BERLIN '08 | "Tropa de Elite" Wins Golden Bear in Berlin; Silver Bears for Errol Morris (Grand Jury Prize) and P.T. Anderson (Best Director)

Jose Padilha's "Tropa de Elite" (The Elite Squad) won the the Golden Bear at the 2008 Berlin International Film Festival tonight in the German capital city, while Errol Morris' "Standard Operating Procedure" won the Silver Bear Grand Jury Prize, in second place. Paul Thomas Anderson won the Silver Bear award for best director for "There Will Be Blood" and Wang Ziaoshuai won the Silver Bear for best screenplay for "In Love We Trust."
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BERLIN '08 NOTEBOOK | More Berlinale Disappointments: "Elite Squad," "La Rabia," "Quiet Chaos"; "Summer Book" and "Katyn" Are Rare Highlights

When a film festival disappoints, as the Berlinale has this year, you find yourself adopting a tone of consolation when speaking to your fellow attendees, like the friendly bartender with the mournful drunk: "Why the long face, chum?" And like that bartender, you hear much the same tales of woe repeated again and again: no films worth buying/programming/seeing; no point in hanging around; nothing to show for all those expenses. "I'm just sick of sitting through things that are OKAY," one Berlin veteran complained. "You don't feel angry. You don't feel exhilarated. You just think, well, there goes another hundred minutes of my life. And for what? This mediocre piece of shit? Why did I bother?"
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BERLIN '08 DISPATCH | Life in London: Madonna and Mike Leigh In Berlinale Spotlight

Her first feature may have been made relatively under the radar -- at least for a woman of her stature -- but iconic actress/author and all around uber pop star, now turned filmmaker, Madonna nevertheless made quite a splash in Berlin today. She landed on the cover of local tabloids ahead of the world premiere of her directorial debut "Filth & Wisdom" at the Berlinale tonight and huge crowds gathered wherever she went in public, from throngs of journalists at a press conference, a mob around the big screen TV broadcasting the live Q &A, a sea of fans outside the Berlin fest headquarters and later at the Zoo Palast theater. indieWIRE spent some quieter moments with Madonna during one of the few one-on-one interviews she gave earlier today.
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BERLINALE '08 NOTEBOOK | Digging Past the Competition Where Austrian and Italian Films Shine

Personally, I'm always relieved to see a new Hong San Soo film -- perhaps because I know, when I do, that our friends at the New York Film Festival automatically have one less slot to fill. (And if there's a new Wes Anderson or Michael Haneke too, well, the programme practically selects itself!) Unusual in certain respects (it's set and shot in Paris), and utterly familiar in others (it's about, yes, a selfish male artist vacillating between two women), Hong's latest effort, "Night And Day", is a lovely, bittersweet 90-minute movie, whose only drawback is its 145-minute running time. What would be charming and acutely-observed at the lesser length, turns protracted and even tedious at full stretch. Still, you have to admire the Korean's chutzpah in opening with the second movement of Beethoven's Seventh Symphony -- a gesture which, whatever its intended ironic function, can't help but set the bar rather high for whatever follows it.
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BERLIN '08 DISPATCH | Image and Reality: Errol Morris' "Standard Operating Procedure"

Four years after the horrors within the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq were revealed through amateur photographs, the incidents are the subject of another documentary. Following in the footsteps of Rory Kennedy's "Ghosts of Abu Ghraib" and Alex Gibney's Oscar nominated "Taxi To The Dark Side," comes the anticipated new film from Errol Morris, "Standard Operating Procedure." The horrors of war and the profileration of digital imagery are at the core of Morris' compelling new doc, which had its world premiere tonight (Tuesday) at the Berlinale, the first documentary ever to screen in competition at the festival.
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BERLINALE '08 NOTEBOOK | Drink, Sex and Gynecology: "Julia," "Transsiberian," "Leo," "Black Ice" and Wakamatsu Koji

Ah, the sour taste of disappointment. Watching Erick Zonca's Berlinale competition entry "Julia" -- his first feature since his superb 1998 debut, "The Dream Life of Angels" -- the question became less, 'Where has he been?,' than 'What the hell HAPPENED to him?' Playing a tottery lush in a succession of cheap frocks, Tilda Swinton seemed to be channeling Kiki & Herb (was Justin Bond not available?), and while she struggled gamely with the material -- a loose updating of Cassavetes' "Gloria" -- she was unable to do very much with her badly underwritten, horribly cliched role. Sadly, this one seemed wrong from the very first scene, and what was disconcerting soon became ludicrous -- and then, finally, unendurable.
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BERLIN '08 DISPATCH | Optimism v. Skepticism, Independents v. Hollywood at EFM Talks About the Future of Film Distribution

At the Berlin International FIlm Festival, which kicked off on Thursday night here in the German capital, bold-faced names including Penelope Cruz, Daniel Day-Lewis, Tilda Swinton, Goldie Hawn and The Rolling Stones have been in the spotlight in Potsdamer Platz, while over at the nearby Martin Gropius Bau, thousands of buyers and sellers from around the world are making deals for finished films and pre-bought projects during the concurrent European Film Market. But, just under the radar leading industry insiders have been gathering daily over the weekend to discuss and debate the future of digital cinema, online distribution, and new technology for the home at an intimate series of sessions.
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BERLINALE '08 DISPATCH | Digging out the cool: Berlin Fest Opens with Scorsese's "Shine a Light"

