Silver Bear - Best Director - Roman Polanski for “The Ghost Writer”. Producers Alain Sarde and Robert Benmussa accepted the Silver Bear in place of Roman Polanski. Foto credit: berlinale.de

The 60th Berlin International Film Festival closed today in Germany.

Roman Polanski won the Silver Bear as best director for “The Ghost Writer”, his film starring Pierce Brosnan, Ewan McGregor and Kim Cattrall, which premiered last week at the Berlin International Film Festival.

Based on Robert Harris' acclaimed novel "The Ghost," and co-written by Harris and Polanski, the film is no diatribe. It's full of suspense and mordant wit.
"I have to go," says the writer as he wades through angry mobs outside Lang's compound. "Some peace protesters are trying to kill me."
It is also populated by complex characters, including Lang, whose anti-terrorism concerns cannot be easily dismissed.

In the film, McGregor plays an unnamed ghost writer hired to revivify the moribund memoirs of Blair doppelganger Adam Lang (Pierce Brosnan), now essentially in exile in America, flanked by his beautiful, smarter wife, Ruth (a formidable Olivia Williams), and assistant/mistress Amelia (Kim Cattrall).
Lang's previous collaborator on the book, a longtime associate, has died unexpectedly.
As McGregor's character, the Ghost, fleshes out the politician's life story, and as calls increase for Lang to be investigated by The Hague for abetting CIA torture of detainees, the writer stumbles onto dangerous secrets.

Film director Roman Polanski

Roman Polanski, the 76-year-old director, was unable to attend the premiere screening or the awards ceremony in Berlin because he cannot leave his home in Switzerland.

Alain Sarde, producer of The Ghost Writer, accepted the award for Polanski, saying, "I am sure Roman will be very happy."
He added sardonically,
"However, when I was lamenting with him that he cannot be with us, he said to me, 'Even if I could, I wouldn't because the last time I went to a festival to get a prize, I ended up in jail.' "

Polanski was referring to his arrest at Kloten Airport last September after he arrived to accept a lifetime achievement award at the Zurich Film Festival.



The Awards of the International Jury 2010

The 60th Berlin International Film Festival


Golden Bear for Best Film
Bal (Honey)
by Semih Kaplanoglu

Golden Bear for Best Film – “Bal” (Honey) - by Semih Kaplanoglu. Semih Kaplanoglu with his Golden Bear. Foto credit: berlinale.de

Silver Bear - The Jury Grand Prix
Eu cand vreau sa fluier, fluier (If I Want To Whistle, I Whistle)
by Florin Serban


Silver Bear - Best Director
Roman Polanski
for The Ghost Writer (The Ghost Writer)


Silver Bear - Best Actress
Shinobu Terajima
in Caterpillar (Caterpillar) by Koji Wakamatsu


Silver Bear - Best Actor
Grigori Dobrygin
for Kak ya provel etim letom (How I Ended This Summer)
by Alexei Popogrebsky
ex aequo
Sergei Puskepalis
for Kak ya provel etim letom (How I Ended This Summer)
by Alexei Popogrebsky


Silver Bear - Outstanding Artistic Achievement in the Category Camera
Pavel Kostomarov for the camera in
Kak ya provel etim letom (How I Ended This Summer)
by Alexei Popogrebsky


Silver Bear - Best Script
Wang Quan'an and Na Jin for
Tuan Yuan (Apart Together)
by Wang Quan'an


Alfred Bauer Prize
Awarded in memory of the Festival founder, for a work of particular innovation.
Eu cand vreau sa fluier, fluier (If I Want To Whistle, I Whistle)
by Florin Serban


Berlin, Germany - February 20, 2010


http://www.berlinale.de/en/das_festival/preise_und_juries/-preise_internationale_jury/index.html