Watching the Berlinale awards show, and the jury is in.Betrayal, honour, crime. The Golden Bear for Best Film (surprisingly, out of the 18 contenders) goes to the Taviani brothers' film "Caesar must die", Italy's first main Berlinale award since 1991. The semi-documentary follows Roman prisoners while rehearsing Shakespeare's Julius Caesar. The media and most audiences (including me) had their money on the Hungarian Roma drama "Just The Wind" by Bence Fliegauf, which did win the coveted Jury Grand Prix Silver Bear as well as the Amnesty International Award and the Peace Film Prize.
Germany went home with several awards. Christian Petzold for Best Director, cinematographer Lutz Reitemeier won Outstanding Artistic Achievement for his work on the much-discussed Chinese historical drama "White Deer Plain". And one of my festival favourites, "This ain't California", was honoured by the independent jury of "Dialogue en perspective".
Canada did not go home empty either: The Silver Bear for Best Actress went to Congolese lay actor Rachel Mwanza --who jumped up and down in disbelief-- for her role of an African child soldier in Kim Nguyen's "Rebelle" -- which received special mention as having been in the running for the Golden Bear. The DAAD Short Film Prize went to "The Man that Got Away" by Trevor Anderson.
Congratulations, and see you in Berlin next year.
by Jutta Brendemuehl, Goethe-Institut Toronto
