The 58th annual

Berlin International Film Festival The Berlin International Film Festival (german: Internationale Filmfestspiele Berlin), usually called the Berlinale (), is a major international film festival held annually in Berlin, Germany. Founded in 1951 and originally run in June, the festi ...

was held from February 7 to February 17, 2008. The festival opened with

Martin Scorsese Martin Charles Scorsese ( , ; born November 17, 1942) is an American film director, producer, screenwriter and actor. Scorsese emerged as one of the major figures of the New Hollywood era. He is the recipient of many major accolades, incl ...

's documentary film '' Shine a Light''. '' Be Kind Rewind'' by

Michel Gondry Michel Gondry (; born 8 May 1963) is a French filmmaker noted for his inventive visual style and distinctive manipulation of mise en scène. Along with Charlie Kaufman, he won an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay as one of the writers ...

served as the closing film. Greek-French filmmaker

Costa Gavras Costa-Gavras (short for Konstantinos Gavras; el, Κωνσταντίνος Γαβράς; born 12 February 1933) is a Greek-French film director, screenwriter, and producer who lives and works in France. He is known for films with political and s ...

, was selected to serve as the Jury President at the festival. The

Golden Bear The Golden Bear (german: Goldener Bär) is the highest prize awarded for the best film at the Berlin International Film Festival. The bear is the heraldic animal of Berlin, featured on both the coat of arms and flag of Berlin. History The win ...

was awarded to Brazilian film '' Tropa de Elite'' directed by

José Padilha José Bastos Padilha Neto (; born 1 August 1967) is a Brazilian film director, producer and screenwriter. He is best known for directing the Brazilian critical and financial successes ''Elite Squad'' and '' Elite Squad: The Enemy Within'' and t ...

. The retrospective dedicated to Spanish film-maker

Luis Buñuel Luis Buñuel Portolés (; 22 February 1900 – 29 July 1983) was a Spanish-Mexican filmmaker who worked in France, Mexico, and Spain. He has been widely considered by many film critics, historians, and directors to be one of the greatest and ...

was shown at the festival.

Jury

The following people were announced as being on the jury for the festival: International jury *

Costa-Gavras Costa-Gavras (short for Konstantinos Gavras; el, Κωνσταντίνος Γαβράς; born 12 February 1933) is a Greek-French film director, screenwriter, and producer who lives and works in France. He is known for films with political and s ...

, director, screenwriter and producer (Greece) - Jury President *

Uli Hanisch Uli may refer to: *Uli, Iran, a village * Uli, Anambra, a town in Nigeria *Uli I of Mali *Uli (design), by the Igbo people of Nigeria *Uli figure, from New Ireland, Papua New Guinea * Uli (food), a rice-based food * ISO 639 code for the Ulithian la ...

, production designer (Germany) *

Diane Kruger Diane Kruger ( Heidkrüger; ; born 15 July 1976) is a German and American actress. Early in her career, Kruger gained worldwide recognition and received the Trophée Chopard from the Cannes Film Festival. Kruger became known for her roles in ...

, actress (Germany) *

Walter Murch Walter Scott Murch (born July 12, 1943) is an American film editor, director, writer and sound designer. With a career stretching back to 1969, including work on ''THX 1138'', ''Apocalypse Now'', ''The Godfather I'', '' II'', and ''III'', ''Ameri ...

, director and editor (United States) *

Shu Qi use both this parameter and , birth_date to display the person's date of birth, date of death, and age at death) --> , death_place = , death_cause = , body_discovered = , resting_place = , resting_place_coordinate ...

, actress and model (Taiwan) * Alexander Rodnyansky, producer (Russia) Best First Feature Award Jury *

Ben Barenholtz Ben Barenholtz (October 5, 1935 – June 27, 2019) was a Polish-born American film exhibitor, distributor and producer, who was a presence in the independent film scene since the late 1960s, when he opened The Elgin Cinema in New York City in 1 ...

, producer and distributor (United States) * Dominique Cabrera, director and screenwriter (France) *

Jasmila Žbanić Jasmila Žbanić (; born 19 December 1974) is a Bosnian film director, screenwriter and producer, best known for having written and directed '' Quo Vadis, Aida?'' (2020), which earned her nominations for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Languag ...

