Berlin, Germany (Weltexpress). Headed by the Dutch director and screenwriter Paul Verhoeven whose long and varied filmography includes “Turkish Fruit”, “The Soldier of Orange”, “RoboCop”, “Total Recall”, “Basic Instinct”, “Starship Troopers”, “Hollow Man”, “Black Book” and “Elle”, the international jury, consisting also of Maggie Gyllenhaal, Diego Luna, Julia Jentsch, Wang Quan’an, Olafur Eliasson and Dora Bouchoucha Fourati, awarded seven Silber Bears and a Golden Bear this evening in the Berlinale Palast.
The winners of the Competition during the 67th Berlinale were:
Golden Bear for Best Film (awarded to the film’s producer)
“Testről és lélekről” (“On Body and Soul”) by Ildikó Enyedi
Silver Bear Grand Jury Prize
“Félicité” by Alain Gomis
Silver Bear Alfred Bauer Prize (for a feature film that opens new perspectives)
“Pokot” (“Spoor”) by Agnieszka Holland in collaboration with Kasia Adamik
Silver Bear for Best Director
Aki Kaurismäki for “Toivon tuolla puolen” (“The Other Side of Hope”)
Silver Bear for Best Actress
Kim Minhee in “Bamui haebyun-eoseo honja” (“On the Beach at Night Alone”) by Hong Sangsoo
Silver Bear for Best Actor
Georg Friedrich in “Helle Nächte” (“Bright Nights”) by Thomas Arslan)
Silver Bear for Best Screenplay
Sebastián Lelio and Gonzalo Maza for “Una mujer fantástica (“A Fantastic Woman”) by Sebastián Lelio
Silver Bear for outstanding artistic contribution
Dana Bunescu for the editing in”Ana, mon amour” by Călin Peter Netzer
Apart from Competition honours, there were numerous other prizes presented during and at the end of a long Berlinale. The Golden Bear for Best Short Film went to “Cidade Pequena” by Diogo Costa Amarante, the Silver Bear to “Ensueño en la Pradera” by Esteban Arrangoiz Julien, and the Audi Short Film Award to “Street of Death” by Karam Ghossein. Among the prizes of the juries Generation, the Crystal Bear for the Best Film acclaimed “Piata lod” (“Little Harbour”) by Iveta Grófová and for the Best Short Film “Promise” by Xie Tian as winners. It was a choice made by eleven kids, the Children’s Jury Generation Kplus and as thus something really special Berlinale. Prizes from ‘adults’ that make this film festival unique are among others the Teddy Award in five categories, for instance Best Feature Film “A fantastic woman”, the Peace Film Prize going to “El Pacto de Adriana” (“Adriana’s Pact”) by Lissette Orozco or the Amnesty International Film Prize for “La libertad del Diablo” (“Devil’s Freedom”) by Everardo Gonzáles.
Although the prizes and awards by now seem countless, there was something new on the agenda this year. The “Glashütte Original Documentary Award”, endowed with € 50,000 and funded by the company well known as a watchmaker was presented by the jury made up of Mexican festival director Daniela Michel, US American filmmaker Laura Poitras and the Swiss-Iranian director Samir, to “Istiyad Ashbah” (“Ghost Hunting”) by Raed Andoni. In the film, former inmates reconstruct an Israeli secret service interrogation centre. These Palestinian men use role-play to come to terms with their memories and the humiliation they have experienced. Out of the sixteen nominees for the award, this set-up was certainly one of the most shocking shown. Glashütte goes far ahead with this award, the company can also be proud of this achievement with a trophy that fits and makes the movie world develop precisely on time, a trophy built from gears and representing the multifaceted art of the documentary. Lots of cheers for Glashütte, and lets hope they carry on at this pace for the next years.
