The members of the Kinderjury Generation Kplus:
Justus Paul Bauch
Jana Marie Bussmann
Jesper Ole Ebbert
Tita-Antonia Hagen
Carl-Ludwig Hausl
Ntozake Iglesias
Max Kressner
Lisa Frederike Lassen
Joelle Marianek
Lino Steinwärder
Nina-Liliht Völsch

give the following awards:

The Crystal Bear for the Best Feature Film goes to
"Buda Az Sharm Foru Rikht"
by Hana Makmalbaf (Iran/France)
This film is exciting and provocative and at the same time it is very shocking. It is about a little girl who is struggling to be allowed to go to school. We were moved by the poignant way the film depicts how a country dominated by violence affects the everyday life of children. The film showed us the senselessness of just sending soldiers to a troubled region. More necessary are people who can convince children that violence is not the solution.

The Crystal Bear for the Best Short Film goes to
"Nana"
by Warwick Thornton (Australia)
A little girl is talking about her special relationship with her dear old nana. She is always cooking for her granddaughter and looking after the old people in the village. But there’s another side to her as well. The film is funny and full of humour.

The Special Mention for a Feature Film goes to
"Titanics ti liv"
by Grethe Bøe (Norway)
Great actors combined with an excitement and mystery were the ingredients which convinced us in this film. The story was also accompanied by wonderful music.

The Special Mention for a Short Film goes to
"New Boy"
by Steph Green (Ireland)
The plot is easy to follow even though there is not much dialogue. The portrayal of the characters’ feelings touched us and swept us along and the reminder of Joseph’s earlier homeland gave us a realistic insight into his former life as well as his feelings. In the end we learned that having prejudices just isn’t worth it.

The members of the International Jury Generation Kplus:
Yasmin Ahmad
Anna Justice
Omri Levy
Antonia Ringbom

give the following awards:

The Deutsche Kinderhilfswerk Grand Prix for the best feature film goes to
"TOUS A L’OUEST! Une aventure de Lucky Luke"
by Olivier Jean-Marie (France)
A rollercoaster ride of laughs and adventures, delivered with great wit, genius, and humor. A film full of inventive visual gags combined with an intelligent use of music, mixing historical and modern life elements. A celebration of the joy of cinema.

The Deutsche Kinderhilfswerk Special Prize for the best short film goes to "Min morbror tyckte mycket om gult" by Mats Olof Olsson (Sweden)
Lasting merely 9 minutes this film leads us through a whole range of deep human emotions. An homage to all that is good in people, reminding us to be careful with the fragility surrounding us. A moving story told with simple masterly cinematic strokes.

The Special Mention is awarded to the film "Mutum"
by Sandra Kogut (Brazil/France)
A journey into a young boy’s life that leads you gently through a world infused with love as well as rejection, confusion and heartbreak. With a curious mix of dreamy, open-ended events, it paints a picture of remote Brazil with bursts of poetry and humanity.

The Special Mention is awarded to the film "POST!"
by Christian Asmussen and Matthias Bruhn (Germany)
A joyful film with inventive visual solutions, crazy anarchistic humor and a warm message about one man’s ability to make a whole community happy.

A young German-French jury from TV5MONDE and the German-French Youth Office (GFYO) will award the independent prize for the fifth time at this year’s 58th Berlin International Film Festival. This year, the film Drifter from Sebastian Heidinger received the prize. The "Dialogue en perspective" was initiated in 2004 by the international francophone television channel TV5MONDE and the Berlinale, and is awarded in cooperation with the GFYO to a film from the section Perspektive Deutsches Kino.

As in previous years, a young jury of three German and four French film lovers aged between 18 and 29 selected which film will win the "Dialogue en perspective." Together with their jury president Peter Sehr, who received the German Film Prize in 1994 as director of the film Kaspar Hauser, the jury members watched all films presented in the Berlinale-section Perspektive Deutsches Kino and discussed which film deserved the "Dialogue en perspective."

A Special Mention goes to the short film "Lostage."

With the "Dialogue en perspective" award, TV5MONDE and the GFYO above all want to encourage the young German-French exchange and the intercultural dialogue about German film. The Berlinale, as the most important German film festival, is the perfect platform.

The winning film will be presented on the Festival of the German Film in Paris in autumn 2008.

