Monica Bleibtreu

Monica Bleibtreu, a respected stage, film, and television actress, and mother of Moritz Bleibtreu, died yesterday, May 14, in Hamburg. She was 65. Bleibtreu had been battling cancer for a number of years.
Born into a theatrical family in Vienna on May 4, 1944, the dark, strong-featured Monica Bleibtreu had been working steadily on German-language television since the late 1960s. Among her TV credits are a presentation of Bertold Brecht’s play Mother (1971), the series Doctors in the mid-1990s, and the made-for-television movie Happy Hour oder Glück und Glas (2000), starring The Lives of Others‘ Martina Gedeck.
In 1975, she won a German Television Award for best actress for her performance in the made-for-TV movie Marias letzte [...]

Berlin 2007 Winners

Yu Nan in Tuya’s Marriage

"When I started making films, my teacher said film should show people’s dreams. This film made my dreams come true," remarked Chinese director Wang Quan’an upon accepting the Berlin Film Festival’s Golden Bear for his rural drama Tuya’s Marriage, a portrait of the social and environmental costs of China’s unbridled economic growth.
In Tuya’s Marriage, a woman (Yu Nan) living in desertifying Inner Mongolia (a territory in northern China) tries to find a new husband to take care of herself and of her family, including handicapped husband #1. "I think that it is important, particularly in this time when the economy is booming," Wang remarked, "to ponder and reflect on what we’re losing."
Tuya’s Marriage is [...]

Berlin Film Festival Awards 2007

2007 Berlin Film Festival Awards
2007 Berlin Film Festival: February 8–18, 2007
Berlin 2007 Winners
 
International Competition

Golden Bear for the Best Film: Tu ya de hun shi / Tuya’s Marriage by Wang Quan’an
Silver Bear – The Jury Grand Prix: El Otro / The Other by Ariel Rotter

Silver Bear – Best Director: Joseph Cedar for Beaufort

Silver Bear – Best Actor: Julio Chávez in El Otro / The Other by Ariel Rotter

Silver Bear – Best Actress: Nina Hoss in Yella by Christian Petzold

Silver Bear – Outstanding Artistic Contribution: To the ensemble cast of The Good Shepherd by Robert De Niro
Silver Bear – Best Film Music: David Mackenzie for Hallam Foe
Alfred Bauer Prize: (for innovative work) Sai bo gu ji man [...]

Berlin 2007: 300, THE COUNTERFEITERS, YELLA

300 by Zack Snyder (top); Nina Hoss in Yella (middle); In Memory of Myself by Saverio Costanzo (bottom)

Berlin Film Festival 2007: Part I
A few other titles that sound intriguing:

Inspired by Frank Miller’s drawings and directed by Zack Snyder, 300 depicts the battle of Thermopylae in the year 480 B.C.E. At that decisive battle, King Leonidas of Sparta and a mere 300 followers confronted invader King Xerxes‘ brush-stomping Persian army. If the film looks even half as good as the stills, it’ll win every cinematography and production design award for 2007. But I wonder if 300 will display anything resembling intelligent storytelling, or if it’ll simply be a series of extended battle sequences glorifying bravery, honor, sadism, and all those great [...]

Bavarian Film Awards 2006

2006 Bavarian Film Awards
2006 Bavarian Film Awards: Prinzregententheater in Munich on January 13, 2006
 

Julia Jentsch in Sophie Scholl – The Final Days
 

Best Production: Sophie Scholl – Die letzten Tage / Sophie Scholl – The Final Days, produced by Sven Burgemeister, Christoph Müller, Marc Rothemund, and Fred Breinersdorfer (directed by Marc Rothemund)
Best Director: Andreas Dresen, Sommer vorm Balkon
Best Young Director: Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck, Das Leben der Anderen / The Lives of Others
Best Actor: Ulrich Mühe, The Lives of Others
Best Actress: Nina Hoss, Die Weiße Massai
Best Young Actor: Max Riemelt, Der Rote Kakadu
Best Young Actress: Sandra Hüller, Requiem
Best Screenplay: Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck, The Lives of Others
Best Cinematography: Hans-Günther Bücking, Schneeland
Best Documentary: Die Große Stille / Into [...]