Intimacy by Patrice Chereau
Patrice Chereau's English language debut may not have pleased the Puritan culture in America -- the film was so considered so racy at Sundance that IDs were checked at the door -- who ever heard of IDs at a festival? But the realistic passion of Intimacy was no problem for Berlinale crowd, where the film picked up the Golden Bear for Best Film and a Silver Bear for Best Actress for star Kerry Fox.
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Silver Bear - Jury Grand Prize

Beijing Bicycle by Wang Xiaoshuai
Wang Xiaoshuai is one stubborn man (Check out Robin Gatto's interview to learn more). This Chinese filmmaker had not one, not two, but three films banned from his homeland. But he keeps on going. With his latest work, Beijing Bicyle, Wang has managed to please not only China, but the Berlin jury as well. At this year's 51st Berlinale, Beijing Bicycle earned its two main actors Cui Lin and Li Bin the Piper Heidsieck New Talent Award to Best Young Actor.
    

Italian for Beginners by Lone Scherfig
In its native Denmark, Italian for Beginners, the first Dogme film by a women director, took less than six weeks to sell more admissions than any other feature film to emerge from the now-infamous vow of chastity. Days after it screened at the Berlinale, Harvey Weinstein and the team from Miramax were impressed enough to pick up the film.
  

Silver Bear to the Best Director

Betelnut Beauty by Lin Cheng-sheng
Arguably one of the best directors emerging from the new Taiwanese cinema, Lin Cheng-sheng is fast establishing himself in the international arena. Filming with a fluid, almost jazz-like approach to film grammar, his films fit firmly with the traditional Taiwanese cinema style, with a refreshingly unpretentious twist.

Silver Bear to the Best Actor

Traffic's Benicio del Toro
Steven Soderbergh's Traffic is a gritty, fast-paced look at the world of drug trafficking. It's also one of the most thought-provoking, honest movies of the year. Benicio del Toro has also been nominated for an Oscar. Will the Academy be as supportive as the Berlinale when it comes to Benicio?

La Cienega (The Swamp) by Lucrecia Martel
The first feature by Argentine director Martel (winner of the Sundance/NHK Screenplay Award in 1999) is set in the treacherous swamps of Argentina. The action takes place near the town of La Ciénega; 90km away is the village of Rey Muerto, close to the La Mandragora plantation, named after the plant that was used as a sedative before ether and morphine.
   

The Days Between by Maria Speth
One of three Tiger winners at the Rotterdam Film Festival, Maria Speth, was born in 1967 in Titting, Bavaria. She trained as an actress and a TV director before launching into her first feature directing debut with The Days Between.

25 Watts by Juan Pablo Rebella and Pablo Stoll
The first feature film by Rebella and Stoll, 25 Watts, was a nice surprise for many reasons: it is from Uruguay, a country that produces very few movies; its very low budget and the supreme efforts its filmmakers had to make to turn their ideas into moving images. The third remarkable thing is that it comes from very young people (both are twenty-six years old) with something to say.

The Believer by Henry Bean Young
Canadian actor Ryan Gosling gives a career-launching performance as an Orthodox Jew turned neo-Nazi in Henry Bean's thought-provoking thriller The Believer, which won the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance 2001. Based on a true story of a Jewish teenager who commits acts of anti-semitic vandalism in 1960s New York, the story has been brought into the present day New York.

Hedwig and the Angry Inch by John Cameron Mitchell
Get ready world, for rock and roll diva Hedwig and her group The Angry Inch!! The screen adaptation of the Off-Broadway musical sensation is a winning combination of raw nerve, drag queen glitter and the best musical score in a film since the Golden Age of movie musicals. John Cameron Mitchell, who originated the role of the uber-diva, recreates his/her stage role and takes on directorial chores in his feature film debut.