veiel C.I.C.A.E. Awards
Panorama:
Here – Braden King
Forum:
Amnesty – Bujar Alimani

Teddy Awards

Best Feature Film
Absent – Marco Berger
Best Documentary
The Ballad of Genesis and Lady Jaye – Marie Losier
Teddy Jury Award
Tomboy – Celine Sciamma
Best Short Film (ex aequo)
Generations – Barbara Hammer, Gina Carducci
May Deren’s Sink – Barbara Hammer

Premio Dialogue en perspective
The Education – Dirk Lutter

Caligari Film Prize
The Ballad of Genesis and Lady Jaye – Marie Losier

Premio NETPAC
Heaven’s Story – Zeze Takahisa

Peace Film Award
Tomorrow Will Be Better – Dorota Kedzierzawska

Amnesty International Film Prize
Barzakh – Mantas Kvedaravicius

Panorama Audience Award PPP – fiction film
Even the Rain [trailer, film focus] – Iciar Bollain
Panorama Audience Award PPP – documentary film
In Heaven Underground – The Weissensee Jewish Cemetery – Britta Wauer

Berliner Morgenpost Readers’ Prize
Nader And Simin, A Separation – Asghar Farhadi

ELSE Siegessaule Readers’ Choice Award
Harvest – Benjamin Cantu

Tagesspiegel Readers’ Prize
Matchmaking Mayor – Erika Hnikova
(Source: Cineuropa)

Only one African film project features in the 38 titles from 25 countries worldwide selected for the eighth Berlinale Co-Production Market, which runs from 13 to 15 February. This is Tunisia’s Challatt of Tunis by Habib Attia which has been chosen for the Talent Project Market.

Twenty-four new feature film projects (chosen from a total of 352 entries) will be presented at the co-production market by internationally experienced producers who already have at least 30% of their financing in place. The projects all have budgets between one and twelve million euros.

In conjunction with CineMart Rotterdam, three other projects have been chosen for the “Rotterdam-Berlinale Express”; they will participate in both the CineMart and the Berlinale Co-Production Market.

In cooperation with the Berlinale Talent Campus, eleven projects by newcomers have been selected from 270 additional entries for the “Talent Project Market”.

Here is the official selection of projects:

Love Isreal (dir: Julia von Heinz), 2Pilots Filmproduction, Germany

They Are All Dead (dir: Beatriz Sanchis), Avalon P.C., Spain

Saints (dir: Seyfi Teoman), Bulut Film, Turkey

Darkness by Day (dir: Martin Desalvo), Domenica Films, Argentina

The Woman Who Feared the Sun (dir: Javier Fuentes-Leon), Dynamo Producciones, Columbia; Neue Cameo Film, Germany & Elcalvo Films, Peru/USA

The Intriguing Art of Secrets (dir: Andy De Emmony), Element Pictures, Ireland

The Killing of Henry James (dir: Sylvain Archambault), Filmarto/BBR, Canada

Tove and the Mermaid (dir: Miikko Oikkonen), Fisher King Production, Finland

Wakolda (dir: Lucia Puenzo), Historias Cinematograficas, Argentina

The Way Home / La strada per casa (Dir: Bruno Oliviero), Invisibile Film, Italy

Balaton Submarine (dir: Orsi Nagypal), KMH Film, Hungary

A Green and Quiet River (dir: Alain Choquart), Le Bureau, France

Aurore (dir: Stephane Vuillet), Les Films Du Present, France

Headhunter (dir: Bastian Gunther), Lichtblick Media & Lichtblick Film, Germany

The 90 Minute War (dir: Eyal Halfon), Norma Productions, Israel

The Devil’s Pool (dir: James Lapine), Open City Films, USA & K5 Film, Germany

The Flying Man (dir: Kornel Mundruczo), Proton Cinema, Hungary

Broken (dir: Miika Soini), Public Films & Helsinki Filmi, Finland

Still Life (dir: Uberto Pasolini), Red Wave Films, United Kingdom

Watchtower (dir:: Pelin Esmer), Sinefilm, Turkey

Remainder (dir: Omer Fast), Tigerlily Films, United Kingdom

The Spider in the Web (dir: Eran Riklis), Topia Communications, Israel

Life According to Nino (dir: Urszula Antoniak), Waterland Film & Family Affair Films, Netherlands

2 Kidnappings (dir: Marcos Jorge), Zencrane Filmes & Migdal Filmes, Brazil

Rotterdam-Berlinale Express: 

Loud (dir: Aneta Lesnikovska), AKA Film, Macedonia

We Are Dead (dir: Tobias Nolle), Hugofilm Productions, Switzerland

The Cyclops (dir: Jukka-Pekka Valkeapaa), Kinotar, Finland

Talent Project Market 

(listed alphabetically by Talent):

Challatt of Tunis (prod: Habib Attia), Tunisia

Preservation (dir/prod: Nicole Brending), USA

The Babadook (prod: Kristina Ceyton), Australia/Germany

Youth (prod: Gal Greenspan), Israel

Brian (dir: Angela How), Singapore/USA

The Find (prod: Dimitri Klepatski), Russia

Greicekelly (dir: Rafael Lessa), Brazil

The South Is Nothing/Il Sud e niente (dir: Fabio Mollo), Italy

Woman of the Father (prod: Aleteia Selonk), Brazil

Bad Stock (dir: Rachel Tillotson), United Kingdom

The Here After (prod: Mariusz Wlodarski and dir: Magnus von Horn), Poland/Sweden

German actor Armin Mueller-Stahl, who starred in two South Africa films – The Long Run and The Story of an African Farm – will receive a Golden Bear award for Lifetime Achievement at the 61st Berlin International Film Festival (Berlinale) in February.

