The Awards Ceremony
by Becky Tan

The Berlinale Award presentation on February 19 lasted less than an hour, much shorter than the Academy Award ceremony which was just eight days later. In fast-forward time the winners climbed up to the stage, spoke two minutes and disappeared again. Hungarian Béla Tarr didn’t speak at all, but just took his award and left. Supposedly, he plans to end his directing career with this film. Later, the winning film showed to a – by then – sparse audience, as large swaths of people impolitely and immediately took off for after-award parties without paying the courtesy of watching the excellent winner: Nader and Simin, a Separation. German comedienne Anke Engelke, hosted with the help of Dieter Kosslick, the head of the Berlinale since ten years. This team also opened the Berlinale on February 10, with a “wooden” Engelke who forgot her lines. She had improved considerably for the wind-up ceremony, even falling naturally into one of her well-known Gastarbeiter roles, speaking German with an accent. Perhaps I shouldn’t be too hard on her or anyone else, considering that she, and others, jumped from German to English and back, something the Oscar-award presenters never have to do.

Isabella Rossellini was jury chair for films in competition. Eight international filmmakers from Australia, Germany, India, Canada, Great Britain, Israel and Morocco served on the committee. The Iranian director Jafar Panahi could not fulfil his duties. There were other juries for children’s films and short films. There were independent juries which struck out on their own according to their interests. In some cases the audience got to pick and in the end there were 62 winners, some presented the night or afternoon before the final formal ceremony.

Golden Bear for best Film:
Jadelye Nader az Simin (Nader and Simin, A Separation) by Asghar Farhadi

Grand Prize of the Jury Silver Bear
A torinói ló (The Turin Horse) by Béla Tarr

Silver Bear for best Director
Ulrich Köhler for Schlafkrankheit (Sleeping Sickness)

Silver Bear for best Actress
Ensemble members from Nader and Simin, A Separation

Silver Bear for best Actor
Ensemble members from Nader and Simin, A Separation

Silver Bear for excellent artistic achievement: camera
Wojciech Staron for El Premio (The Prize)

And production design
Barbara Enriquez for El Premio (The Prize)

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

Alfred-Bauer Prize (in memory of the founder of the Berlinale) for new perspectives in the art of film
Andres Veiel for Wer wenn nicht wir d(If Not Us, Who)

Best first film
Andrew Okpeaha MacLean for On the Ice 

Best short film
Park Chan-wook and Park Chan kyong for Paranmanjang (Night Fishing) 

Glass Bear for best children’s film
Arild Andresen for The Liverpool Goalie (Keeper’n til Liverpool)

Glass Bear for best teenager film
Andrew Okpeaha MacLean for On the Ice

Best first film
Andrew Okpeaha MacLean for On the Ice

Ecumenical Jury Prize
Asghar Farhadi for Nader and Simin, a Separation

FIPRESCI (International film critics)
Béla Tarr for A torinói ló (The Turin Hose)

Teddy Awards (for gay films)
best feature film: Marco Berger for Ausente (Absent)
best documentary: Marie Losier for The Ballad of Genesis and Lady Jaye (which also won the Caligari film prize)

Amnesty International Film Prize
Mantas Kvedaravicius for Barzakh

Audience choice in the Panorama section
Feature Film: Iciar Bollain for Even the Rain (También la Lluvia) 
Documentary: Brita Wauer for Im Himmel Unter der Erde, der Jüdische Friedhof Weißensee (In Heaven Underground – the Weissensee Jewish Cemetery)