Golden Bear Winners
The Golden Bear is the highest prize awarded for the best film at the Berlin International Film Festival. First awarded in 1951 the bear is the heraldic animal of Berlin, featured on both the coat of arms and flag of Berlin.
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- DirectorCãlin Peter NetzerStarsLuminita GheorghiuBogdan DumitracheNatasa RaabAfter the terrible news of a fatal car accident involving her son, a desperate mother will do anything in her power to set her child free.
- DirectorPaolo TavianiVittorio TavianiStarsCosimo RegaSalvatore StrianoGiovanni ArcuriInmates at a high-security prison in Rome prepare for a public performance of Shakespeare's "Julius Caesar."
- DirectorAsghar FarhadiStarsPayman MaadiLeila HatamiSareh BayatA married couple are faced with a difficult decision - to improve the life of their child by moving to another country or to stay in Iran and look after a deteriorating parent who has Alzheimer's disease.
- DirectorSemih KaplanogluStarsBora AltasErdal BesikçiogluTülin ÖzenThe quiet life of a boy and his family is endangered when his father does not return home from his work collecting honey in the forest.
- DirectorClaudia LlosaStarsMagaly SolierSusi SánchezEfraín SolísFausta is suffering from a rare disease called the Milk of Sorrow, which is transmitted through the breast milk of pregnant women who were abused or raped during or soon after pregnancy. While living in constant fear and confusion due to this disease, she must face the sudden death of her mother. She chooses to take drastic measures to not follow in her mother's footsteps.
- DirectorJosé PadilhaStarsWagner MouraAndré RamiroCaio JunqueiraIn 1997 Rio de Janeiro, Captain Nascimento has to find a substitute for his position while trying to take down drug dealers and criminals before the Pope visits.
- DirectorQuan'an WangStarsNan YuBa'toerSen'geSet in Inner Mongolia, a physical setback causes a young woman to choose a suitor who can take care of her, as well as her disabled husband.
- DirectorJasmila ZbanicStarsMirjana KaranovicLuna Zimic MijovicLeon LucevA woman and her daughter struggle to make their way through the aftermath of the Bosnian War.
- DirectorMark Dornford-MayStarsPauline MalefaneAndile TshoniLungelwa BlouA version of Georges Bizet's Carmen, set in a modern-day South African township.
- DirectorFatih AkinStarsBirol ÜnelSibel KekilliGüven KiraçWith the intention to break free from the strict familial restrictions, a suicidal young woman sets up a marriage of convenience with a forty-year-old addict, an act that will lead to an outburst of envious love.
- DirectorMichael WinterbottomStarsJamal Udin TorabiEnayatullahImran ParachaA refugee family is trying to reach more peaceful lands illegally inside trucks.Winner in 2003.
- DirectorHayao MiyazakiStarsDaveigh ChaseSuzanne PleshetteMiyu IrinoDuring her family's move to the suburbs, a sullen 10-year-old girl wanders into a world ruled by gods, witches and spirits, and where humans are changed into beasts.Winner in 2002.
- DirectorPaul GreengrassStarsJames NesbittTim Pigott-SmithNicholas FarrellA dramatization of the Irish civil rights protest march and subsequent massacre by British troops on January 30, 1972.
- DirectorPatrice ChéreauStarsMark RylanceKerry FoxSusannah HarkerA failed London musician meets once a week with a woman for a series of intense sexual encounters to get away from the realities of life. But when he begins inquiring about her, it puts their relationship at risk.
- DirectorPaul Thomas AndersonStarsTom CruiseJason RobardsJulianne MooreAn epic mosaic of interrelated characters in search of love, forgiveness and meaning in the San Fernando Valley.
- DirectorTerrence MalickStarsJim CaviezelSean PennNick NolteAdaptation of James Jones' autobiographical 1962 novel, focusing on the conflict at Guadalcanal during the second World War.
- DirectorWalter SallesStarsFernanda MontenegroVinícius de OliveiraMarília PêraThe emotive journey of a former schoolteacher who writes letters for illiterate people, and a young boy whose mother has just died, as they search for the father he never knew.
- DirectorMilos FormanStarsWoody HarrelsonCourtney LoveEdward NortonThe story of controversial pornography publisher Larry Flynt, and how he became a defender of free speech.
- DirectorAng LeeStarsEmma ThompsonKate WinsletJames FleetRich Mr. Dashwood dies, leaving his second wife and her three daughters poor by the rules of inheritance. The two eldest daughters are the title opposites.Winner in 1996.
- DirectorBertrand TavernierStarsMarie GillainOlivier SitrukBruno PutzuluThree teenagers plan to steal the necessary funds to open their dream shop in the US, but things get messy.