The 80-year old actor began his career in East Germany, notably under the direction of Frank Beyer. Mueller-Stahl then moved to West Germany, where he worked with Rainer Werner Fassbinder, earning international recognition in his film Lola (1981).

Mueller-Stahl has also collaborated with well-known directors such as Costa-Gavras, Andrzej Wajda, Jim Jarmusch and Steven Soderbergh. In 1996, he was nominated for an Oscar for his performance in Shine.

In 1992 Mueller –Stahl won the Best Actor Silver Bear at Berlinale for Utz. He is also a past member of the Berlinale international jury. (Source: Cineuropa)

Infamous Oscar-winning director Roman Polanski (The Piano, Rosemary’s Baby), currently under house arrest in Switzerland, has won the Silver Bear as best director for The Ghost Writer, at the Berlin International Film Festival.

Polanski is under house arrest while the Swiss judicial system considers the legalities of his extradition to the US over his conviction of having sex with a minor in 1977.

The Ghost Writer stars Pierce Brosnan, Ewan McGregor and Kim Cattrall.

The Berlin International Film Festival (Berlinale) is calling for entries for its 2010 edition which takes place from 11 to 21 February. The deadline for the submission of long films is 30 October and short films have until 16 November to enter.
The International Competition features around 25 films in the Official Programme (in and out of competition). Films in competition are evaluated by an International Jury.

The Panorama within the Official Programme presents new works by well-known directors, as it showcases debut films and exciting new discoveries. The selection of films gives an overview of trends in art-house world cinema.

The Forum pays special attention to new trends in world cinema, promising narrative forms and fresh voices. The Forum programme also highlights directorial debuts and innovative works by young filmmakers. It is dedicated to the boundaries between cinema and the visual arts. It is does not receive submissions.

The Generation section is passionately dedicated to children and young people. With its selection of artistically outstanding films presented in two competitions, it expands upon the Berlinale’s aim of increasing cultural understanding through cinema and communicates this to the young generation.

The Berlinale Shorts features short films as an art form and springboard for young talents. The Berlinale Shorts competition is evaluated by an International Jury.
.
The Culinary Cinema presents a selection of films on culinary and ecological topics. It is a special programme upon invitation only 
For more information please e-mail the Berlinale’s Dorothee Wenner on wenner@berlinale.de or telephone +493026955-200 or fax + 49.30.26955-222 or log onto www.berlinale.de.

Claudia Llosa’s La teta asustada (The Milk of Sorrow) was awarded the Golden Bear for best film at the 59th Berlin International Film Festival (Berlinale) on 14 February. This is the first Peruvian film to be bestowed this honour and tells the story of a woman who is haunted by the abuse that her mother suffered. The film was made with support from Berlinale’s World Cinema Fund.

Adrian Biniez’s Gigante, about a Uruguayan supermarket guard obsessed with a co-worker, shared the Grand Prix Silver Bear with Maren Ade’s local relationship drama Alle Anderen (Everyone Else). Gigante also won the Alfred Bauer Prize and the First Feature Award.
Iranina director Asqhar Farhadi won the Silvery Bear for his mystery-thriller Darbareye Elley (About Elly). Best actress and actor honours went to Birgit Minichmayr for Everyone Else and Mali’s Sotiqui Kouyate for London River respectively.
Oscar-winning actress Tilda Swinton (Michael Clayton) headed the jury. Burkinabe filmmaker Gaston Kabore was one of the jury members.

The Berlin Film Festival (Berlinale) has equipped 29 of the 49 screens it will use in the 2009 festival, which opens on 5 February, with digital cinema projection equipment.

Festival director Dieter Kosslick said the festival would also set up an encoding studio where film files will be encoded, transferred to hard drives and delivered to the appropriate theatres. The encoding will protect the films from piracy.

Kosslick has also graciously thanked his sponsors for continuing to support the festival in these tough times of global recession.

Four films made as part of the collaborative film project, Filmmakers Against Racism (FAR), will be screened at the 59th Berlin International Film Festival which takes place from 5 to 15 February. FAR was initiated by a group of South African filmmakers in response to the horrific wave of xenophobic attacks which took place over 10 days in the country last year.

The founding members of the initiative comprise Rehad Desai of Uhuru Productions, Neil Brandt of Luna Films, Desiree Markgraaff of The Bomb Shelter, Eve Rantseli of Women of the Sun, Carolyn Carew-Maseko of Born Free Media, and actor/director, Xoliswa Sithole. The FAR films were supported by the Goethe Institute and the Heinrich Boell Foundation (HBF).

The four FAR films will be screened three times during the Berlinale International Forum.

One of the events at the Berlinale Talent Campus on 10 February will feature a panel discussion with Omelga Mthiyane, Riaan Hendricks, Adze Ugah, Danny Turken, Andy Spitz and Rehad Desai. The moderator will be Dorothee Wenner. Desai will provide an overview of the initiative and after the presentation of the four films, there will be an open discussion.

A lunch on 11 February has been organised and will provide an opportunity for African filmmakers to interact with German politicians on the subject of South Africa in 2009. The lunch will be hosted by HBF.