BERLIN -- Wang Quanan's Chinese drama "Tuya's Marriage," about a Mongolian woman who falls ill and is forced to leave her disabled husband in order to find a more able spouse, took the top prize at the 57th Berlin Intl. Film Festival Saturday.

Prizes were spread out evenly among several of this year's competitors, with Asian films taking home some of the fest's top prizes.

Taiwanese lesbian drama "Spider Lilies" took home the Teddy for Best feature film, the Berlinale award for queer films.

The Berlinale awards are usually good for a surprise and this year was no different. The Golden Bear win came out of left field for many here, who had tipped strong contenders like Jiri Menzel's "I Served the King of England" and Christian Petzold's "Yella."

Commenting on his win, Wang said he sought to portray a way of life in the Mongolian steppe that is quickly disappearing due to fast-moving industrial change in the region.

South Korean director Park Chan-wook took home the Alfred Bauer Prize for innovative film for "I'm A Cyborg, But That's OK."

With few standout pics, this year's fest went down as one of the most uneventful of recent years, although the Berlinale did serve as a strong platform for the world and European premieres of Zack Snyder's "300" (which got a standing ovation from its enthusiastic audience) and Clint Eastwood's "Letters From Iwo Jima."

The show in the Berlinale Palast was attended by 1,600 invited guests and broadcast live on German pubcaster 3Sat.

A popular event for the public, the Berlinale sold some 200,000 tickets to moviegoers for the nearly 400 films that screened at the fest, which wrapped Sunday.

The Asian winners:

GOLDEN BEAR
"Tuya's Marriage" (China)

"I'm a Cyborg, But That's OK" (South Korea)

FIRST FEATURE FILM
"Vanaja," (India, U.S.)

TEDDY
"Spider Lilies," (Taiwan, China)

GENERATION KPLUS CRYSTAL BEARS
"Dorm" (Thailand, Crystal Bear)
"Mukhsin" (Malaysia, Special Mention)

KINDERFILMFEST INTL. JURY PRIZES
"Mukhsin" (Malaysia, Grand Prix)
"Dorm" (Thailand, Special Mention)

ECUMENICAL JURY PRIZE
"Tuya's Marriage" (China, Competition)
"Getting Home" (Hong Kong, China, Panorama)

© Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Bookmark with..

Comments (0)

Write comment

This content has been locked. You can no longer post any comment.

There is a problem with the comment system, or you do not have javascript enabled.