49th Berlin International Film Festival
The 49th annual Berlin International Film Festival was held from 10 to 21 February 1999. The festival opened with Aimée & Jaguar by Max Färberböck. The Golden Bear was awarded to Canadian-American film The Thin Red Line directed by Terrence Malick.
The retrospective dedicated to Austrian-American theatre and film director Otto Preminger was shown at the festival. 70 mm version of Preminger's 1959 musical film Porgy and Bess served as the closing night film.
Jury
The following people were announced as being on the jury for the festival:- Ángela Molina, actress - Jury President
- Ken Adam, production designer
- Paulo Branco, producer and actor
- Assi Dayan, actor, screenwriter, director and producer
- Pierre-Henri Deleau, actor and producer
- Katja von Garnier, director
- Hellmuth Karasek, journalist, writer and film critic
- Michelle Yeoh, actress
Films in competition
| English title | Original title | Director | Country |
| 8mm | 8mm | Joel Schumacher | USA, Germany |
| Aimée & Jaguar | Max Färberböck | Germany | |
| The Color of Lies | Au coeur du mensonge | Claude Chabrol | France |
| Breakfast of Champions | Breakfast of Champions | Alan Rudolph | USA |
| It All Starts Today | Ça commence aujourd'hui | Bertrand Tavernier | France |
| Cookie's Fortune | Cookie's Fortune | Robert Altman | USA |
| Set Me Free | Emporte-moi | Léa Pool | Switzerland, Canada, France |
| Between Your Legs | Entre las piernas | Manuel Gómez Pereira | Spain, France |
| eXistenZ | eXistenZ | David Cronenberg | Canada, UK, France |
| Glória | Glória | Manuela Viegas | Portugal, France, Spain |
| Journey to the Sun | Güneşe Yolculuk | Yeşim Ustaoğlu | Turkey, Netherlands, Germany |
| The Hi-Lo Country | The Hi-Lo Country | Stephen Frears | USA, UK, Germany |
| Karnaval | Thomas Vincent | France, Germany, Belgium, Switzerland | |
| Keiho | 39 keihō dai sanjūkyū jō | Yoshimitsu Morita | Japan |
| Mifune's Last Song | Mifune | Søren Kragh-Jacobsen | Denmark, Sweden |
| Nightshapes | Nachtgestalten | Andreas Dresen | Germany |
| The Girl of Your Dreams | La niña de tus ojos | Fernando Trueba | Spain |
| Playing by Heart | Playing by Heart | Willard Carroll | USA, UK |
| Ordinary Heroes | Ann Hui | Hong Kong, China | |
| Shakespeare in Love | Shakespeare in Love | John Madden | USA, UK |
| Simon Magus | Simon Magus | Ben Hopkins | USA, UK, France, Germany, Italy |
| The Thin Red Line | The Thin Red Line | Terrence Malick | Canada, USA |
| Three Seasons | Tony Bui | USA, Vietnam | |
| Urban Feel | Jonathan Sagall | Israel |
Key
Awards
The following prizes were awarded by the Jury:- Golden Bear: The Thin Red Line by Terrence Malick
- Silver Bear – Special Jury Prize: Mifune by Søren Kragh-Jacobsen
- Silver Bear for Best Director: Stephen Frears for The Hi-Lo Country
- Silver Bear for Best Actress: Maria Schrader and Juliane Köhler for Aimée & Jaguar
- Silver Bear for Best Actor: Michael Gwisdek for Nachtgestalten
- Silver Bear for an outstanding single achievement: Marc Norman and Tom Stoppard for Shakespeare in Love
- Silver Bear for an outstanding artistic contribution: David Cronenberg for eXistenZ
- Honourable Mention:
- * Iben Hjejle for Mifune
- * Ça commence aujourd'hui
- * John Toll for The Thin Red Line
- Alfred Bauer Prize: Karnaval by Thomas Vincent
- Blue Angel Award: Güneşe Yolculuk by Yeşim Ustaoğlu
- Honorary Golden Bear: Shirley MacLaine
- Berlinale Camera:
- * Armen Medvedjev
- * Meryl Streep
- * Robert Rodriguez
- FIPRESCI Award
- *Ça commence aujourd'hui by Bertrand Tavernier