On Saturday, February 19, the 61st Berlin International Film Festival will come to a splendid conclusion with the award ceremony. 1600 guests are expected at the gala in the Berlinale Palast, where from 7.00 pm onwards the winners of the Golden and Silver Bears, the Golden and Silver Bears for the Short Films, the Alfred Bauer Prize as well as the Best First Feature Award will be announced. Following the ceremony, the winner of the Golden Bear will be presented as closing film of this year's Berlinale. Festival Director Dieter Kosslick and the International Jury under the presidency of Isabella Rossellini will present the awards. Anke Engelke will host the award ceremony. Beginning at 7.00 pm, the gala will be transmitted live on 3sat.

Other guests expected to attend the gala include: Armin Mueller-Stahl, Wim Wenders, Natalia Avelon, Hartmut Becker, Bibiana Beglau, Alexander Beyer, Daniel Brühl, Christopher Buchholz, Franz Dinda, Benno Fürmann, Martina Gedeck, Dorka Gryllus, Michael Gwisdek, Monika Hansen, Thomas Heinze, André M. Hennicke, Karoline Herfurth, Irm Hermann, Hannah Herzsprung, Klaus            Hoffmann, Sandra Hüller, Julia Hummer, Juliane Köhler, Stefan Konarske, Thomas Kretschmann, David Kross, Maren Kroymann, Peter Lohmeyer, Susanne Lothar, Heike Makatsch, Annabelle Mandeng, Lisa Martinek, Misel Maticevic, Ulrich Noethen, Désirée Nosbusch, Katja Riemann, Otto Sander, Katrin Sass, Andrea Sawatzki, Hinnerk Schönemann, Jessica Schwarz, Lena Stolze, Mina Tander, Anatole Taubman, Anna Thalbach, Idil Üner, Vera von Lehndorff, Nora von Waldstätten, Hanns Zischler, Alexander Askoldov, Wolfgang Becker, Jochen Brunow, Didi Danquart, Pepe Danquart, Florian Gallenberger, Valeska Grisebach, Vanessa Jopp, Barbara Junge, Winfried Junge, Romuald Karmakar, Michael Klier, Wolfgang Kohlhaase, Dani Levy, Stefan Lukschy, Matthias Luthardt, Jeanine Meerapfel, Helke Misselwitz, Christian Petzold, Gerd-Rainer Prothmann, Peter Schamoni, Hans-Christian Schmid, Gunther Scholz, Peter Sehr, Philip Stölzl, Cornelia Walther as well as Governing Mayor of Berlin Klaus Wowereit.

Visitors flocked to the 61st Berlinale in fantastic numbers. Once again some 300,000 tickets were sold to the public. The "Berlinale goes Kiez" series, in which a Flying Red Carpet takes the Festival to different Berlin districts, was also a smashing success again.

Among the countless stars and illustrious artists who attended the Festival were Armin Mueller-Stahl, Harry Belafonte, Liv Ullmann, Joel und Ethan Coen, Jeff Bridges, Josh Brolin, Hailee Steinfeld, Kevin Spacey, Paul Bettany, Jeremy Irons, Zach Quinto, Diane Kruger, Colin Firth, Helena Bonham-Carter, Vanessa Redgrave, Ralph Fiennes, Gerard Butler, Nigel Slater, Tom Hooper, Ulrich Köhler, Hippolyte Girardot, Michel Ocelot, Paul Schrader, Wim Wenders, Yasemin Samdereli, Victoria Mahoney, Zoe Kravitz, Gabourey Sidibe, Alexander Mindadze, Philippe le Guay, Asghar Farhadi, Wolfgang Murnberger, Moritz Bleibtreu, Miranda July, Hamish Linklater, Chen Kaige, Julie Gavras, Seyfi Teoman, Soo-jung Lim, Bin Hyun, Béla Tarr, SJ Clarkson, Andres Veiel, August Diehl, Christian Petzold, Christoph Hochhäusler, Dominik Graf, Julie Gavras, Sebastian Koch, Karl Markovics, Jaume Collet-Serra, Nataly Attiya, Clara Khoury, Lena Lauzemis, Mark Strong, Alexander Fehling, Jonathan Sagall, Brendan Gleeson, Dominic Cooper, Rolf Eden, Rodrigo Moreno, Sandra Hüller, Magaly Solier, Ludivine Sagnier, Antonio Albanese, Lubna Azabal, Ronit Elkabetz, Method Man, Elfi Mikesch, José Padilha, Rosa von Praunheim, Alexander Zeldovich, Constantine Giannaris, Ingar Dragset, Michael Elmgreen and many others.

On Sunday, February 20, there is going to be a further treat for the public audiences: numerous festival films from all sections will be re-screened on the Berlinale Kinotag.