Berlinale Forum, 2/15.

It's all over. Yesterday saw the final screenings of the Berlinale as well as the presentations of the final awards. It has been a very unique journey for me since February 5. It's actually rather grueling, mentally and physically, to spend around 13 hours in the dark watching movies all day every day. Then, to write the capsule reviews before trying to grab a few hours of sleep with images from the day's films still floating around in my head... just to get up and do it again the next day. Very exhausting indeed. Overall, though, this was a very rewarding experience. I made some great new friends in the other members of the jury, and of course, I saw many fantastic (and not-so-fantastic) films. I hope my quick little diary has been entertaining at least.

And now, the truth about yesterday: I managed to catch only one film, that being Koktobel (Roads to Koktobel) from Russian directors Boris Chlebnikow and Alexej Popogrebskij. Taking place sometime in the recent past, the film follows a father and his 11-year-old son on a journey with little-to-no money across Russia to Koktobel, where they intend to visit the boy's aunt. When the boy can't take traveling with his father anymore, he strikes out on his own to find the town on the Black Sea coast. This is a slow-paced movie, but it never drags. The characters are well-developed, the performances are strong and the cinematography is consistently beautiful. All in all, a well-made, warm and personal film, and a pleasant way to conclude the fest.

Cory, backed by his fellow jury members, announces the winner.

This was followed by the presentation of the Berliner Zeitung's Readers' Jury award. As I predicted, there were no major upsets and the prize went to Hungarian director Benedek Fliegauf's Dealer. The choice was a real toss-up in the jury between Neverland and Dealer and, after hours of debating and arguing, we finally settled on Dealer. While this was by no means my favorite film of the festival, it has some undeniable artistic merit, and I'm happy for the young director.

Now to readjust to normal life again. This was an experience I'll never forget, and I thank the Berliner Zeitung for selecting me for the jury, and I also want to thank Jonathan and David at GreenCine for asking me to write this diary.

Posted by dwhudson at February 16, 2004 1:48 PM