, director, screenwriter and producer (Bosnia and Herzegovina) International Short Film Jury * Marc Barbé, actor and director (France) * Ada Solomon, producer (Romania) * Laura Tonke, actress (Germany)

In competition

The following films were in competition for the

and Silver Bear awards:

Key

Awards

The following prizes were awarded by the Jury:

Golden Bear

for Best Film – '' Tropa de Elite'' by

Silver Bears

* Jury Grand Prix (Grand Prize of the Jury): ''

Standard Operating Procedure A standard operating procedure (SOP) is a set of step-by-step instructions compiled by an organization to help workers carry out routine operations. SOPs aim to achieve efficiency, quality output, and uniformity of performance, while reducing misc ...

'' by

Errol Morris Errol Mark Morris (born February 5, 1948) is an American film director known for documentaries that interrogate the epistemology of its subjects. In 2003, his documentary film '' The Fog of War: Eleven Lessons from the Life of Robert S. McNamar ...

* Best Director:

Paul Thomas Anderson Paul Thomas Anderson (born June 26, 1970), also known by his initials PTA, is an American filmmaker. He made his feature-film debut with ''Hard Eight (film), Hard Eight'' (1996). He found critical and commercial success with ''Boogie Nights'' ( ...

for ''

There Will Be Blood ''There Will Be Blood'' is a 2007 American period drama film written and directed by Paul Thomas Anderson, loosely based on the 1927 novel ''Oil!'' by Upton Sinclair. It stars Daniel Day-Lewis as Daniel Plainview, a silver miner turned oilman o ...

'' * Best Actor:

Reza Naji Reza Naji is an Iranian actor and an iconic figure of Iranian cinema. Naji started his career in theater when he was a teenager. While serving in the Iranian army, he continued to perform in different roles. His first role in a film goes back to ...

for ''

Avaze gonjeshk-ha ''The Song of Sparrows'' (''Âvâz-e gonjeshk-hâ'') ( fa, آواز گنجشک‌ها ) is a 2008 in film, 2008 Cinema of Iran, Iranian movie directed by Majid Majidi. It tells the story of Karim, a man who works at an ostrich farm until he is fir ...

'' * Best Actress:

Sally Hawkins Sally Cecilia Hawkins (born 27 April 1976) is an English actress who began her career on stage and then moved into film. She has received several awards including a Golden Globe Award and the Berlin International Film Festival's Silver Bear fo ...

for '' Happy-Go-Lucky'' * Best Script:

Wang Xiaoshuai Wang Xiaoshuai (; born May 22, 1966) is a Chinese film director, screenwriter and occasional actor. He is commonly grouped under the loose association of filmmakers known as the "Sixth Generation" of the Cinema of China. Like others in this gener ...

for ''

In Love We Trust ''In Love We Trust'' () is a 2008 Chinese drama film directed by Wang Xiaoshuai and starring Liu Weiwei, Zhang Jiayi, Cheng Taisheng, and Yu Nan. It is alternatively named known by its literal English translation, ''Left Right''. Originally set ...

'' * Outstanding Artistic Contribution: For the Music of ''

'' by

Jonny Greenwood Jonathan Richard Guy Greenwood (born 5 November 1971) is an English musician and composer. He is the lead guitarist and keyboardist of the alternative rock band Radiohead, and has written numerous film scores. Along with his elder brother, t ...

Alfred Bauer Prize The Alfred Bauer Prize was an annual film award, presented by the Berlin International Film Festival, as part of its Silver Bear series of awards, to a film that "opens new perspectives on cinematic art". The prize was suspended in 2020 after it ...

: Fernando Eimbcke for ''

Lake Tahoe Lake Tahoe (; was, Dáʔaw, meaning "the lake") is a freshwater lake in the Sierra Nevada of the United States. Lying at , it straddles the state line between California and Nevada, west of Carson City. Lake Tahoe is the largest alpine lake ...

'' *

FIPRESCI Award The International Federation of Film Critics (FIPRESCI, short for Fédération Internationale de la PRESse CInématographique) is an association of national organizations of professional film critics and film journalists from around the world fo ...

: Fernando Eimbcke for ''

References

External links

58th Berlin International Film Festival 2008

{{Authority control Berlin International Film Festival B B 2008 in Berlin 2008 in German cinema