Awards (Forum, Filmfestival Berlin)

Awards for films of the 26th International Forum

FIPRESCI Awards
The Fédération Internationale de la Presse Cinématogaphique (FIPRESCI) awards the "International Film Critics' Award" (FIPRESCI Award) to
BULAN TERTUSUK ILALANG
by Garin Nugroho (Indonesia)
"for it's higly effective and restrained style. The filmmaker succeeds inbringing us into al world of duality, of tendemess and violence, of appearance and feeling and of ritual and life."
Members of the Jury: Anne de Gasperi, President (France), Gideon Bachmann (USA/Italy), Pieter van den Bogaert (Belgium), Alexander Doroshevich (Russia), Sang-Myon Lee (Korea), Frank Schnelle (Germany), Leonardo Garcia Tsao (Mexiko), Miroljub Vuckovic (Serbia), Helena Ylänen (Finland).

Wolfgang-Staudte-Preis
Die Jury verleiht den von der Gesellschaft zur Wahrnehmung von Film- und Fernsehrechten mit 20.000 DM dotierten Wolfgang-Staudte-Preis dem Regisseur
Makoto Shinozaki für seinen Film
OKAERI
"Makoto Shinozaki beschreibt die Entwicklung von Gefühlen in langen, ruhigen Einstellungen. Er beweist dadurch, daß kinematographische Bewegung nicht auf die Aneinanderreihung von schnellen Schnitten und Spezialeffekten reduziert sein muß, wie es heute üblich zu sein scheint. Durch seine filmische Gestaltung stellt der Regisseur die Qualität und Stärke des Schweigens und das Verständnis für die Menschen wieder her.
Der Film behandelt Gefühle und Liebe mit einem Vertrauen, das im Gegensatz zu dem steht, was im zeitgenössischen Kino Mode ist, und bringt die Stärke dieser ganz anderen Ausdrucksform zum Vorschein."
Helke Misselwitz, Berlin
Sheila Whitaker, London
Mani Kaul, Bombay

Caligari Filmpreis
The Caligari Film Award of the Arbeitsgruppe für Kommunale Filmarbeit e.V. is awarded to
Michael Kreihsl
for CHARMS' INCIDENTS (Austria)
"CHARMS INCIDENTS is an excellent adaptation and interpretation of the stories, poems and sentences of the Russian writher, Danill Charms.
Michael Kreihsi has found a playful, sympathetic filmic style to convey Charm's dry, laconic sense of humour. Just as in Charms' writing, the director's observations are precise and bring to live the comical characters; his style of direction reveals a love of detail and the absurdities of everyday existence. Although the language and humour are unmistakably Viennese, CHARMS INCIDENTS is not bound by time and place.
Convincing in terms of both form and content, it is a film which is true to it's name and full of legendary Viennese charm. Nomen est Omen ..."
The Caligari film prize is endowed by the members of the 'Arbeitsgruppe für Kommunale Filmarbeit'. The jury consisted of Dorett Molitor (Potsdam Film Museum), Anke Teuber (Bochum Film Group), Eugen Detzel (Kommunales Kino Weingarten).

Berliner Zeitung Reader's Jury
The Berliner Zeitung Reader's Jury award is accompanied by a cash prize of 5000 DM. It goes to
PICNIC (Japan)
by Shunji Iwai
"PICNIC is an incisive portrait of three young patients at a Japanese psychiatric clinic. Time and again the director finds surprising and convincing images in order to convey these characters' tightrope walk between obsession and reality."
Juroren/Jurors: Barbara Gronau, Harald Günther, Antje Schütt-Hagemann, Florian Hinze, Fatima Lacerda, Antje Lachmann, Reinhild Paul, Michael Schorsch, Erik Veldre

C.I.C.A.E. Awards
The jury of the C.I.C.A.E. (International Confederation of Art Cinemas) gives its award to the film
WELCOME TO THE DOLLHOUSE (USA)
by Todd Solondz
"The jury felt that the director succeeded in portraying the developmental problems of children with tremendous sensitivity and ruthless candour in this film for adults. The precision of his narrative style sets the standards for tomorrow's sublime and innovative cinema."
The jury of the C.I.C.A.E. would like to give a special mention to
Lætita Masson's film
EN AVOIR (OU PAS) (France)
"for it's accurate description of the bleak situation of French teenagers and the quest for possible solutions. The jury would also like to stress the excellency of the actors."
Members of the Jury: Der Jury gehören an: Lorena Borghi (Italy/Italien), Erwin Clausen (Germany/Allemagne), Francis Andreani (France/Frankreich)

