A surprisingly large number of films in the programme of the 41st Berlinale Forum revolve around family, relationships and identity. Although exploring the human psyche is the number one subject for independent filmmakers from the whole world, the majority of these films in this year's selection can also be read politically within the context of social change and political upheaval. In this way, artist Kelvin K. Park's documentary Cheonggyecheon Medley places the threatened demolition of a tr...
In support of the convicted Iranian director Jafar Panahi, the Berlin International Film Festival is launching a number of initiatives at the upcoming Berlinale. In his films, Jafar Panahi critically explores the social situation in his homeland. His conviction violates the right to freedom of opinion and expression in the arts. In 2011 the Berlinale will show several films by Jafar Panahi in a number of its sections and so draw attention to the extraordinary oeuvre for which this art...
The selection for the Competition programme of the 61st Berlin International Film Festival has been completed. It includes 22 films, 16 of which will be competing for the awards.
In addition there will be two special screenings: In solidarity with the convicted Iranian director Jafar Panahi, his film Offside will be presented on February 11, the anniversary of the Iranian Revolution. Also, the European premiere of Werner Herzog's 3D documentary Cave of Forgotten Dreams will be shown as a...
Now that the programme is almost complete it can be said that in the aftermath of the financial crisis truly independent cinema is at an advantage. The themes of many first films are daring and hence inspiring, as seen in the work of Israeli filmmaker Michal Aviad who, set against the backdrop of the interminable Palestinian-Israeli conflict, has her protagonists work through traumas in Lo Roim Alaich (Invisible), or with French director Céline Sciamma whose Tomboy portrays the coming of age of...
"But abundance suits this festival, which draws crowds to commercial movies and challenging experimental work alike, even in the dead of a snowy, bitterly cold winter. While Sundance and Cannes can seem at once hermetic and frenzied - somewhat surreal media happenings in resort towns crammed beyond capacity - the Berlinale takes place in an art-saturated city that comfortably accommodates eclecticism and excess." (New York Times)
Metropolis at the Brandenburg Gate
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The 61st Berlin International Film Festival will open with True Grit by Academy Award winners Joel and Ethan Coen at the Berlinale Palast on February 10, 2011.
"Joel and Ethan Coen stand for first-rate American independent cinema. With their penchant for irony, and off-the-wall characters and stories they have repeatedly captivated audiences," comments Berlinale Director Dieter Kosslick. "True Grit is a wonderful way to kick off the Berlinale 2011."
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Awards by the specialized juries at the berlinale sometimes are a better indication of the quality of the productions selected than the official awards, though in the 2010 berlinale edition, few disputed the selections of the jury run by Werner Herzog and concurred with the choice of awards for BAL, THE GHOSTWRITER, CATERPILLAR, HOW I ENDED THIS SUMMER, and IF I WANT TO WHISTLE, I WHISTLE. These films obtaining the golden or silver bear awards, let in Herzog’s word the viewer discern dark corn...
Wieland serves as the Director of the Panorama section and the Teddy Awards.
He has worked at the berlinale for 30 years as a programmer, was appointed head of Panorama in 1993 and has managed the Teddy awards ever since. His first film was shown at the berlinale in 1981.
Wieland has lived in Berlin since 1982. He studied drama, literature and ethnology and worked on numerous video and film projects with an early focus on the men's movement and homosexual identity. Among ...
JUD SÜß-- A Film With a Conscience about a Film Without a Conscience Hits a Raw Nerve in Berlin
"JUD SÜß" (Jew Sweet), was the title of a film commissioned by Nazi propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels in 1940, to be made as an anti-Semitic vehicle intended to inflame the German people against the Jews of Germany and set the stage for their extermination, then in the early planning stages. "Jud Süß -- Film ohne Gewissen" is the title of a new film by ace German direct...
In German and Jewish themed film festivals the focus on the Third Reich and the Holocaust remains essential as expressed in the large number of features and documentaries screened on those topics. The New York Jewish Film Festival excelled earlier this year with documentaries like EINSATZGRUPPEN: THE DEATH BRIGADES (Michal Prazan) and FORGOTTEN TRANSPORTS: TO POLAND (Lukas Pribyl) or features like GRUBNER'S JOURNEY (Radu Gabrea) and PROTECTOR (Marek Najbrt). These films may differ in their cre...
by Richard Traubner
The Retrospektive at the Berlinale usually excites all types of film historians, curators, museum personnel, and other interested parties--especially when it's a German subject. This year, a restored version of Fritz Lang's 1927 Metropolis trumped the Retrospektive itself, which was a look-back at significant and sometimes controversial films shown at the film festival since it began in 1951--in far warmer June weather.
Many of these films...
This year's anniversary Berlinale celebrated another fantastic highlight with the Award Ceremony on February 20, 2010. As has become tradition, the festival again came to a close with its Berlinale Kinotag for the public on February 21. For eleven days, the Berlinale provided visitors with cinematic discoveries, touching moments and stimulating encounters.
Amid a flurry of flashes from photographers and the applause of fans, countless stars strolled up the red carpet at ...
Under Kosslick's direction the Berlin International Film Festival has become the largest international film festival adding virtually each year new program components, which have been frequently emulated by other film festivals.
As distinct from the Cannes Film Festival which admits only professionals and Venice which has limited screenings for the public, the Berlin International Film Festival has been open to the general public since its founding in 1951 as a political showcase. With...