- DirectorJim SheridanStarsDaniel Day-LewisPete PostlethwaiteAlison CrosbieAn Irish man's coerced confession to an I.R.A. bombing he did not commit results in the imprisonment of his father as well. Meanwhile, a British lawyer fights to clear their names and free them.Winner in 1994.
- DirectorFei XieStarsSiqin GaowaYujuan WuKesheng LeiThe tragedies of two Chinese country women: a wealthy sesame oil seller and her daughter-in-law, married to her son.
- DirectorAng LeeStarsWinston ChaoMay ChinAh-Lei GuaTo satisfy his nagging parents, a gay landlord and a female tenant agree to a marriage of convenience, but his parents arrive to visit and things get out of hand.
- DirectorLawrence KasdanStarsDanny GloverKevin KlineSteve MartinThe fates of several people are randomly intertwining. Their sympathy of each other faces multiple differences in their lifestyles.Winner in 1992.
- DirectorMarco FerreriStarsIngrid ThulinDado RuspoliEnzo CannavaleA septuagenarian couple are attracted to each other in a retirement home but find the institution and their fellow patients frown on their relationship.Winner in 1991.
- DirectorCosta-GavrasStarsJessica LangeArmin Mueller-StahlFrederic ForrestA lawyer defends her father accused of war crimes, but there is more to the case than she suspects.Winner in 1990.
- DirectorJirí MenzelStarsRudolf HrusínskýVlastimil BrodskýVáclav NeckárSet in the late 1940s, the film concerns the treatment of suspect "bourgeois elements", a professor, a saxophonist, and a milkman, who are put to work in a junkyard for rehabilitation.
- DirectorBarry LevinsonStarsDustin HoffmanTom CruiseValeria GolinoAfter a selfish L.A. yuppie learns his estranged father left a fortune to an autistic-savant brother in Ohio that he didn't know existed, he absconds with his brother and sets out across the country, hoping to gain a larger inheritance.Winner in 1989.
- DirectorYimou ZhangStarsGong LiWen JiangRujun TengWhen a leprous winery owner in 1930s China dies a few days after his arranged marriage, his young widow is forced to run the winery to make a living while contending with bandits, her drunkard lover, and the invading Japanese army.
- DirectorReinhard HauffStarsUlrich TukurHans KremerTherese AffolterStammheim Prison in Stuttgart, West Germany, as the five defendants--Andreas Baader, Ulrike Meinhof Gudrun Ensslin, Jan-Carl Raspe, and Holger Meins--are brought before the judge and accused of the murder of four US servicemen in a terrorist bombing attack. After a hunger strike at the trial's start, Meins dies. The next to die is Meinhof, an apparent suicide. As the trial stretches on, Baader, Ensslin, and Raspe continuously disrupt the proceedings with accusations that they are being purposely undernourished and spied upon.
- DirectorRainer SimonStarsJoachim LätschPeter ZimmermannKathrin WaliguraKarl and Richard, two German soldiers captured by the Russians in World War I, become very close friends-so close that Richard shares intimate stories about his wife, Anna. Through these stories, Karl falls in love with her in his thoughts. When Karl escapes and goes to Richard's home, Anna knows he is not her husband. But although she tries to resist Karl's love, she feels a growing response to him. Then, one day, Richard returns... This beautifully shot work was the only East German film ever to win the Golden Bear at the West German Berlin International Film Festival. Shortly after this success, however, the film's distribution was suspended due to problems with the literary rights. After over 20 years, the film is now finally available again.
- DirectorDavid HareStarsVanessa RedgraveIan HolmJudi DenchThe mysterious death of an enigmatic young man newly arrived in the suburb of Wetherby releases the long-repressed, dark passions of some of its residents.
- DirectorJohn CassavetesStarsGena RowlandsJohn CassavetesDiahnne AbbottTwo closely bound, emotionally wounded souls reunite after years apart.
- DirectorGleb PanfilovStarsMikhail UlyanovInna ChurikovaEvgeniy VesnikA playwright faces writer's block.Winner in 1987.
- DirectorEdward BennettStarsJulie CovingtonIan CharlesonJohn PhillipsConnie is a member of the British landowning "Ascendancy" in Ireland after WWI. Through a chance friendship with a British soldier, she learns how sheltered she has been, and chooses to ally herself, in her own way, with the struggle for Irish independence.
- DirectorMario CamusStarsVictoria AbrilAna BelénConcha VelascoAs in the novel of the same title from Camilo Jose Cela, "La Colmena" is a sad composition with the stories of many people in the Madrid of 1942, just the postwar of the spanish civil war. The main theme of the film is the contrast between the poets, surviving close to misery under the Franco's regime, and the winners of the war, the emerging class of the people that makes easy money with illegal business.Winner in 1983.
