56th Berlin International Film Festival
The 56th Berlin International Film Festival was held from 9 to 19 February 2006. The festival opened with Snow Cake by Marc Evans. Digitally restored version of Sam Peckinpah's 1972 film Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid served as the closing film. British actress Charlotte Rampling was selected as the head of the jury. The Golden Bear was awarded to Grbavica: The Land of My Dreams directed by Jasmila Žbanić.
The retrospective was dedicated to the film actresses of 1950s, titled Dream Girls. Film Stars in the 1950s was shown at the festival. More than 186,000 tickets were sold at the festival with visitors from 120 countries, including 3,800 journalists, attended the festival.
Jury
The following people were announced as being on the jury for the festival:International Jury
- Charlotte Rampling, actress - Jury President
- Matthew Barney, director and multimedia artist
- Yash Chopra, director and producer
- Marleen Gorris, director
- Janusz Kamiński, director of photography
- Armin Mueller-Stahl, actor
- Fred Roos, producer
- Lee Young-ae, actress
- Valentina Cervi, actress
- Goran Paskaljević, director
- Hans Weingartner, director and producer
- Mariela Besuievsky, producer
- Florian Gallenberger, director and screenwriter
- Jung-Wan Oh, producer
In competition
| English title | Original title | Director | Country |
| A Prairie Home Companion | A Prairie Home Companion | Robert Altman | USA |
| Candy | Candy | Neil Armfield | Australia |
| The Free Will | Der freie Wille | Matthias Glasner | Germany |
| The Minder | El custodio | Rodrigo Moreno | Argentina, France, Germany |
| Atomised | Elementarteilchen | Oskar Roehler | Germany |
| A Soap | En Soap | Pernille Fischer Christensen | Denmark, Sweden |
| Find Me Guilty | Find Me Guilty | Sidney Lumet | USA |
| Grbavica: The Land of My Dreams | Grbavica | Jasmila Žbanić | Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Germany |
| Invisible Waves | คำพิพากษาของมหาสมุทร | Pen-Ek Ratanaruang | Netherlands, Thailand, Hong Kong |
| Isabella | 伊莎貝拉 | Pang Ho-cheung | Hong Kong, China |
| Comedy of Power | L'ivresse du pouvoir | Claude Chabrol | France, Germany |
| Offside | آفساید | Jafar Panahi | Iran |
| Requiem | Requiem | Hans-Christian Schmid | Germany |
| Romanzo Criminale | Michele Placido | Italy, UK, France | |
| Longing | Sehnsucht | Valeska Grisebach | Germany |
| Slumming | Slumming | Michael Glawogger | Austria, Switzerland |
| Snow Cake | Snow Cake | Marc Evans | UK, Canada |
| The Road to Guantanamo | The Road to Guantanamo | Michael Winterbottom, Mat Whitecross | UK |
| It's Winter | Zemestan | Rafi Pitts | Iran |
Key
Awards
The following prizes were awarded by the Jury:- Golden Berlin Bear:
- *Grbavica: The Land of My Dreams by Jasmila Žbanić
- *Best Short Film – Never Like the First Time! by Jonas Odell
- Silver Berlin Bear:
- *Best Film Music – Isabella by Peter Kam
- *Best Actor – Moritz Bleibtreu for The Elementary Particles
- *Best Actress – Sandra Hüller for Requiem
- *Best Director – Michael Winterbottom & Mat Whitecross for The Road to Guantanamo
- *Best Short Film – Penpusher by Guillaume Martinez
- *Outstanding Artistic Contribution – Jürgen Vogel for The Free Will