High attendance and a great atmosphere marked the EFM 2010. In this anniversary year of the Berlinale, the EFM management recorded a total of 6450 visitors by the end of the European Film Market. In complete contrast to the wintry conditions in the city, the European Film Market of the 60th Berlin International Film Festival showed signs of a spring-like renewal.
For EFM Director Beki Probst, the EFM 2010 was "a solid Market that exuded an air of optimism. We are very contenSolit with t...
WASTE LAND a double winner at Berlin Film Festival British/Brazilian documentary secures second audience award
E1 Entertainment International is proud to announce a historic double win for WASTE LAND, directed by Lucy Walker and co-directed by João Jardim and Karen Harley, which scooped the Panorama Audience Award as well as the Amnesty International Film Prize at the 2010 Berlin Film Festival.
Panorama Audiences were moved to award the film, a co-production b...
The Awards of the International Jury 2010
Golden Bear for Best Film
Bal (Honey)
by Semih Kaplanoglu
Semih Kaplanoglu with his Golden Bear
Silver Bear - The Jury Grand Prix
Eu cand vreau sa fluier, fluier (If I Want To Whistle, I Whistle)
by Florin Serban
The director Florin Serban with his lead actors Ada Condeescu and George Pistereanu
Silver Bear - Best Director
Roman Polanski for The Ghost Writer (The Ghost Writer)
P...
A jury is considered independent when its members are not selected by the Berlinale. A number of independent juries award prizes at the Berlinale. The high level of quality and diversity of the films are an invitation for critical examination and discerning judgment that opens up new directions. Accordingly the independent juries award their prizes along different criteria, in accordance to the special intention linked to each award.
Award ceremony of the Independent Juries 2009
The fo...
The members of the Youth Jury in the Generation 14plus Mara Erlenmaier Lea Huber David Köller Imke Mayer Lukas Monath Lorenz Nolting Lara Passfall give the following awards:
Crystal Bear for the Best Film:
Neukölln Unlimited by Agostino Imondi und Dietmar Ratsch, Germany 2010 The winner of this year is an incredibly gripping movie that succeeds in fascinating its viewers and leaving them spellbound. It made us laugh, cry, cheer, and protest. It is a work of art that takes ful...
The audience has decided: the Panorama Audience Award - organized by "radioeins" of rbb (Berlin-Brandenburg's public radio and television station), Berlin's city magazine "tip", and the Berlinale's Panorama section - goes to: Waste Land (Great Britain, Brasil 2010), directed by Lucy Walker, João Jardim and Karen Harley.
The official award ceremony will be held on the last day of the Festival, Sunday, February 21, 2010, at 5 pm in the CinemaxX 7 at Potsdame...
Live from Berlin: Feo Aladag's WHEN WE LEAVE (DIE FREMDE) from Germany has been awarded the Europa Cinemas Label as Best European Film in the Panorama section of the 60th. Berlinale, it was announced today by a jury of four exhibitors - the seventh year the Label has been awarded in the section.
WHEN WE LEAVE (DIE FREMDE) will now receive the support of the Europa Cinemas exhibitors who commit themselves to extend the length of its run on screen and additional promotion across...
The International Short Film Jury awarded the Golden Bear and the Jury-Prize Silver Bear, the DAAD Short Film Award and the nomination for the European Film Academy Short Film 2010.
The Golden Bear for the best short film goes to Händelse Vid Bank by Ruben Östlund from Sweden.
96 people are reconstructing a failed bank robbery witnessed in 2006. "Everybody imagines a bank robbery as it is presented in the cinema: everything is perfectly organized and is executed fa...
The German actress Hanna Schygulla received an honorary Golden Bear at the 60th Berlinale. The European Parliament took this opportunity to congratulate Mrs Schygulla for her lifetime achievements. One of these was her magnificent performance in Fatih Akin's Auf der anderen Seite, which won the 2007 LUX Prize. The President of the European Parliament personally handed the award to Ms Schygulla on 24 October 2007.
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Missoula, MT - The judges of the seventh annual Big Sky Documentary Film Festival have selected this years award winning films in the four competitive categories: Best Feature, Big Sky Award, Best Short Film and Best Mini Doc (under 15 minutes). The awards were announced Thursday evening at the awards ceremony at The Loft in downtown Missoula.
The Best Feature Award was given to Chinese-Canadian director Lixin Fan for Last Train Home. The emotionally gripping film draws us into t...
The Berlin weather, which has been snowy, icy, blustery, and freezing, with menacing slippery pavements for the first four days, has not impeded the festival fever of the crowds at this Gala Sixtieth birthday celebration.
On the second night a large crowd braved borderline Siberian Gulag weather conditions to ogle a huge outdoor presentation of the definitively restored print of Fritz Lang's silent 1925 classic "Metropolis" before the Brandenburg Gate, a landmark which is Be...
Thursday evening, February 18, in the Theater Hebbel am Ufer (HAU 1-3), the eighth edition of the Berlinale Talent Campus successfully concluded with the Closing Ceremony and the Award Ceremony for this year's Score Competition. For six days, 350 young filmmakers from 95 countries had the unique opportunity to meet each other and the film industry's best, up close and personal. Over 100 events brought the Talents together with more than 150 invited international experts and Berlinale g...
Chatelin Bruno 