Ask an inhabitant of Berlin today what's cool, and they might struggle to reply, so various are the options. Watching Ricardo Villalobos play a four-hour set at Watergate, perhaps. Catching the new Neo Rauch show at the Berlin Guggenheim. Or just sitting on the terrace at Spindler & Klatt, watching the sun decline by slow stages over the post-industrial wilds of Kreuzberg. Chances are, those answers wouldn't include catching a live gig, however bijou, by a gaggle of aging rock musicians -- once the Satanic majesties of rock, now its grizzled pensioners. However in this respect, it's worth recalling that Berlin International Film Festival chief Dieter Kosslick is not a Berliner by birth; he is from Pforzheim, in the hinterlands of Baden-Wurttemburg. And he is by inclination a cultural bureaucrat: a former funder and administrator. Bear these two factors in mind, and his choice for this year's opening night selection at Berlin -- Martin Scorsese's documentary "Shine A Light," catching the Rolling Stones in concert, back in October 2006, at New York's Beacon Theatre -- might seem a little less perplexing. It's a sixtysomething non-Berliner's idea of cool.
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BERLIN '07 CRITICS NOTEBOOK | At Berlinale '07, Women In The Spotlight - On Screen and Behind The Camera

The decision by the Paul Schrader-led jury to award this year's Berlinale Golden Bear to "Tuya's Marriage" came as no surprise. Chinese director Wang Quan'an's third feature, a socially conscious, colorfully ethnographic paean to peasant defiance, is in many ways tailor-made for festivals. But Wang's film, despite its predictable crowd-pleasing qualities, is rooted in the present-day economic realities of the region and essentially as tough-minded as its heroine (winningly played by Yu Nan).
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BERLIN '07 | "Tuya's Wedding" Wins Golden Bear at '07 Berlinale; Joseph Cedar Wins Directing Prize for "Beaufort"

Wang Quan'an's "Tuya's Marriage" won the top prize, the Golden Bear, at the 2007 Berlinale, awarded tonight at the festival's closing ceremony in Germany's capital city. The film is the story of a woman (Yu Nan) living in rural northwestern Mongolia and facing pressure to abandon her life as a shepherd.
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BERLIN '07 DAILY DISPATCH | In 3 New Berlinale Docs, Exploring Enigmatic Artists

Andy Warhol's mostly unknown former lover, an avant garde musician who can count some of the world's most famous artists in popular music among his legion of fans, and an eccentric symbol behind one of the world's most powerful fashion houses are the rather mysterious, but highly creative subjects of three new documentaries that screened during the Berlinale this week. To varying degrees, Danny Williams, Scott Walker and Karl Lagerfeld have garnered attention and etched an indelible mark on art and culture, though the three individuals remain enigmatic personalities.
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BERLIN '07 DAILY DISPATCH | With Eslinger's "Forest" in Competition, American Films (Indies In Particular) Gain Greater Attention at Berlinale

There was a significant moment inside the Berlinale Palast here in Germany this week when Berlin International Film Festival director Dieter Kosslick led twenty-five year-old American filmmaker Ryan Eslinger by the hand, directing him to walk in the spotlight to his seat for the world premiere of his second feature film, "When A Man Falls in The Forest." Eslinger paused momentarily before raising his head and walking with confidence to the VIP row where he was quickly joined by his film's co-stars Sharon Stone and Timothy Hutton. Eslinger's film is a rarity in the Berlinale's high-profile international competition; of the four American films being showcased, his is the only truly indie production, a small $2 million project alongside movies from Hollywood directors Gregory Nava ("Bordertown"), Steven Soderbergh ("The Good German") and Robert De Niro ("The Good Shepherd"). Kosslick, a proponent of emerging talent, has hailed Eslinger as the discovery of the festival this week, noting that he is among the youngest directors to compete at the event.
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BERLIN '07 DAILY DISPATCH | Glamour, Politics, The Biz, and Young People: Dieter Kosslick Talks About the Berlinale

After a weekend of snow, ice and a cold biting wind here in Berlin, the skies cleared and temperatures warmed up a bit in the German capital, making the festival all the more manageable for visitors and locals alike. Sitting down to chat with indieWIRE at the mid-point of the annual Berlinale, festival director Dieter Kosslick, wearing a light festival hoodie, breathed a sigh of relief that the winter weather had eased up. Chatting about his role as the jovial goodwill ambassador atop one of the world's leading film festivals and markets, Kosslick said that he had spent the first first days in Berlin making any number of welcome speeches, setting the tone for the event with a mix of jokes and serious comments. And, as with any good host, he explained he has to make sure his guests are comfortable, "We have to take care of (people)," he smiled, "With the cold...making sure we have enough scarves, to keep them warm..."
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BERLIN '07 CRITICS NOTEBOOK | Adventurous "Chatterley" Atop Berlinale Crop; Cotillard Shines, Costanzo's Latest Leads Competition, So Far

