59th Berlin International Film Festival
The 59th Berlin International Film Festival was held from 5 February to 15 February 2009.[2] The opening film of the festival was Tom Tykwer’s The International, screened out of competition.[3] Costa-Gavras's immigrant drama Eden Is West served as the closing night film at the festival.[4][5] The festival's jury president was actress Tilda Swinton of the United Kingdom.[6]
![]() Festival poster | |
Opening film | The International |
---|---|
Closing film | Eden Is West |
Location | Berlin, Germany |
Founded | 1951 |
Awards | Golden Bear (La Teta Asustada) |
No. of films | 383 films[1] |
Festival date | 5–15 February 2009 |
Website | Website |
The Golden Bear was awarded to Peruvian film La Teta Asustada directed by Claudia Llosa.[7] The retrospective dedicated to the Golden Age of 70mm filmmaking from 1955 to 1970, titled 70 mm – Bigger than Life was shown at the festival.[8]
Admission for the festival was reported to be among the highest in years, and it also set a record for ticket sales, with some 270,000 tickets sold by the halfway mark, compared to 240,000 sold for the entire run of the festival the previous year.[9] The final ticket tally was the largest in the festival’s 59-year history.[9]
Jury
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The following people were announced as being on the jury for the festival:[10]
International jury
- Tilda Swinton, actress (United Kingdom) - Jury President
- Isabel Coixet, director and screenwriter (Spain)
- Gaston Kaboré, director (Burkina Faso)
- Henning Mankell, writer (Sweden)
- Christoph Schlingensief, playwright and director (Germany)
- Wayne Wang, director, screenwriter and producer (Hong Kong)
- Alice Waters (United States)
Best First Feature Award Jury
- Hannah Herzsprung, actress (Germany)
- In-Ah Lee, producer (Germany)
- Rafi Pitts, director (Iran)
International Short Film Jury
- Khavn De La Cruz, director, screenwriter and producer (Philippines)
- Arta Dobroshi, actress (Kosovo)
- Lars Henrik Gass, director of the International Short Film Festival Oberhausen (Germany)
In competition
The following films were selected in competition for the Golden Bear and Silver Bear awards:[1]
English title | Original title | Director(s) | Country |
---|---|---|---|
Everyone Else | Alle Anderen | Maren Ade | Germany |
Cheri | Cheri | Stephen Frears | UK |
About Elly | Darbareye Elly | Asghar Farhadi | Iran |
Giant | Gigante | Adrián Biniez | Uruguay, Germany, Argentina |
Happy Tears | Happy Tears | Mitchell Lichtenstein | United States |
In the Electric Mist | In the Electric Mist | Bertrand Tavernier | United States |
Katalin Varga | Peter Strickland | Romania, United Kingdom, Hungary | |
Little Soldier | Annette K. Olesen | Denmark | |
Forever Enthralled | Mei Lanfang | Chen Kaige | China |
The Messenger | The Messenger | Oren Moverman | United States |
London River | Rachid Bouchareb | Algeria, France, UK | |
Mammoth | Lukas Moodysson | Sweden, Germany, Denmark | |
My One and Only | My One and Only | Richard Loncraine | United States |
Rage | Rage | Sally Potter | UK, United States |
Ricky | François Ozon | France, Italy | |
Storm | Sturm | Hans-Christian Schmid | Germany, Denmark |
Sweet Rush | Tatarak | Andrzej Wajda | Poland |
The Milk of Sorrow | La Teta Asustada | Claudia Llosa | Peru |
Out of competition screening
The following films were selected for the out of competition screening at the festival:[1]
English title | Original title | Director(s) | Country |
---|---|---|---|
Germany 09: 13 Short Films About the State of the Nation | Deutschland 09 – 13 kurze Filme zur Lage der Nation | compilation film by Fatih Akin, Tom Tykwer, Wolfgang Becker, Sylke Enders, Dominik Graf, Romuald Karmakar, Nicolette Krebitz, Isabelle Stever, Hans Steinbichler, Hans Weingartner, Christoph Hochhäusler, Dani Levy and Angela Schanelec | Germany |
Eden Is West | Eden à l'ouest | Costa-Gavras | France, Greece, Italy |
The Dust of Time | Theo Angelopoulos | Greece, Germany, Italy, Russia | |
The International | The International | Tom Tykwer | USA |
The Private Lives of Pippa Lee | The Private Lives of Pippa Lee | Rebecca Miller | USA |
The Reader | The Reader | Stephen Daldry | UK, Germany |
Notorious | Notorious | George Tillman Jr. | USA |
Key
† Winner of the main award for best film in its section The opening and closing films are screened during the opening and closing ceremonies respectively.
Awards
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The following prizes were awarded by the Jury:[7][11]
Golden Bear
The Golden Bear went to La teta asustada by Claudia Llosa.
Silver Bears
- Jury Grand Prix (Grand Prize of the Jury): Adrián Biniez for Gigante and Maren Ade for Alle Anderen
- Best Director: Asghar Farhadi for Darbereye Elly
- Best Actor: Sotigui Kouyaté for London River
- Best Actress: Birgit Minichmayr for Alle Anderen
- Best Script: Oren Moverman and Alessandro Camon for The Messenger
- Outstanding Artistic Contribution (sound design): György Kovács, Gábor ifj. Erdélyi and Tamás Székely. for Katalin Varga
- Alfred Bauer Prize: Andrzej Wajda for Tatarak and Adrián Biniez for Gigante
- FIPRESCI Award: Claudia Llosa for La teta asustada
References
- "PROGRAMME 2009". berlinale.de. Archived from the original on 9 November 2013. Retrieved 10 June 2014.
- "59TH BERLIN INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL FEBRUARY 5 - 15, 2009". berlinale.de. Archived from the original on 4 November 2013. Retrieved 10 June 2014.
- "59th Berlinale kicks off with The International on Barco's digital cinema projectors". barco.com. Retrieved 10 June 2014.
- "BERLINALE 2009 COMES TO A SUCCESSFUL CLOSE: A FANTASTIC ATMOSPHERE AND ENTHUSIASTIC AUDIENCES". berlinale.de. Archived from the original on 30 March 2010. Retrieved 10 June 2014.
- "'Milk of Sorrow' wins Golden Bear". variety.com. 14 February 2009. Retrieved 10 June 2014.
- Berlinale 2009: Academy Award–Winner Tilda Swinton will be Jury President
- "PRIZES & HONOURS 2009". berlinale.de. Archived from the original on 15 October 2013. Retrieved 10 June 2014.
- "RETROSPECTIVE". Archived from the original on 4 March 2017. Retrieved 28 August 2014.
- Scott Roxborough (2009-02-11). "Berlinale to break sales record". The Hollywood Reporter.
- "JURIES 2009". berlinale.de. Archived from the original on 23 October 2013. Retrieved 10 June 2014.
- "2009 Berlin Awards" (PDF). berlinale.de. Archived (PDF) from the original on 16 May 2013. Retrieved 10 June 2014.
External links
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