- DirectorRainer Werner FassbinderStarsRosel ZechHilmar ThateCornelia FroboessPartially based on the life of Sybille Schmitz, who found fame under the Nazi regime, but whose career was destroyed afterward. Veronika Voss is a once prominent UFA actress, kept by her doctor, who raises suspicion in a sports journalist.
- DirectorCarlos SauraStarsBerta SocuéllamosJose Antonio Valdelomar GonzálezJesús AriasAngela begins to hang around with Pablo and his gang of young robbers.
- DirectorRichard PearceStarsRip TornConchata FerrellBarry PrimusA widow with a young daughter travels to a ranch in Wyoming to manage the household of a rancher. After a while the man and woman develop a relationship that leads to a marriage. But life in the harsh place takes its toll.Winner in 1980.
- DirectorWerner SchroeterStarsNicola ZarboOtto SanderIda Di BenedettoAn impoverished young man from Sicily travels to Wolfsburg, West Germany to find work. He takes a job in the Volkswagen factory after he travels through Northern Italy by train.
- DirectorPeter LilienthalStarsMario FischelWalter TaubIrena VrkljanDavid (Mario Fischel), the son of a local rabbi (Walter Taub), sees the rise in anti-Semitism in 1930s Germany, but it isn't until his father's synagogue is burned down and his mother (Irene Vrkijan) is harassed and intimidated that he realizes just how dangerous Germany has become. For a while, he and his family manage to survive underground in Berlin. But a close encounter with a German officer convinces him to break ties with everyone he loves and head out on his own.
- DirectorJosé Luis García SánchezStarsHéctor AlterioJuan AmigoOfelia AngélicaIn a restaurant they're preparing a grand banquet in honor of a sports association of anglers, but several circumstances seem to have conspired to boycott the event.
- DirectorEmilio Martínez LázaroStarsIgnacio Fernández de CastroMyriam De MaeztuGracia QuerejetaA middle-aged man who has reached a crisis point in his domestic life tries to reassemble his past.
- DirectorLarisa ShepitkoStarsBoris PlotnikovVladimir GostyukhinSergey YakovlevTwo Soviet partisans on a mission to gather food contend with the winter cold, the occupying Germans, and their own psyches.
- DirectorRobert AltmanStarsPaul NewmanJoel GreyKevin McCarthyA cynical Buffalo Bill hires Sitting Bull to exploit him and add his credibility to the distorted view of history presented in his Wild West Show.
- DirectorMárta MészárosStarsKatalin BerekGyöngyvér VighPéter FriedA lonely middle-aged woman wants to give birth to a child, but her acquaintance with dysfunctional teenagers leads her to the idea of adoption.
- DirectorTed KotcheffStarsRichard DreyfussMicheline LanctôtJack WardenIn a bid to gain respect, the neglected younger son of a working class Jewish family in Montréal embarks on a series of get-rich-quick schemes to buy land surrounding a lake.
- DirectorSatyajit RayStarsSoumitra ChatterjeeBobitaSandhya RoyAs food shortages reach catastrophic proportions, Gangacharan attempts to preserve his privileged situation while his generous wife Ananga conversely tries to help and support the community.
- DirectorPier Paolo PasoliniStarsHugh GriffithLaura BettiNinetto DavoliPasolini's artistic, sometimes violent, always vividly cinematic retelling of some of Chaucer's most erotic tales.
- DirectorVittorio De SicaStarsDominique SandaLino CapolicchioHelmut BergerThe story of the Finzi-Continis, a noble family of Ferrara, during the Jewish persecution in Italy's 1930s.Winner in 1971. There was no prize in 1970.
- DirectorZelimir ZilnikStarsMilja VujanovicBogdan TirnanicCedomir RadovicA group of young persons are going to make a revolution, but in real life everything is not the same as in smart books.
- DirectorJan TroellStarsPer OscarssonAnn-Marie GyllenspetzKerstin TideliusA weak and tormented teacher is pushed to the limit by his obnoxious students.
- DirectorJerzy SkolimowskiStarsJean-Pierre LéaudCatherine-Isabelle DuportJacqueline BirA fast-paced comedy about a young Belgian car nut and hairdresser's apprentice, his girlfriend, and their legal and illegal attempts to get a Porsche under him for his nearing debut race.
- DirectorRoman PolanskiStarsDonald PleasenceFrançoise DorléacLionel StanderIn search of help, two wounded gangsters on the run find refuge in the secluded castle of a feeble man and his wife; however, under the point of a gun, nothing is what it seems.
- DirectorJean-Luc GodardStarsEddie ConstantineAnna KarinaAkim TamiroffA U.S. secret agent is sent to the distant space city of Alphaville where he must find a missing person and free the city from its tyrannical ruler.