True to form, the most interesting work at this year's Berlinale could be found outside the spotlight of the official competition. Tucked away in the Panorama section, Pascale Ferran's "Lady Chatterley" doesn't exactly qualify as a discovery, having already been anointed one of last year's best films by many French critics. But this precisely fine-tuned interpretation of the D.H. Lawrence novel, featuring bold, tender performances by relative unknowns Marina Hands and Jean-Louis Coulloch, is at once the most adventurous and the most conventionally satisfying films I've seen here so far.
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BERLIN '07 DAILY DISPATCH | Serious Films Provoke at Berlinale: The Holocaust, Activist Lesbians and an American Artistic Chill

Amidst the red carpet premieres and gala parties that draw international attention to the annual Berlinale, the festival often maintains a serious, sometimes even somber mood, often debuting films about weighty matters and political issues. Among the high profile new competitive titles that have had attendees buzzing at the Berlin International Film Festival this year is Stefan Ruzowitzky's "The Counterfeiters" (Die Falscher), an Austrian/German production that takes a unique look at German history, namely the Holocaust. Exploring the compelling story of "Operation Bernhard," Ruzowitsky's film depicts the almost unbelievable secret Nazi program aimed at destabilizing their enemies by counterfeiting British and American currency.
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BERLIN '07 DAILY DISPATCH | UPDATE: Delpy Comedy Stirs Buyers, Park Chan-wook Counters Expectations, and Spurlock Sneaks New Doc, Makes TWC Deal

Winter weather with an often biting wind persisted in the German capital throughout the first weekend of the the Berlin International Film Festival, and, in fact, more snow has fallen here during the Berlinale than visiting attendees experienced at the recent Sundance Film Festival in Utah. Meanwhile, inside the many Potsdamer Platz movie theaters and around the crowded convention halls of the European Film Market at nearby Martin Gropius Bau, industry attendees have been buzzing about a number of titles, from a culture clash romantic comedy by Julie Delpy, to the latest from Park Chan-wook and a new top secret documentary by Morgan Spurlock lands at The Weintein Company.
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BERLIN '07 DAILY DISPATCH | With "La Vie En Rose," Cotillard and Piaf in Snowy Spotlight on First Day of Berlinale

Snow greeted festival-goers in Berlin on Thursday , stranding some travelers who were hoping to fly here for the first day of the 57th Berlin International Film Festival (particularly those coming from London). The main event opened with Olivier Dahan's competition entry "La Vie En Rose," a look at the life of the famed French chanteuse Edith Piaf. The new film, named for Piaf's most famous song (which was written amidst the German occupation of France during World War II), "La Vie En Rose" was previewed for press and industry at three showings during earlier today, followed by a press conference with the key cast and creators of the French/UK/Czech Republic co-production and later in the evening. With a light snow falling in the evening, the official Berlinale kick-off featured a lengthy opening ceremony, followed by the gala screening and then a festive, food-filled party at the Berlinale Palast here in the German capital.
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BERLIN '07 DAILY DISPATCH | Thinking Globally, Linde and Universal Look To International Filmmakers As Berlinale Opens 57th Festival

"I am not that indie film guy anymore," quipped Universal Studios co-chairman David Linde on Wednesday in Germany where he is heading into his twentieth annual Berlin International Film Festival (but his first as the head of a Hollywood studio). The remark came during a brief post-lunch keynote at the intimate Screen International European Film Finance Summit on the eve of the Berlinale here in the German capital. Just one day after his first NBC Universal board meeting back in New York, and nearly one year after leaving his job atop Focus Features, Linde spotlighted a major effort at his studio right now, namely an expansion into local co-productions within a number of countries.
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"Grbavica" Wins Golden Bear At 2006 Berlinale; Winterbotton & Whitecross Win Directing Prize

Jasmila Zbanic's "Grbavica won the top prize, the Golden Bear, at the 2006 Berlinale, awarded tonight at the festival's closing ceremony in Germany's capital city. The film, from Austria and Bosnia & Herzegovina, is the story of a mother and daughter set in post-war Sarajevo. Declaring, "We have found ways to choose what we feel reflect, in the most profound way, the mood of the world today," Berlinale jury president Charlotte Rampling joined her fellow jurors in announcing this year's award winners at a ceremony that was broadcast live on German television and via the Internet around the world. Get the latest news, buzz and iPOP photos from the Berlinale in indieWIRE's special Berlin International Film Festival section.
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BERLINALE CRITIC'S DIARY: German Films Lead The Way at 2006 Berlin Fest; "Power," "Lenz" Also Worthy

When Dieter Kosslick, the head of the Berlin International Film Festival, first announced that fully five of the nineteen films in competition at this year's Berlinale would be German films, the cinema world looked askance. Had Kosslick been overtaken by a sudden access of Teutonic nationalism? Or was he on to something? Get the latest news, buzz and iPOP photos from the Berlinale in indieWIRE's special Berlin International Film Festival section.
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