Berlin Film Festival 2008 Winners

"There Will Be Blood" took two prizes, including best director for Paul Thomas Anderson. Sally Hawkins was named best actress for her part in British director Mike Leigh's "Happy-Go-Lucky," while Iran's Reza Naji took the best actor award for the lead role in "The Song of Sparrows."

The film, "Elite Squad" ("Tropa Squad") has been a box-office hit in Brazil and was chosen by an international jury headed by renowned Greek-born director Costa-Gavras, famous for his film "Missing". It defeated top roductions from Britain and Hollywood for the Berlin festival's top honour.

"It is a prize for Brazilian film," said Padilha whose movie tells the story of a brutal police clean-up operation ahead of a 1997 visit to Brazil by Pope John Paul II.

Indian connection

Indian short film (UN)RAVEL (Udedh Bun), directed by Siddharth Sinha of FTII Pune, won the Silver Bear in the 'Berlinale Shorts' section of the 58th Berlin International Film Festival. The 21-minute film is about a young boy on the threshold of adolescence and having troubles at home and in his school, who makes a voyage of self-discovery.

It was screened in the 'Berlinale Shorts’ section, one of the main official programmes, in which 11 short films, including 'Three of Us', a diploma film of Shariqua Badar Khan. FTII Pune, (who did film's photography), directed by Umesh Kulkarni, vied for the top honours. The jury awarded the Golden Berlin Bear to Romanian short film 'A Good Day for a Swim' by Bogdan Mustata.

Tamil film 'Paruthiveeran', by Ameer Sulthan, was honoured with a "special mention" from the Network for the Promotion of Asian Cinema (NETPAC). The 2007 Tamil box-office hit was shown in the International Forum of Young Cinema, the section focusing on young, experimental and avant garde films from around the world.

The 58th Berlin Film Festival also awarded a Crystal Bear for the movie “Buddha Collapsed out of Shame” directed by Iranian Hana Makhmalbaf. The movie gained one of the festival’s coveted bears in the Generation 14plus Children’s Jury section. The film also won the festival’s Peace Film Award in the Independent Jury Awards section.

1,600 invited guests and millions of TV viewers watched the awards ceremony in the Berlinale Palast. Also, many of the celebrity guests who had attended the festival over the last ten days didn't miss the chance to participate in the festive closing event of this year's Berlinale. Finally, French director Michel Gondry's "Be Kind Rewind" was shown as the festival's closing film and a world premiere.