The Milk of Sorrow
The 59th Berlin Film Festival came to a close this weekend as Claudia Llosa's The Milk of Sorrow scooped the Golden Bear prize.
The picture is only the filmmakers second feature and follows Fausta who is suffering from a mystery illness that passes through the milk of mothers who were raped or abused during the war between the authorities of Peru and the guerrillas from 1980 to 2000.
Accepting the award from head of the festival Dieter Kosslick and jury president Tilda Swinton the director said:"I want to thank my mother and all women. This is for Peru, this is for our country."
There was a tie for the runner up prize the Silver bear between Gigante by Adrian Biniez which told the tale of a supermarket security guard and Germany's Alle Anderen, directed by Maren Ade.
The film follows Gitti and Chris, an odd couple who are battling their way through a holiday of secluded togetherness.
It is an intimate portrait of two people as they can only be when alone: their secret rituals, their silliness, their unfulfilled dreams and their power struggles.
Gigante also shared the Alfred Bauer Prize with Tatarak by Andrezej Wajda, it's an award that is given to a feature film that "broadens the horizons of the art of filmmaking." There was a third prize for the film as it took home the gong for Best First Feature.
About Elly, despite being a favourite at the festival, only went home with the Silver Bear for Best Director for Asghar Farhadi.
The Best Actress award went to Birgit Minichmayr for her role in Alle Anderen while London River star
Sotigui Kouyate took home Best Actor.
And American movies weren't completely overlooked as war movie The Messenger won Best Screenplay.
Despite the celebrations there are mixed feelings about the Berlin Film Festival this time around as it struggled to screen a high number of quality movies.
With a slow start the likes of Rage and Mammoth were all poorly received, as was the festival's opener The International.
However towards the end of the programme movies such as London River and About Elly stole the headlines and were really strong contenders for the top prizes and covered up Berlin's slow start.
List of winners:
Golden Bear: La teta asustada (The Milk Of Sorrow), directed by Claudia Llosa
Silver Bear - The Jury Grand Prize (shared): Gigante, directed by Adrian Biniez and Alle Anderen (Everyone else), directed by Maren Ade
Silver Bear - Best Director: Asghar Farhadi for Darbareye Elly (About Elly)
Silver Bear - Best Actress: Birgit Minichmayr in Alle Anderen (Everyone else), directed by Maren Ade
Silver Bear - Best Actor: Sotigui Kouyate in London River, directed by Rachid Bouchareb
Silver Bear - Best Screenplay: The Messenger, written by Oren Moverman and Alessandro Camon
Silver Bear - Artistic Contribution: Katalin Varga for its sound design by Gabor Erdely and Tamas Szekely
Alfred Bauer Prize (shared): Gigante, directed by Adrian Biniez and Tatarak (Sweet Rush) by Andrzej Wajda
Best First Feature Award: Gigante, directed by Adrian Biniez
Special Mention: Flickan directed by Fredrik Edfeldt
FemaleFirst Helen Earnshaw
Tagged in Berlin Film Festival