| Cannes
Palme d'Or |
The
Son's Room by Nanni Moretti
The critics aligned with the jury crowning Moretti's film, putting
the Italian film industry back in the limelight after a complete
absence from Cannes last year. Unlike most of his past films,
which unfold through the first-person narrative of the central
character, La stanza del figlio recounts the fictional tale
of a happy, middle-class family which is torn apart when the
teenage son dies suddenly in a tragic accident.
|
 |
| Cannes
Grand Jury Prize |
The
Piano Teacher by Michaël Haneke
Cannes' other outstanding winner was The Piano Teacher,
attributed the Grand Jury prize, the Best Actress award to Isabelle
Huppert and the Best Actor award to Benoit Magimel. The life
of a middle-aged piano professor at Vienna Music Conservatory,
who is torn between the elegance of classical music and the
raw energy of peepshows, changes dramatically when one of her
students falls in love with her.
|
 |
| Oscar
for Best Picture |
Gladiator
by Ridley Scott
Not only Best Picture, but also Best Actor for Russel Crowe,
Best Costume, Sound and Visual Effects. The Ridley Scott film,
rife with special effects, makes two journeys: the first is
a plunge into the Roman Empire, the second into a forgotten
genre of cinema.
|
 |
| Oscar
for Best Directing |
|
Traffic
by Steven Soderbergh
The film also picked up Best Supporting Actor for Benicio
del Toro, Best Film Editing and Screenplay Adaptation. Steven
Soderbergh's Traffic is a gritty, fast-paced look at
the world of drug trafficking. 
Soderbergh  del
Toro
|
 |
| Oscar
to Best Foreign Language Picture |
Crouching
Tiger, Hidden Dragon by Ang Lee
This Asian film that perked up the ears and eyes of Western
folk was also garnered with Best Art Direction, Cinematography
and Musical Score.
Shot in China, the mandarin-language movie features Chow Yun-Fat
as a swordsman in search of the sword he mistakenly gave away.
During his quest, he runs into swordfighters Michelle Yeoh and
Chang Cheh.
|
 |
| Golden
Bear Winner |
|
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.
I
|
|
|
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.
|
|
| Silver
Bear - Jury Prize |
|
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.
|
|
|
Alfred
Bauer Prize for a Film Debut
|
|
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.
|
|
| Rotterdam
VRPO Tiger Winner |
|
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.
Actress Sabine Timoteo
|
 |
| Another
VRPO Tiger Winner |
|
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.
|
 |
| Sundance
Grand Jury Prize |
|
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.
Henry
Bean
Ryan
Gosling
|
 |
| Sundance
Audience Award/Berlin Teddy Bear |
|
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.
|
 |
