Richard Linklater and Wes Anderson win at Berlinale, as ‘Black Coal, Thin Ice’ takes top prize

I’ve fallen a bit behind in my Berlinale coverage — there are still several films I want to write about in this space — but one film I won’t be reviewing is the festival’s Golden Bear winner, “Black Coal, Thin Ice.” Yes, for the second year running, I managed to miss the jury’s favorite. (Last year, it was “Child’s Pose,” and that worked out pretty well for me.) Anyway, I was braced for that possibility, since I spent less time than usual in the Competition, which was widely agreed to be a pretty lackluster selection this year.

“Black Coal, Thin Ice,” a noirish Chinese thriller from director Diao Yinan, was one of the few film that seemed to raise most critics’ pulses — it also won Best Actor for Liao Fan as a detective investigating a trail of murders in a factory town that appears to lead to a single widow. Asian cinema was well served by James Schamus’ jury, after being all but absent from last year’s Competition: Best Actress went to Haru Kuroki for Yoji Yamada’s latest, “The Little House,” while Lou Ye’s striking, rather abrasive melodrama “Blind Massage,” took the Artistic Contribution Award for its cinematography.

Bigger-name directors, however, took the runner-up prizes. Wes Anderson’s “The Grand Budapest Hotel,” which opened the festival to almost universally glowing notices, was a popular winner of the Grand Jury Prize — it’s the director’s first ever jury win at one of the major European festivals. Richard Linklater, meanwhile, took Best Director for hiis unique coming-of-age drama “Boyhood,” which I raved about at its Sundance premiere. That’s the very same award he won at Berlin 19 years ago for “Before Sunrise.”

The Alfred Bauer Prize for “opening new perspectives” went to 91-year-old veteran Alain Resnais for his latest offbeat ensemble comedy “Life of Riley” — read as much irony into that as you will, though Resnais is plainly an innovator for life. The Frenchman also took the FIPRESCI Award for the Competition section. (Nothing, meanwhile, for my favorite (barring “Boyhood”) of the Competition films I did see, German-Brazilian director Karim Ainouz’s dreamy, image-powered gay drama “Praia do Futuro.”)

Full list of awards from multiple (and I mean multiple) juries on the next page.

PRIZES OF THE INTERNATIONAL JURY

Golden Bear: “Black Coal, Thin Ice,” Diao Yinan

Grand Jury Prize: “The Grand Budapest Hotel,” Wes Anderson

Alfred Bauer Prize (for opening new perspectives): “Life of Riley,” Alain Resnais

Best Director: Richard Linklater, “Boyhood”

Best Actress: Haru Kuroki, “The Little House”

Best Actor: Liao Fan, “Black Coal, Thin Ice”

Best Screenplay: Dietrich and Anna Brüggemann, “Stations of the Cross”

Outstanding Artistic Contribution: Zeng Jian (cinematographer), “Blind Massage”

BEST FIRST FEATURE AWARD

“Güeros,” Alonso Ruizpalacios

PRIZES OF THE GENERATION JURIES

Children”s Jury Generation Kplus

Crystal Bear: “The Fort,” Avinash Arun

Special Mention: “Joy of Man’s Desiring,” Masakazu Sugita

Best Short Film: “Sprout,” Ga-eun Yoon

Special Mention: “On Stopping the Rain,” Aditya Ahmad

International Jury Generation Kplus

Grand Prix: “Natural Sciences,” Matías Lucchesi

Special Mention: “The Fort,” Avinash Arun

Best Short Film: “My Own Personal Moose,” Leonid Shmelkov

Special Mention: “Away,” Roland Ferge

Youth Jury Generation

Crystal Bear: “52 Tuesdays,” Sophie Hyde

Special Mention: “Arctic,” Gabri Velázquez

Best Short Film: “Mike,” Petros Silvestros

Special Mention: “Emo (The Musical),” Neil Triffett

International Jury

Grand Prix: “Violet,” Bas Devos

Special Mention: “Einstein and Einstein,” Cao Baoping

Best Short Film: “Winter Morning,” Sakaris Stórá

Special Mention: “Son,” Kristoffer Kiørb

PRIZES OF THE ECUMENICAL JURY

Competition: “Stations of the Cross,” Dietrich Brüggemann

Special Mention: “’71,” Yann Demange

Panorama: “Calvary,” John Michael McDonagh

Special Mention: “Triptych,” Robert Lepage, Pedro Pires

Forum: “At Home,” Athanasios Karanikolas

PRIZES OF THE FIPRESCI JURY

Competition: “Life of Riley,” Alain Resnais

Panorama: “The Way He Looks,” Daniel Ribeiro

Forum: “Forma,” Ayumi Sakamoto

PRIZE OF THE GUILD OF GERMAN ART HOUSE CINEMAS

“Boyhood,” Richard Linklater

CICAE ART CINEMA AWARD

Panorama: “The Lamb,” Kutlu? Ataman

Forum: “She’s Lost Control,” Anja Marquardt

LABEL EUROPA CINEMAS

“Blind,” Eskil Vogt

TEDDY AWARDS

Best Feature Film: “The Way He Looks,” Daniel Ribeiro

Best Documentary/Essay Film: “The Circle,” Stefan Haupt

Best Short Film: “Mondial 2010” Roy Dib

Teddy Jury Award: “Pierrot Lunaire,” Bruce LaBruce

MADE IN GERMANY – PERSPEKTIVE FELLOWSHIP

“Intershop,” Sandra Kaudelka and “274,” Sebastian Mez

FGYO – AWARD DIALOGUE EN PERSPECTIVE

“Anywhere Else,” Ester Amrami

Special Mention: “Fog,” Nicole Vögele

CALIGARI FILM PRIZE

“The Great Museum,” Johannes Holzhausen

NETPAC PRIZE

“A Dream of Iron,” Kelvin Kyung Kun Park and “Non-Fiction Diary,” Jung Yoon-suk

PEACE FILM PRIZE

“We Come as Friends,” We Come as Friends

AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL FILM PRIZE

“The Square,” Jehane Noujaim

CINEMA FAIRBINDET PRIZE

“Concerning Violence,” Göran Hugo Olsson

HEINER CAROW PRIZE

“My Mother, a War and Me,” Tamara Trampe, Johann Feindt

THINK:FILM AWARD

“Provenance,” Amie Siegel

READERS” JURIES AND AUDIENCE AWARDS

Panorama Audience Award (Fiction): “Difret” Zeresenay Berhane Mehari

Panorama Audience Award (Documentary): “The Circle,” Stefan Haupt

Berliner Morgenpost Readers’ Jury Award: “Boyhood,” Richard Linklater

Tagesspiegel Readers’ Jury Award: “Velvet Terrorists,” Pavol Pekar?ík, Ivan Ostrochovský, Peter Kerekes

Else-Siegessaule Readers’ Jury Award: “52 Tuesdays,” Sophie Hyde

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