Synopsis winning film:
Aileen (16), Angel (23) and Daniel (25) have escaped the remnants of their families and the constraints of their villages in search of the anonymity of the big city of Berlin. Their territory is the Zoo station and its environs. This is where they prostitute themselves in order to earn money for their drug addiction; they stay at doss houses, at friends’ places, or with their regular clients. They all have dreams and desires and a vague plan for their lives, but everything remains a building site, just as the world in which they are constantly obliged to reshape their lives and themselves – a world of transitions and unstable places in between; of backstreets, deals, niches and places of transit.

The members of the International Short Film Jury: Marc Barbé (France), Ada Solomon (Romania) and Laura Tonke (Germany) award the following prizes:

The Golden Bear: "O zi buna de plaja"
Directed by: Bogdan Mustata (Romania)

The film raises questions about its issues rather than bring resolution to them. It does so in a very precise and unpredictable way. We feel that it is one of the most precious things when a film stays with you and keeps unravelling long after the final credits have ended.


The Silver Bear: "Udedh bun"
Directed by: Siddharth Sinha (India)

The Silver Bear goes to Udedh bun for its modern narration. A sharp focus that relies on a harmony between images and sound rather than words. We are also sensitive to the new erotica brought to the traditional figure of the desired woman in the history of cinema.

Prix UIP: "Frankie"
Directed by Darren Thornton (Ireland)

A simple and powerful approach. The straight forward point of view of a working class teenager on love, responsibility and fatherhood. We also want to re-encourage the director in developing his project of short films for young makers.


DAAD Short Film Prize: "B teme"
Directed by Olga Popova (Russian Federation)

We feel this film achieves a physical and sensual intimacy with its subjects without ever violating the secret of this intimacy. We wish to encourage the director’s talent as a filmmaker.

And two Special Mentions to

A special mention for directing goes to a film for its precise and sensitive direction on a topic which otherwise would have felt politically correct. "Superfície" Directed by Rui Xavier.

A special mention for a very contemporary gesture in animation in a wonderful nasty sense of humour goes to "RGB XYZ" Directed by David OReilly.

The short film section has entered its second year under a new name, Berlinale Shorts, for the 58th Berlin International Film Festival. The festival made a statement last year by introducing a dedicated short film section and in doing so reaffirmed the significance of the genre for film production in general. “The short film is a reflection of how society is changing. It is radical and without constrictions,” remarks festival Director, Dieter Kosslick.

From 2008, all short films in the Berlinale Shorts section will be presented as world premieres. “In this way, current international trends in film making can be witnessed on the big screen”, says Maike Mia Höhne, curator of Berlinale Shorts. “Over 1500 submissions from 64 countries is evidence that the production of this type of film production continues to thrive.”

From the approximately 30 films which will be shown in the course of the Berlinale Shorts program, around 10 will be included in the competition for the Golden and Silver Bears. The international, three-person short film jury will also award the Prix UIP for the best European film and the DAAD prize for a future scholarship holder.

On Monday 11 February 2008, the section Berlinale Shorts, together with the Berlinale Talent Campus #6 and the Forum expanded, will present a festival day devoted to short film. Alongside screenings and a forum designed to facilitate exchanges between film makers and visitors to the various sections, there will be a discussion event.

The Berlin audience will also be treated to another short film night Wednesday 13 February 2008. An extensive programme of short films will be put together comprising films from all sections of the festival.

Altogether the Berlinale presents around 60 short films each year across the various sections – in addition to Berlinale Shorts this is the Perspektive Deutsches Kino, Generation and Forum expanded. They are presented in blocks of up to two hours, offering a rather special type of journey.

Berlinale Talent Campus #6, February 9 – 14, 2008
In its sixth year the attraction of the Berlinale Talent Campus remains strong: 3304 young filmmakers from 120 countries applied to the Berlinale Talent Campus #6, with applications received for the first time from the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago and Vietnam. 350 applicants will be invited from February 9 – 14, 2008, to explore the Campus focus entitled “SCREENING EMOTIONS – Cinema’s Finest Asset”. “To examine the role of emotions in cinema is to look into the heart of the film industry,” explains Dorothee Wenner, director of the Berlinale Talent Campus. “Every cinematic craft deals with producing emotions. Yet at the same time, they are the least calculable aspect of a business that is fascinated by them and revolves around them.” Together with guests of the Berlinale and internationally renowned experts from all fields of filmmaking, the Talents will take a theoretical and practical look at the many facets of this theme. The Campus will once again take place at the ‘Hebbel am Ufer’ and its three theatres HAU1, HAU2 and HAU3, located in Berlin-Kreuzberg.