- *Jury Grand Prix – En soap by Pernille Fischer Christensen
- Honorable Mention:
- *Short Film – Maryam Keshavarz for El día que morí
- Honorary Golden Berlin Bear:
- *Andrzej Wajda
- *Ian McKellen
- Berlinale Camera:
- *Michael Ballhaus
- *Jürgen Böttcher
- *Laurence Kardish
- *Peter B. Schumann
- *Hans Helmut Prinzler
- Best Debut Film:
- *En soap by Pernille Fischer Christensen & Lars Bredo Rahbek
- Panorama Audience Award:
- *Tomer Heymann for Paper Dolls
- *Short Film – Talya Lavie for The Substitute
- Crystal Bear:
- *Best Short Film – Cameron B. Alyasin for Never an Absolution
- *Best Feature Film – Niels Arden Oplev for We Shall Overcome
- *14Plus: Best Feature Film – Henry Meyer for Four Weeks in June
- Crystal Bear – Special Mention:
- *Best Short Film: Irina Boiko for The Thief
- *Best Feature Film: Auraeus Solito for The Blossoming of Maximo Oliveros
- *14Plus: Best Feature Film: Claude Gagnon for Kamataki
- Deutsches Kinderhilfswerk Grand Prix:
- *The Blossoming of Maximo Oliveros by Auraeus Solito
- Deutsches Kinderhilfswerk – Special Award:
- *A Fish with a Smile by C. Jay Shih
- Deutsches Kinderhilfswerk – Special Mention:
- *Best Short Film – Vika by Tsivia Barkai
- *Best Feature Film – I Am by Dorota Kędzierzawska
- Teddy:
- *Best Short Film – El día que morí by Maryam Keshavarz
- *Best Documentary Film – Beyond Hatred by Olivier Meyrou
- *Best Feature Film – The Blossoming of Maximo Oliveros by Auraeus Solito
- Teddy Jury Award:
- *Patrick Carpentier for Combat
- FIPRSECI Prize:
- *Competition – Requiem by Hans-Christian Schmid
- *Forum of New Cinema – So Yong Kim for In Between Days
- *Panorama – Knallhart by Detlev Buck
- Prize of the Ecumenical Jury:
- *Competition – ' by Jasmila Žbanić
- *Forum of New Cinema – Conversations on a Sunday Afternoon by Khalo Matabane
- *Panorama – The Collector by Feliks Falk
- C.I.C.A.E. Award:
- *Forum of New Cinema – Close to Home by Dalia Hager
- *Panorama – Zhang Yuan for Little Red Flowers
- Netpac Award:
- *Dear Pyongyang by Yong-hi Yang
- Prix UIP Berlin:
- *The Fence by Ricardo Íscar
- Alfred Bauer Prize:
- *Rodrigo Moreno for El custodio
- Label Europa Cinemas:
- *Detlev Buck for Knallhart
- Caligari Film Award:
- *Ben Hopkins for 37 Uses for a Dead Sheep
- DIALOGUE en Perspective:
- *Bülent Akinci for Running on Empty
- DIALOGUE en Perspective – Special Mention:
- *Florian Gaag for Wholetrain
- Talent Movie of the Week:
- *Phillip Van for High Maintenance
- Berlin Today Award:
- *Anna Azevedo for BerlinBall
- Score Competition:
- *Alasdair Reid
- Manfred Salzgeber Award:
- *Tomer Heymann for Paper Dolls
- Panorama Short Film Award:
- *Tala Hadid for Your Dark Hair Ihsan
- DAAD Short Film Award:
- *Rony Sasson for Swanettes
- Peace Film Award:
- *Jasmila Žbanić for '
- Amnesty International Film Prize:
- *Masoud Arif Salih for Narcissus Blossom
- Wolfgang Staudte Award:
- *Tizza Covi for Babooska
- Prize of the Guild of German Art House Cinemas:
- *Matthias Glasner for The Free Will
- Femina-Film-Prize:
- *Yasmin Khalifa for Bye Bye Berlusconi!
- Reader Jury of the "Berliner Morgenpost":
- *Robert Altman for A Prairie Home Companion
- Reader Jury of the "Berliner Zeitung":
- *Shion Sono for Strange Circus
- Reader Jury of the "Siegessäule":
- *Tomer Heymann for Paper Dolls