Awards of the churches of the ecumenical jury
The Prize of the Churches, accompanied by a cash award of 5000 DEM, goes to
EN AVOIR (OU PAS)
by Lætita Masson (France)
"In a clear film-language the director opens up a realistic and well perceived portrait of young people. She explores, how the social situation influences the personal development and the relations and feelings between human beings."
The Jury also awards special mentions to
DEVILS DON'T DREAM!
Investigating the Story of Jacobo Arbenz Guzmán
by Alexander Hoessli (Swiss)
"for this investigative documentary about the dream of a just society in Latin America, using the tragic example of this former president of Guatemala during the Cold War."
The Ecumenical Jury was formed by international film organisations - INTERFILM and O.C.I.C. - belonging to the Evangelical and Catholic Churches. Their members are: Martin Ammon (Germany), Stephen J. Brown (Great Britain), Vera Ivanova (Russia), Franz Korinek (Austria), Josef Lederie (Germany), Charles Martig (Switzerland), Angelika Obert (Germany), Zivlie Pipinyté (Latvia), Carlos A. Valle (Great Britain), Scott Young (USA).

Peace Film Prize
The jury awards the 1996 Berlin International Film Festival Peace Film Prize which includes a cash prize from the Stiftungsverband Regenbogen amounting to 10,000 DEM to
Alexander Hoessli for his film
DEVILS DON'T DREAM!
Nachforschungen über Jacobo Arbenz Guzmán (Swiss)

"The film begins with a few archive images from yesteryear. The scene is Guatemala more than 40 years ago. This marks the beginning of a journey to a far-off country, a search for a biography and the traces this life has left behind. It tells us about the dreams and hopes of a politician.
Jacobo Arbenz Guzmán was Guatemala's elected president from 1950-54. His first "act of justice" was the attempt to introduce a far-reaching land reform. Follogwing his defeaat he was erased from his country's history.
This film provides access to words and images which were forbidden, destroyed and forgotten. It represents part of an attempt to reinstate this epoch of Gutatemain history.
Andreas Hoessli does not claim to know the truth about events which occurred over forty years ago. His filmic reconstruction of the Arbenz era in Conversations, rediscovered archive material an documents from the US media enables us to recognize for ourselves in one exemplary case the discrepancy between the existing balance of power and so-called democracy.
This documentary also represents a ray of hope for independent filmmaking."
Members of the Jury: Harriet Eder, Andrea Genest, Andreas Kleinert, Leonie Ossowski, Monika Pugienie, Keva Quistorp, Helene Schwarz, Andreas Voigt, Roman Weyl, Marianne Wündrich-Brodien.

Mionetto Film Award
The Mionetto film award is given to
Eleni Alexandrakis for her film
STAGONA STON OKEANO (Greece)
"in recognition for her engagement into a human relationship which avoids any national ideas of identity. She realizes this through discourses of film and theatre without recourse to usual metaphorical overtones. It appeared to the jury that this film was the most nearly accomplished of the projects represented in the competition of the Forum.
The film exhibits a confidence and trust in dealing with emotion and love in a way which is in opposition to what is fashionable in contemporary practices of cinema and which evidences the power of these different modes of expression."
Members of the jury: Heike Misselwitz (Berlin), Sheila Whitaker (London), Mani Kaul (Bombay)

Teddy Bear - schwul-lesbischer Filmpreis
Die Jury der PROJECTIONS - eine internationale Vereinigung schwul-lesbischer Filmfestivals und Organisationen - verleiht den Teddy für den besten Dokumentarfilm an
THE CELLULOID CLOSET
by Rob Epstein und Jeffrey Friedman (USA)
"Wie der Autor Armistead Maupin im Film vermerkt, lehrt Hollywood die Heterosexuellen, wie sie über Homosexuelle denken sollen und lehrt Homosexuelle, wie sie über sich selbst zu denken haben. Diese lebendige Dokumentation nach dem Buch 'Die schwule Traumfabrik' von Vito Russo zweigt unsere Entwicklung von unsichtbaren, gefährlichen Lesben und tuntigen Witzfiguren zu couragierten und aktiven Menschen."
Der Teddy für den besten filmischen Essay geht an
I'LL BE YOUR MIRROR
von Nan Goldin und Edmund Coulthard (Großbritannien)
"für sein persönliches und dennoch allgemeingültiges Porträt einer Generation, die von dem Party-High der 70er Jahre übergangslos in die Aids-Krise fiel. Für seinen ehrlichen, aber nicht depressiven Umgang mit dem Tod von Freundinnen und mit Drogenerfahrungen sowie für seine zukunftsweisende Repräsentation vielfältiger Geschlechteridentitäten und seine innovative Filmsprache, die beweist, daß Foto ein lebendiges filmisches Mittel sein kann."