The imaginary worlds of set designer Alex McDowell
Alex McDowell has set new standards with his screen designs for film and is one of the most accomplished and renowned representatives of his field. Since the 90s he has utilized and researched the possibilities of digital design. With his innovative style that mixes classic set design with digital effects, McDowell has set a unique stage for films like Fight Club, Minority Report, The Terminal, and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. During his lecture at the Berlinale Talent Campus, Alex McDowell will provide Talents with a look into the fascinating process of creating imaginary worlds – a highlight of the six Campus days, and certainly not just for the young set designers of the Campus community.

“Short films expand Cinema”
Short films have secretly become the center of cinematographic innovation with a potential that benefits not only the film industry but other artistic domains as well. For young filmmakers, short films are a kind of business card, an access point to the film industry. The genre, however, is increasingly (re-)establishing itself as a kind of experimental playing field for advanced cinema. Short films are abandoning the traditional movie screens more and more to become the crossroads for art and cinema –simultaneously avant-garde pioneer and aesthetic trendsetter. The Berlinale Talent Campus is seizing the opportunity to tap into this evolution and, together with Forum expanded and Berlinale Shorts, will present “Short films expand Cinema“, an event that will give insight into new ways and spaces for presenting short films and the new hot spots of the short film scene. Panel guests will include the internationally successful and award-winning filmmaker and video artist Matthias Müller and the founder and curator of the international "Experimenta" film festival in India, Shai Heredia.

The Berlinale Talent Campus is an initiative of the Berlin International Film Festival, a business division of the Kulturveranstaltungen des Bundes in Berlin GmbH, in co-operation with MEDIA - Training programme of the European Union, Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg, Skillset and UK Film Council as well as Volkswagen.

Kicking off the annual industry calendar, the European Film Market (EFM), part of the Berlin International Film Festival, opens its doors for business from February 7- 17, 2008.

One of EFM’s major strengths is the synergy generated by the combination of the film market and festival. After the soaring growth of the past two years, the EFM has successfully established itself as one of the top three international film markets in the world. Bolstered by the growing importance of Berlin-Brandenburg as a film region over the past year, the EFM plans to expand its position even further in 2008: “After successfully repositioning the Market in 2006, we would now like to reinforce the EFM’s status as a top global event for the film business and optimize what we offer to the international film industry”, Director Beki Probst said in summing up the organizers’ objectives for the EFM 2008.

The prestigious exhibition venues, the Martin-Gropius-Bau and the EFM Exhibitor Offices at Potsdamer Platz 11, are already booked solid. Even at this early stage, the EFM 2008, with a total of 178 companies from 47 countries, can point to an increase in exhibitors over the previous year.

A debate series entitled “EFM Industry Debates” conceived and introduced by EFM’s official sponsor and main partner, Arts Alliance Media (AAM) will take place from February 8 -10, 2008. It will focus on the challenges of digital film distribution and sales. On three afternoons, topics related to the fields of “Digital Home” and “Digital Cinema” will be highlighted. The “EFM Industry Debates” will be held at the Marriott Hotel, which will also be home to three EFM “Video Studios” for the second consecutive year.

In addition, a number of events in cooperation with other partners will be offered at the EFM 2008: e.g., the “Straight from Sundance” film series, an exclusive showcase of highlights from the Sundance Film Festival; the “Latin American Works-in-Progress” forum, a platform for young talents from Latin America; as well as the “Books at Berlinale” initiative, presented by the Berlinale Co-Production Market and the Frankfurt Book Fair.

Last but not least: the new “Gropius Mirror Restaurant” at the Martin-Gropius-Bau, one of the gastronomic highlights of 2007, will be on board again. The attractive mirrored tent with its excellent restaurant and café, catered by star chefs, Martin Scharff and Jürgen Koch, will be open during the day to Market visitors and those with Berlinale festival accreditation. The “Gropius Mirror Restaurant” can also be rented out for film-related events during the EFM 2008.


Press contact for the European Film Market 2008:
JUST PUBLICITY, Anja Oster & Sandra Bellin
ph: +49 30 26 39 59 590 / e-mail:

Press Office
December 5, 2007

The films are from China, Brazil, Mexico, Great Britain, USA, Poland and Germany.

