Kaplanoglu’s ‘Honey’ Claims Golden Bear

What do Central Station (1998), The Thin Red Line (1999) and Paul Thomas Anderson’s Magnolia (2000) all have in common? They were awarded the top honor at the Berlin Film Festival and you can add Honey, the final leg in Semih Kaplanoglu’s trilogy which commenced with Egg and last year’s Milk, to that grouping. Florin Serban’s If I Want to Whistle, I Whistle, which won Alfred Bauer Prize, also claimed 2nd place prize in the Silver Bear – The Jury Grand Prize – thus continuing the wave of film festival winning Romanian cinema. Roman Polanski won for Best Director – but there are a couple of ways we can read into why he received the award. Here’s the entire batch of winners below.

Golden Bear: “Bal” (Honey), directed by Semih Kaplanoglu (Turkey/Germany)

Silver Bear – The Jury Grand Prize: “Eu Cand Vreau Sa Fluier, Fluier” (If I Want to Whistle, I Whistle), directed by Florin Serban (Romania/Sweden)

Silver Bear – Best Director: Roman Polanski for “The Ghost Writer” 

Silver Bear – Best Actress: Shinobu Terajima in “Caterpillar” 

Silver Bear – Best Actor (shared): Grigori Dobrygin and Sergei Puskepalis in “Kak Ya Provel Etim Letom” (How I Ended This Summer) 

Silver Bear – Best Screenplay: “Tuan Yuan” (Apart Together), written by Wang Quan’an and Na Jin 

Silver Bear – Artistic Contribution: “Kak Ya Provel Etim Letom” (How I Ended This Summer), cinematography by Pavel Kostomarov (Russia)

Alfred Bauer Prize (shared): “Eu Cand Vreau Sa Fluier, Fluier” (If I Want to Whistle, I Whistle), directed by Florin Serban (Romania/Sweden)

Best First Feature Award: “Sebbe,” directed by Babak Najafi (Sweden)

Other awards at the 2010 Berlinale: Panorama Audience Award 2009
“Waste Land,” directed by Lucy Walker, Joao Jardim & Karen Harley
2nd place: “Budrus,” directed by Julia Bacha
3rd place: “Daniel Schmid – Le chat qui pense,” directed by Pascal Hofmann, Benny Jaberg

Ecumenical Jury Prize:
Competition: “Bal” (Honey) directed by Semih Kaplanoglu
Panorama: “Kawasakiho ruze” (Kawasaki’s Rose) directed by Jan Hrebejk
Forum: “Aisheen [Still Alive in Gaza]” directed by Nicolas Wadimoff

FIPRESCI Prizes:
Competition: “En Familie” (A Family) directed by Pernille Fischer Christensen
Panorama: “Parade” directed by Isao Yukisada
Forum: “El vuelco del cangrejo” (Crab Trap) directed by Oscar Ruiz Navia

“Label Europa Cinemas”:
“Die Fremde” (When We Leave) directed by Feo Aladag

Teddy – Queer Film Award:
Best Feature Film: “The Kids Are All Right” directed by Lisa Cholodenko
Best Documentary Film: “La bocca del lupo” (The Mouth of the Wolf) directed by Pietro Marcello
Best Short Film: “The Feast Of Stephen” directed by James Franco
Teddy Jury Award: “Open” directed by Jake Yuzna

Peace Film Award:
“Son Of Babylon” directed by Mohamed Al-Daradji

Amnesty International Film Prize:
“Son Of Babylon” directed by Mohamed Al-Daradji
ex aequo: “Waste Land” directed by Lucy Walker, Joao Jardim, Karen Harley

Prizes of the Berlin Talent Campus:
Berlin Today Award: Bryn Chainey (Australia) for “Jonah and the Vicarious Nature of Homesickness”
Score Competition: Camilo Sanabria (Colombia)

Crystal Bears and Deutsches Kinderhilfswerk Awards in Generation Kplus
Crystal Bear for the Best Film: “Shui Yuet Sun Tau” directed by Alex Law, Hongkong (China) 2009
Crystal Bear for the Best Short Film: “Franswa Sharl” directed by Hannah Hillard (Australia) 2009