A South African take on Bizet’s tragic opera Carmen set in a township captured the Golden Bear for best picture at the 55th Berlin film festival on Saturday, edging out a clutch of hard-hitting political dramas.
Jury president Roland Emmerich, the German director, announced the choice of Carmen in Khayelitsha (U-Carmen eKhayelitsha), Mark Dornford-May’s daring production of the timeless opera sung entirely in the Xhosa language — one of several upsets at the event.
It was only the second South African feature ever to compete for a Golden Bear at the Berlinale, which ranks along with Cannes and Venice among Europe’s top film festivals.
First-time film director Dornford-May called his lead actress, singer Pauline Malefane, to the stage at the awards ceremony later on Saturday and asked her to give the statuette to the people of the Khayelitsha township, where the feature was filmed.
Malefane accepted the award on their behalf in Xhosa before bursting into song at Dornford-May’s request.
”He likes putting me on the spot,” she quipped.
The seven-member jury awarded the Silver Bear for best actor to Lou Taylor Pucci of the United States, who beat out his co-star Keanu Reeves in Thumbsucker, a family drama about a 17-year-old unable to break his childhood habit.
”It is so amazing to be recognised by Europe,” said Pucci, who picked up an acting award at last month’s Sundance film festival.
The Silver Bear for best actress went to Germany’s Julia Jentsch for her role in Sophie Scholl — The Final Days, a true story about a young student’s struggle against the Nazi terror.
”I’m thrilled to be here in Berlin and to accept this award,” Jentsch (26) said in a surprise appearance earlier at the awards press conference. She missed the actual ceremony because she was acting in a play in the southern city of Munich.
Fellow German actress Franka Potente (The Bourne Identity), who joined Emmerich in announcing the winners, had fought back tears as she watched Jentsch give her acceptance speech.
Marc Rothemund also won a Silver Bear for best director for the film and thanked Scholl for ”her freedom, initiative, civil courage and human dignity”.
A Golden Bear traditionally guarantees a picture wide international distribution and a box office boost.
The only other South African film to be nominated at the Berlinale, Marigolds in August, screened in 1980.
The award was widely expected to go to a more topical film, with Sometimes in April on the 1994 Rwandan genocide and Paradise Now, an arguably sympathetic portrait of Palestinian suicide bombers, among the favourites.
The Jury Grand Prix, the runner-up for best film, went to Chinese family chronical Peacock (Kong Que) by Gu Changwei.
”I would like to dedicate the film to the simple people in China who are a part of us,” Gu said.
The racy Taiwanese porn musical The Wayward Cloud (Tian bian yi duo yun) won a Silver Bear for best script.
Malaysian-born director Tsai Ming Liang said he would return to Taiwan to present the award to a favourite actor from a previous feature — now in his 80s — who had been hospitalised.
The Blue Angel award for best European film, named for the late German screen goddess Marlene Dietrich’s signature role, went to Paradise Now, which also won the Berlinale audience prize.
A small crowd of demonstrators outside the awards venue displayed a banner reading ”Stop Glorifying Suicide Killers” in an apparent protest against the film.
Palestinian director Hany Abu-Assad acknowledged that he and the film’s producers had been ”very afraid we couldn’t keep the balance on this very sensitive subject”.
Many critics complained that the field of 22 pictures in competition was uneven with few world-class features.
Major stars were also thin on the ground, despite the appearances of Cate Blanchett, Will Smith, Catherine Deneuve, Anjelica Huston, Kevin Spacey, Keanu Reeves and pop legend George Michael, who was promoting his biopic.
The 11-day festival wraps up Sunday with screenings of popular films featured at the event. – Sapa-AFP