In her most recent film, Kirschblüten – Hanami (Germany), Doris Dörrie (Men; The Fisherman and his Wife) tells the story of Rudi (Elmar Wepper), who is incurably ill with cancer. When his fun-loving and esoteric wife (Hannelore Elsner) unexpectedly dies, the widower begins to see her life with new eyes. (World premiere)

There Will Be Blood by Paul Thomas Anderson (Magnolia, Golden Bear 2000) is from the USA. The film adaptation of Upton Sinclair’s novel “Oil” recounts the remarkable story of an unsuccessful silver miner who rises to become a US oil magnate in the early 20th century. Daniel Day-Lewis (Gangs Of New York) gives a brilliant performance as the protagonist Daniel Plainview. (International premiere)

Chinese director Wang Xiaoshuai (Beijing Bicycle, Silver Bear 2001) will this time present Zuo You (In Love We Trust) in the Berlinale Competition. The mother of a child who has cancer wants to save her firstborn and resorts to unusual measures. Liu Weiwei, Zhang Jiayu and Yu Nan play the leading roles. (World premiere)

Mexican director Fernando Eimbcke took part in the Berlinale Talent Campus in 2003. Now he is returning to Berlin with his second feature film: Lake Tahoe. The central character is a sixteen-year-old boy who has to cope with his father’s sudden death. The film features Diego Cataño, Héctor Herrera, Daniela Valentine, Juan Carlos Lara and Yemil Sefani. (World premiere)

Gardens of the Night (Great Britain/USA) by Damian Harris describes the fate of two children who are abducted and held captive for over nine years. Once free, they are forced to take to the streets and fend for themselves. The film stars Gillian Jacobs, Evan Ross, Tom Arnold and John Malkovich. (World premiere)

Oscar-winner Andrzej Wajda, who has participated in the Berlinale Competition three times and received the Honorary Golden Bear for Lifetime Achievement in 2006, will be presenting his latest work Katy? out of competition. The film examines a topic that was long taboo: the massacre of thousands of Polish war prisoners by the Soviet secret service in 1940. In the main roles are Maja Ostaszewska, Artur Zmijewski and Andrzej Chyra. (International premiere)

In Brazil, Tropa de Elite (The Elite Squad) has broken all box-office records. The Berlinale 2008 will screen this political thriller in the Competition. Director José Padilha (Bus 174) explores the terrible influence of the drug mafia on the poorest inhabitants of Brazil, and reveals the daily routines of a brutal and corrupt special unit of the Brazilian military police. The film stars Wagner Moura, Caio Junqueira and André Ramiro. (International premiere)

In S.O.P. Standard Operating Procedure (USA), famous documentary filmmaker and Oscar-winner Errol Morris (The Fog of War, 2003) investigates the scandals surrounding human rights violations at the Abu Ghraib prison complex near Baghdad and investigates what’s behind the so-called “anti-terror war”. (World premiere)

The selection for the Competition programme of the 58th Berlin International Film Festival Berlin will be completed by mid-January 2008.

International Jury Award Prize Winners
Golden Bear: “Tu Ya De Hun Shi” (Tuya's Marriage)
Director: Wang Quan'an (China, 2006)

Jury Grand Prix - Silver Bear: “El Otro” (The Other)
Director: Ariel Rotter (Argentina / France / Germany, 2007)

Silver Bear for Best Director: Joseph Cedar for “Beaufort” (Israel, 2007)

Silver Bear for Best Actress: Nina Hoss in “Yella”
Director: Christian Petzold (Germany, 2007)

Silver Bear for Best Actor: Julio Chavez in “El Otro” (The Other)
Director: Ariel Rotter (Argentina / France / Germany, 2007)

Silver Bear For An Outstanding Artistic Contribution For The Ensemble Cast: “The Good Shepherd”
Director: Robert De Niro (USA, 2006)

Silver Bear (Best Film Music): David Mackenzie for “Hallam Foe”
Director: David Mackenzie (United Kingdom, 2007)

Alfred-Bauer Prize For A Work Of Particular Innovation: “Sai Bo Gu Ji Man Gwen Chan A” (I'm A Cyborg, But That's Ok)
Director: Park Chan-wook (South Korea, 2006)

Best First Feature Jury Award Prize Winners:
The Best First Feature Award: “Vanaja Vanaja”
Director: Rajnesh Domalpalli (India / USA, 2006)

International Short Film Jury Award Prize Winners
Golden Bear (Short Film): “Raak” (Contact)
Director: Hanro Smitsman (Netherlands, 2006)

Silver Bear - Short Film (ex aequo):
“Decroche” (Pick-Up)
Director: Manuel Schapira (France, 2006)
and “Mei”
Director: Arvin Chen (Taiwan, China / USA, 2006)

Honorary Awards of the Festival Award Prize Winners

Honorary Golden Bear: Arthur Penn
Berlinale Camera: Clint Eastwood
Berlinale Camera: Gianni Miná
Berlinale Camera: Márta Mészáros
Berlinale Camera: Ron Holloway, Dorothea Moritz