- DirectorMetin ErksanStarsErol TasHülya KoçyigitUlvi DoganA farmer has a violent dispute with his fellow villagers by claiming ownership of the water that comes out of his land. He is as sexually frustrated as greedy.
- DirectorGian Luigi PolidoroStarsAlberto SordiGunilla Elm-TornkvistAnne-Charlotte SjöbergSordi gives a deep and touching comic performance as an Italian fur merchant who is going to Sweden for the first time to attend the annual fur auctions in Stockholm. The movie depicts the clash between his fantasies about sex in Sweden with the reality of what he finds.
- DirectorJohn SchlesingerStarsAlan BatesJune RitchieThora HirdAfter his girlfriend's pregnancy forces him to marry her, a young man must adjust to his new life and contend with his domineering mother-in-law.
- DirectorMichelangelo AntonioniStarsJeanne MoreauMarcello MastroianniMonica VittiA day in the life of an unfaithful married couple and their steadily deteriorating relationship.
- DirectorCésar Fernández ArdavínStarsMarco PaolettiJuanjo MenéndezCarlos CasaravillaThe story of Lazarillo, a poor boy who must live by his wits after being sold to a series of cruel masters.Winner in 1960.
- DirectorClaude ChabrolStarsGérard BlainJean-Claude BrialyJuliette MaynielA pair of cousins share a flat, but animosity begins to build between the two when a woman gets involved.
- DirectorIngmar BergmanStarsVictor SjöströmBibi AnderssonIngrid ThulinAfter living a life marked by coldness, an aging professor is forced to confront the emptiness of his existence.Winner in 1958.
- DirectorSidney LumetStarsHenry FondaLee J. CobbMartin BalsamThe jury in a New York City murder trial is frustrated by a single member whose skeptical caution forces them to more carefully consider the evidence before jumping to a hasty verdict.
- DirectorGene KellyJoseph BarberaWilliam HannaStarsGene KellyIgor YouskevitchClaire SombertThree different stories are told through a notably unusual way - no words, just dance.
- DirectorRobert SiodmakStarsMaria SchellCurd JürgensHeidemarie HatheyerIn the early Fifties Pauline Karka (Maria Schell) comes to Berlin. She is pregnant and totally penniless. She meets the laundry owner Anna John (Heidemarie Hatheyer) who always yearned to become a mother but hasn't been able to. Paulines child is born and the two women agree that Anna John will keep the newborn as her own baby. As Pauline is going to move to West Germany, she wants to see her child once again for the last time but Anna John refuses. Pauline panics and kidnaps by mistake the terminally ill kid of the neighbor woman. Meanwhile Anna John instructs her brother Bruno (Curd Jürgens) to get rid of Pauline but Bruno stumbles and kills himself with his own knife before he could find Pauline.
- DirectorDavid LeanStarsCharles LaughtonJohn MillsBrenda de BanzieWidower Henry Hobson refuses to let his three daughters get married because he doesn't want to pay settlements, so they'll just have to outsmart him.
- DirectorHenri-Georges ClouzotStarsYves MontandCharles VanelPeter van EyckIn a decrepit South American village, four men are hired to transport an urgent nitroglycerine shipment without the equipment that would make it safe.
- DirectorArne MattssonStarsEdvin AdolphsonUlla JacobssonJohn ElfströmAfter graduation, a Swedish youth goes to live with his uncle in the countryside and immediately takes a liking to a local girl.Winner in 1952.
- DirectorLeopold LindtbergStarsViveca LindforsRalph MeekerYossi YadinSoviet, British, French and American allies patrol post-war Vienna.
- DirectorJean-Paul Le ChanoisStarsBernard BlierDanièle DelormePierre TrabaudThérèse Ravenaz is a charming young woman but also the victim of a seducer who abandoned her as soon as she told him that she was expecting his baby. To trace her unworthy lover, she boards a taxi driven by friendly cabdriver Emile Gauthier, who agrees to help her. But street after street, district after district, the seducer is nowhere to be found in Paris. And when she finally achieves the end of her quest, there is no Holy Grail. She learns that the rotter is already married. Fortunately, Emile has a heart of gold.
- DirectorAndré CayatteStarsMichel AuclairAntoine BalpêtréRaymond BussièresA trial of a mercy killing.Winner in 1951.
- DirectorClyde GeronimiWilfred JacksonHamilton LuskeStarsIlene WoodsJames MacDonaldEleanor AudleyWhen Cinderella's cruel stepmother prevents her from attending the Royal Ball, she gets some unexpected help from the lovable mice Gus and Jaq and from her Fairy Godmother.Winner in 1951.
- DirectorJames AlgarStarsWinston HiblerMogens LindGet a glimpse of "nature's own engineer" hard at work. A young male beaver must defend his new family against hungry predators, mischievous river otters and the ever-impending threat of winter.Winner in 1951.