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BERLINALE 2009 Awards

Llosa scoops Golden Bear and Europe dominates prize list

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Unlike last year, the closing ceremony of the 59th Berlinale was a triumph for European films, which scooped ten of the 12 awards (including six out of eight Bears) presented this evening at the Palast by the international jury presided by Tilda Swinton.

The jury unanimously awarded the Golden Bear for Best Film to Claudia Llosa’s Spanish/Peruvian title The Milk of Sorrow (see news). The director thanked her host country, Spain, and let actress Magaly Solier move the audience with a song in Quechua.

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The Milk of Sorrow is the first Spanish title in 26 years to win the Golden Bear and the film also picked up the Fipresci Prize.

Another European co-production triumphed: Uruguayan director Adrian Biniez’s German/Dutch Gigante was ex aequo winner of the Grand Jury Prize. The film also picked up the Alfred Bauer Prize for innovation (shared with Sweet Rush by Polish master Andrzej Wajda, who was praised for the personal effort he invested in his film) and Best Debut Film.

Biniez shared the Grand Jury Prize with young German director Maren Ade’s Everyone Else, which furthermore earned actress Birgit Minichmayr a Silver Bear.

Sotigui Kouyate – winner of the Silver Bear for Best Actor for his performance in Rachid Bouchareb’s London River – told a few African tales to the audience and praised the Berlinale for the way in which it promotes encounters between different peoples and cultures (the central theme of Bouchareb’s film).

Finally, Spanish director and jury member Isabel Coixet lauded the inventiveness and unpredictability of the superb soundtrack to Peter Strickland’s Hungarian/UK/Romanian film Katalin Varga.

Full list of prize winners:

Golden Bear for Best Film
The Milk of Sorrow [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
by Claudia Llosa

Silver Bear - Grand Jury Prize (ex aequo)
Everyone Else [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Maren Ade
film profile
]
by Maren Ade
Gigante [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
by Adrian Biniez

Silver Bear for Best Director
Asghar Farhadi - About Elly

Silver Bear for Best Actress
Birgit Minichmayr - Everyone Else

Silver Bear for Best Actor
Sotigui Kouyate - London River [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]

Silver Bear for Best Screenplay
Oren Moverman and Alessandro Camon for The Messenger

Silver Bear for Outstanding Artistic Achievement
Gabor Erdély and Tamas Székely for the soundtrack to Katalin Varga [+see also:
film review
trailer
Interview Peter Strickland - Director …
film profile
]

Alfred Bauer Prize (jointly awarded)
Gigante by Adrián Biniez
Sweet Rush [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
by Andrzej Wajda

Best Debut Film (in all sections)
Gigante by Adrián Biniez
Special Mention: The Girl [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Fredrik Edfeldt
film profile
]
by Fredrik Edfeldt

Collateral Awards

Golden Bear for Best Short
Please Say Something by David Oreilly

Crystal Bear for Best Feature in the Generation Kplus section
It’s Not Me, I Swear! by Philippe Falardeau
Special Mention
Max Embarrassing by Lotte Svendsen

Crystal Bear for Best Feature in the Generation 14plus section - Youth Jury
My Suicide by David Lee Miller
Special Mention
Mary and Max by Adam Elliot

International Jury Prize in the Generation 14plus section
It’s Not Me, I Swear! by Philippe Falardeau
Special Mention
The Girl [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Fredrik Edfeldt
film profile
]
by Fredrik Edfeldt

Ecumenical Jury Prize
Competition: Little Soldier [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
by Annette K. Olesen
Special Mentions:
London River by Rachid Bouchareb
My One And Only by Richard Loncraine
Panorama: Welcome [+see also:
film review
trailer
making of
interview: Philippe Lioret
film profile
]
by Philippe Lioret
Forum : Treeless Mountain by So Yong Kim

FIPRESCI Prize
Competition: The Milk of Sorrow by Claudia Llosa
Panorama: North [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Rune Denstad Langlo
film profile
]
by Rune Denstadt Langlo
Forum : Love Exposure by Sono Sion

C.I.C.A.E. Award
Panorama: Ander [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
by Roberto Caston
Forum: The Happiest Girl in the World [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
by Radu Jude

Europa Cinemas Label Award (ex aequo)
North [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Rune Denstad Langlo
film profile
]
by Rune Denstadt Langlo
Welcome [+see also:
film review
trailer
making of
interview: Philippe Lioret
film profile
]
by Philippe Lioret

Teddy Award for Best Feature
Raging Sun, Raging Sky by Julian Hernandez

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(Translated from French)

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