Berlin - American anti-globalization pranksters The Yes Men won the
audience prize for one of the Berlin Film Festival's main sections
Saturday as part of the buildup to the presentation of the Berlinale's
top honours at a Hollywood-style gala. The Yes Men's latest film The
Yes Men Fix the World once again seeks to expose and poke fun at the
corporate world.
The movie screened in the Berlinales's Panorama section, which showcases independent and art-house cinema.
The
Yes Men Fix the World, which was directed by Mike Bonanno, Andy
Bichlbaum, Kurt Engfehr followed The Yes Men's 2003 movie in which they
impersonated employees of the World Trade Organization.
Movie-goers
attending the Berlin Film Festival were asked to cast their votes for
the films screened in the Panorama section, which screened a total of
48 movies films. About 21,000 votes were cast.
Also on Saturday
as part of the Berlinale, Israeli-born director Oren Moverman won the
peace prize for The Messenger about two traumatized US soldiers back
from Iraq and on a new assignment to tell families their loved ones
have been killed in combat.
Valued at 5,000 euros (6,432 dollars), the first peace prize was awarded in 1986.
At
the same time, German director Hans-Christian won the Amnesty
International Film prize for his thriller Sturm (Storm), which is based
around the war crimes tribunal for the former Yugoslavia.
Starring
Ben Foster and Woody Harrelson, The Messenger along with Sturm are
favourites in the battle for the Berlinale's coveted Golden Bear, which
is to be awarded Saturday.
A total of 18 films competed for the
Berlinale's top honours with the field wide open in the race for the
festival's main prizes.
Also among the leading contenders are
Paris-born Rachid Bouchareb's London River, which is a compelling story
of a Muslim father and a Christian mother searching for their children
in the aftermath of London's July 7 terrorist attacks. It stars Brenda
Blethyn and Sotigui Kouyate.
Iranian director Asghar Farhadi's
Darbareye Elly About Elly, has also emerged as a possible favourite for
the Golden Bear. Farhadi's film explores the fine line between truth
and lies in middle-class Iranian society after a young woman suddenly
vanishes.
But film festival juries are notoriously difficult to
predict. The 59th Berlinale's seven-member international jury, headed
up by Academy Award-winning British actress Tilda Swinton, also have to
hand out festival prizes for best director, as well as awards for best
actor and actress.
Indeed, top Chinese actress Zhang Ziyi could
also be recognized by the jury for her role as the lover of famed 20th
century Peking opera star Mei Lan-fang, in Beijing director Chen
Kaige's lavishly filmed Forever Enthralled.
Other possible
contenders include German director Maren Ade's Alle Anderen (Everyone
Else) about a young couple that find their relationship is put to the
test and British-born Peter Strickland's Katalin Varga.
Set in
Transylvania, Strickland's first feature film tells the story of a
woman who embarks on a journey of revenge as she travels through the
Carpathian Mountains in search of her son's real father.
Once again, a major focus of the Berlinale was stories about women.
Another
film that could stand a chance of going home with a prize is
British-born Richard Loncraine's 1950's comedy My One and Only, which
was a last minute entry in the Berlinale's main competition.
It
stars Hollywood actress Renee Zellweger as a mother who takes her two
teenage sons on a road trip across America in search of a husband.
But
despite the glamour as stars lined up for the festival's red carpet
overhanging this year's Berlinale was the deepening sense of gloom in
the global movie business as it braces itself for what is expected to
be a tough 12 months of cost-cutting, layoffs and projects being put on
hold.
However, many of those attending the European Film Market
(EFM) - the business side of the Berlinale - appear somewhat relieved
that the numbers of deals arranged over the last ten days meant that
the EFM was not quite as bad as many had expected.
The festival continues Sunday with further screenings open to the public.
