Berlin International Film Festival
Milk of Sorrow takes top nod
Shaheen Dill-Riaz, Berlin
With the applauses of 1600 guests and the announcement of award-winners, the Berlin International Film Festival 2009 (also known as Berlinale) closed the ten-day-long celebration of world cinema on February 14. The international jury of Berlin Film Festival has surprised the audience with their decision for this year’s Golden Bear winner. The jury declared that this time the competition presented a broad range of films whose central aim consists in exploring ways to further the interpretation and understanding of contemporary issues. Therefore the jury has decided to honour those efforts that have achieved a fine balance between political statement and poetic form. They handed over the sign of recognition, the Golden Bear, to director Claudia Llosa for her film “La Teta Asustada” (The Milk Of Sorrow).
In the film, the main character Fausta is ill with a disease contracted from her mother’s breast milk referred to as “the milk of sorrow.” This however is not a viral infection, it’s a condition that only affects women who were abused or raped during the Peruvian authorities’ long war against leftist guerrillas. Llosa’s film addresses a dark era of her country’s history. Established in 2001, the Peruvian ‘Commission for Truth and Reconciliation’ (Comisión de la Verdad y Reconciliación) has registered almost 70,000 murder cases, as well as countless rapes, abductions and other human rights violations in the period from 1980 to 2000.
The Jury Grand Prix, Silver Bear, went this time to two films: the German production “Alle Anderen” (Everyone else) by Maren Ade and a Uruguay-Argentina co-production “Gigante” by Adrián Biniez.
The Best Director prize went to the Iranian filmmaker Asghar Farhadi for his film “Darbareye Elly” (About Elly).
German Birgit Minichmayr collected the prize for Best Actress for her performance in the film “Alle Anderen.” Best Actor award went to the British Sotigui Kouyate for his performance in “London River” by Rachid Bouchareb.
Prize for Best Script went to Oren Moverman and Alessandro Camon
For their film “The Messenger,” directed by Oren Moverman.
The Alfred Bauer Prize is given every year in memory of the founder of Berlinale for a feature film that broadens the horizons of the art of filmmaking. This year the jury has unanimously decided to give the Alfred Bauer Prize to two films and two directors. One of these directors is an old master, the polish helmer Andrzej Wajda (for his film “Tatarak”), with 60 years of experience in filmmaking. Wajda is still young at heart and bold in developing new ways of filmmaking.
The other is a young auteur, Adrián Biniez, here in Berlin with his first feature film, imbued with a passion to use cinema to do what the medium can do best: narrate a moving story about our time and the human condition.
The Bears inspired the Berlinale logo and were designed by the sculptor Renée Sintenis (1888-1965). The Bear is also the official symbol of the city of Berlin.
The writer is a freelance Cine-Journalist
Courtesy of www.thedailystar.net
