Berlinale. The Bears.

I suspected this jury would come up with a few surprises and it certainly has. U-Carmen eKhayelitsha, Mark Dornford-May's adaptation of Bizet's opera set in a South African township, has won the Golden Bear at this year's Berlinale. I can almost hear the collective "Oops..." being muttered among quite a number of critics, myself included, who opted for something else the morning of its press screening (in my case, breakfast with visiting GreenCiners).

The Silver Bears:

• Two for Sophie Scholl, one for its director, Marc Rothemund, and one for its widely celebrated lead actress, Julia Jentsch.

• Lou Taylor Pucci picks up one for his role in Mike Mills's Thumbsucker.

• And the Jury's Grand Prize goes to Gu Changwei's Peacock.

On the whole, the selection is not as controversial as it might have been if, say, The Wayward Cloud had received a nod in any category, and I would like to have seen Michel Bouquet recognized in some way for his phenomenal performance in The Late Mitterand, but there you go.

Posted by dwhudson at February 19, 2005 6:16 AM