Berlinale: The bears are awarded

The 62nd Berlinale International Film Festival concluded with its famed awards ceremony on Saturday. The Golden Bear went to the Italian docu-drama “Caesar must Die” (Cesare deve morire) directed by veteran brothers Paolo and Vittoria Taviani. Together with ten other world premieres, the film debuted in the Competition category.

Filming of "Caesar Must Die" with Francesco Carusone, Giovanni Arcuri, Cosimo Rega, Photo:

Ceasar Must Die tells the story of convicts as they rehearse a prison performance of Shakespeare's Julius Caesar. Filmed partially in black-and-white, the film uses actual prisoners in its cast.

Upon accepting the prestigious award, Paolo Taviani said, “We hope that when the film is released to the general public that cinemagoers will say to themselves or even those around them... that even a prisoner with a dreadful sentence, even a life sentence, is and remains a human being.” His brother Vittorio then read out the names of the actual prisoners in the cast.

The 2011 Golden Bear went to A Seperation by Asghar Farhadi, the first Iranian film to win the Golden Bear. A Seperation went onto win the 69th Golden Globe Awards for Best Foreign Language Film and has been nominated for an Oscar.

Other awards

The runner-up jury grand prix silver bear went to Bence Fliegauf’s Just the Wind (Csak a szél) which tells the story of the murder of a Romani family in a Hungarian village. Fliegauf follows the pogrom-like atmosphere of the village to transmit a feeling of escalation to the viewer. The film is based on a spree of racist killings in Hungary which took the lives of eight people in under a year.

The award for best actress went to 14-year-old Rachel Mwanza from the Democratic Republic of Congo, for her first ever film role in War Witch. For best actor, Mikkel Boe Folsgaard of Denmark won for his portrayal in the drama A Royal Affair. The film was also awarded best screenplay. The prize for best director was given to German filmmaker Christian Petzold for Barbara, the story of a woman who plots her escape from former East Germany.

Further East

Films from farther east were also recognized. The jury of the Generation Section, intended to provide a platform for issues affecting children and young people, awarded the prize of Special Mention to Indian film Gattu by filmmaker Rajen Khosa. 

India was further represented at the festival by the Shah Rukh blockbuster Don – The King which showed in the Special section. Mohan Kumar Valasala’s Panchabhuta, a short film about a community living on a garbage dump, was screened among the 27 short films from 22 countries. The film Klutch about female infanticide was the first Indian film to be selected for the Berlinale Co-Production Market, together with 39 other films from 30 countries. 

Berlinale