55th Berlin International Film Festival

February 10 – 20, 2005

“[T]his is a film festival where history and politics do more than just converge on-screen at a comfortable remove; it is where movies sometimes come uncomfortably alive, with stories that blur the boundaries between the world on-screen and that outside the theater.” – Manohla Dargis in the “New York Times”.

Facts & Figures 2005

Setting Priorities

A growing network of partnerships and collaborations, an expanding European Film Market, the strong showing of Asian cinema and a thematic focus on African stories - the Berlinale 2006 came as a energetic mix of artistic vision, political concern and commercial impulse. The film industry praised the professional organization, and experienced the Berlinale as international and lively, and was pleased with the willingness of buyers to invest at the European Film Market.

While the audience provided the festival with record attendances, some observers critically discussed the festival's "star power" and glamour. Other voices could be heard that warned against confusing priorities in the battle to attract celebrities. “The true highpoints of the festival should be the films,” wrote Katja Nicodemus in “Die Zeit”. “It is only once the festival has persisted in forming its own aesthetic agenda, that it can become involved in the fuss about glamour, without making itself vulnerable to blackmail,” the critic wrote.

In Tsai Ming-Liang’s The Wayward Cloud and Alexandr Sokurov’s Solnze, she saw two films that were typical for a good Berlinale: daring and headstrong works, which provided ample material for debate, but which had little to offer in terms of “event journalism”. She wrote: “Tsai Ming -Liang’s stars are called Lee Kang-Sheng, Chen Shiang-Chyi and Yang Kuei-Mei. Of course, not a single photographer shouted out their names on the Red Carpet (…) But on the screen they remain dignified and fascinating even in the dirtiest, most squalid sex scenes. Unpretentious, daring, shameless, they go out on a limb for the very thing that such a festival should, at the end of the day, revolve around: film.”

Tsai Ming-Liang’s eccentric mixture of porno, urban sorrow and musical was, alongside Hany Abu-Assad’s Paradise Now, one of the most controversial entries in the Competition. Especially African cinema stood out with four (co-)productions. The awarding of the Golden Bear to Mark Dornford-May’s playful Bizet adaptation U-Carmen eKhayelitsha surprised most critics, but was seen as a fair reward for the deserving effort the Berlinale made for the South African film.

Exciting young chinese cinema in the Forum

Asian cinema was coming on strong throughout the festival. Besides the showcase spread over several sections of Korean director IM Kwon Taek (who was awarded an Honorary Golden Bear for his lifework), it was especially the young Chinese directors who caused a stir in the Forum. With Lu Chuan’s Kekexili, Ning Haos Lü Cao Di (Mongolian Ping Pong), Liu Jiayins Niu Pi (Oxhide) and the moving documentary Yan Mo (Before The Flood) by Yan Yu and Li Yifan, the Forum offered four exceptional examples of a nation’s changing cinema.

The Forum had streamlined its programme considerably, a daring step, which was welcomed by both the press and audiences. The Forum programme was augmented by several film installations and video works by artists who wanted to go beyond the pure cinema experience. These works were presented in a context of a complementary art programme, with which the Berlinale opened itself up to synergies with non-cinematic art forms. One of the most exciting works was the “Video Walk” Ghost Machine by Canadian media artists Janet Cardiff and George Bures Miller. Another special highlight of this series was the intense show Abordage by Japanese performance artist Kansai Yamamoto.