The respected character actress, who resides in France, is one of the most important international stars of contemporary cinema. She has performed for directors such as Luchino Visconti (The Damned), Woody Allen (Stardust Memories), John Boorman (Zardoz), Sydney Lumet (The Verdict) or Alan Parker (Angel Heart). For her role in Swimming Pool by François Ozon, she received the European Film Award for Best Actress in 2003.
The New York multi-media artist Matthew Barney was the shooting star of the international art scene in the mid 1990s. Between 1994 and 2002, Barney created a five-part series of art films, The Cremaster Cycle. His most recent film – Drawing Restraint 9 – was realized in collaboration with his wife, singer Björk.
With his Bollywood musicals, the successful producer and director attracts millions of movie-goers in India. He began his career as a filmmaker in 1959, but soon turned to producing. Since then he has realized some 30 movies with his own studio, Yash Raj Films. His dramatic love story Veer-Zaara won several of the International Indian Film Academy’s major awards in 2005.
With her directorial debut, A Question of Silence (1982), director Marleen Gorris from the Netherlands made a name for herself internationally. Her family chronicle Antonia’s Line (1995) received, among other awards, the Oscar for Best Foreign Film. In 1997 Marleen Gorris adapted Virginia Woolf’s classic novel Mrs. Dalloway for the screen.
A two-time Oscar-winner, the Polish cinematographer has collaborated with Steven Spielberg since 1989. He was decisive in creating the look of films such as Schindler’s List, Amistad, Saving Private Ryan and War of the Worlds. He also did the camerawork on Spielberg’s latest work, Munich. In 2000 he gave his directorial debut with the thriller Lost Souls.
Armin Mueller-Stahl is one of Germany’s greatest stars of international renown. He began his career in East Germany, performing under the direction of Frank Beyer in films like Naked Among Wolves and Jacob the Liar. Then, after moving to the West, he attained international status with films such as Lola by Rainer Werner Fassbinder and Music Box by Costa-Gavras. In 1996, he was nominated for an Oscar for his role in Shine; in 1992, he was awarded the Silver Bear for his performance in Utz; and in 1997, he was honoured with the Berlinale Camera.
This successful American producer already ranks among the most legendary of Hollywood magnates. As casting director for George Lucas or John Huston, he discovered talents like Harrison Ford, Jack Nicholson and Tom Cruise. Recent productions of the Oscar winner include Francis Ford Coppola’s Youth Without Youth and Sofia Coppola’s Marie Antoinette.
Lee Young-ae is one of South Korea’s most popular actresses. In 2001 she was a guest of the Berlinale Competition with the thriller Joint Security Area. Last year, for her leading role in the internationally acclaimed drama Sympathy for Lady Vengeance, the actress received several prizes, including the Blue Dragon Film Award.
Valentina Cervi is one of the new talents of Italian cinema. She has worked with acclaimed directors in various countries, including Jane Campion (Portrait Of A Lady), Mike Figgis (Hotel) and Peter Greenaway (The Tulse Luper Suitcases). At the Berlinale 2005 Valentina Cervi could be seen in the Competition entry Provincia Meccanica (Smalltown, Italy) by Stefano Mordini.
Born in Belgrade, the director made 13 feature films, shown and acclaimed at the most prestigious international film festivals. In 1992 he left his country, returning in 1998 to make The Powder Keg (aka Cabaret Balkan in the USA), which won several prizes, including the Critics’ Prize at the Venice Film Festival. For Midwinter Night’s Dream, which deals with post-war Serbia, Paskaljevic received the Special Prize of the Jury in San Sebastián in 2004. At the moment he is finishing the post-production of his new film The Optimists.
Hans Weingartner, who lives in Berlin, studied physics and neurosurgery before becoming a filmmaker. His highly acclaimed feature film debut, Das weiße Rauschen (The White Sound), won several awards (including both the Max Ophüls Award and the First Steps Award in 2001). In 2004, his second feature, Die fetten Jahre sind vorbei (The Edukators), was the first German-language film to be invited to the competition at the Cannes Film Festival in eleven years.
With Only Human (Seres queridos, 2004), Spanish film producer Mariela Besuievsky scored a huge international success. Since 1995 she has worked for Tornasol Films in Madrid. As producer, she collaborated on Manuel Gutiérrez Aragón’s La vida que te espera (Your Next Life), Ken Loach’s Ae Fond Kiss as well as Eric Rohmer’s Triple Agent.
His graduation film for the Munich Academy for Television and Film took home the highest of awards: Quiero Ser (I Want To Be…) won an Oscar for Best Short Film in 2001. For his first full-length feature, Schatten der Zeit (Shadows of Time, Berlinale Special 2005), Florian Gallenberger received the Bavarian Film Award.
Korean producer Jung-Wan Oh has collaborated on some of South Korea’s most successful films. In 1999 she launched her own company, bom film productions, a year later she was honoured by the Korean Women’s Film Festival as “most notable woman of the year”. She has participated in the Berlinale with a number of productions, including Tears (Panorama 2001) and A Tale Of Two Sisters (Forum 2003).
The recipients of honorary awards are not chosen by a jury but by the festival director.
A Children's Jury with members aged 11 to 14 awards the Crystal Bears in the Kinderfilmfest competition. The jury members are selected from film questionaires submitted the previous year and officially invited to participate by the festival director.
A Youth Jury with members aged 14 to 18 awards the Crystal Bears in the 14plus competition. The jury members are selected from film questionaires submitted the previous year and officially invited to participate by the festival director.
The International Jury of the Kinderfilmfest awards the Grand Prix of the Deutsches Kinderhilfswerk (German Child Support Organisation) worth 7,500 Euros, to the Best Feature Film. The charity's special prize, which has a value of 2,500 Euros, is awarded to the Best Short Film.
Members of the International Jury of the 29th Kinderfilmfest are: Torun Lian, Catherine Fitzgerald, Ogova Ondego, Dionysos Reitz-Kerasiotis, and Bernd Sahling.
