Text and Photos By Stephen Ashton

The Bear is the centuries-old official symbol of the city and state of Berlin...and it is what the Berlin International Film Festival calls its awards. The "Berlinale" (as the Festival is affectionately known) is a bear of a Festival indeed...this year strong, loud and great, lumbering through 11 days with 1384 screenings of over 300 films for 15,545 accredited participants plus thousands of Berliners who flock to even the most esoteric films in droves.

Berlin, the city and the Festival, has historically been at the center of global events. Berlin, the city, saw itself divided, walled, and supported for years as a showpiece for "the West"... a "doughnut" surrounded by Socialist East Germany. It was a place for Eastern European filmmakers to meet the West, and westerners to peek into the world of the East.

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Berlin was the center of Europe's most major social change from1989 through 1991, when the Socialist and Soviet worlds in Europe collapsed; and along with it the Berlin Wall. This led to the unification of East and West Germany. Berlin, a city long divided, not only became one again, but was re-declared the Capitol of Germany. Some call it the "capital" of Europe.

I was here in 1990 when the wall at the Brandenburg Gate came down during the Berlinale...people danced in the cold night streets, played rock and roll from atop the wall and passed freely back and forth from east to west– an act that for many was previously death defying.

In this year's Berlinale, a spirit of unity and a strong call for peace in the world prevails, as its theme "Towards Tolerance" is reiterated loudly in words, in the film selection and in the awarding of the prizes. Americans here to showcase their films were treated warmly by the Berliners.

As in years past, the Berlinale is passionate about American film. Rob Marshall swings into town with “Chicago" and his song and dance team of Renée Zelleweger, Catherine Zeta-Jones and Richard Gere to open the 53rd Berlin International Film Festival to delight the crowds.

Edward Norton and Spike Lee brought their ““25th Hour" Berlin and Kevin Spacey, Laura Linney and Alan Parker premiered their death penalty saga “Life of David Gale," Dustin Hoffman shined in “Moonlight Mile", delighting audiences by his appearance.

Nicholas Cage and director Spike ““Being John Malkovich" Jonze premiered their film “Adaptation" which won the Grand Jury Prize Silver Bear Award.

On the day of the Awards, Berlin saw one of the largest peace demonstrations ever, with an estimated 1 million people parading through the Brandenburg Gate, jamming the famous boulevard Unter der Linden for as far as the eye could see.

Taking the grand prize, the Golden Berlin Bear, is Michael (“Welcome To Sarajevo") Winterbottom's “ In This World" a bravely produced road movie that follows two young Afghan cousins from the refuge camps of Pakistan all the way to London. The film also garnered the respected “Prize of the Churches" by the Ecumenical Jury and the Peace Film Prize by the International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War and the Heinrich Böll Foundation.

The Silver Berlin Bear for Best Director went to Patrice Chereaufor his film ““Son Frerez" His Brother). The Best Actress Silver Berlin Bear went to the female ensemble of Meryl Streep, Nicole Kidman, and Julianne Moore for their work in the film “The Hours" by Stephen Daldry.

Sam Rockwell took The Silver Berlin Bear for Best Actor for his role in the film “Confessions of a Dangerous Mind" by George Clooney, who was also in Berlin with Steven Soderberg to present “Solaris".

Other outstanding moments of the Festival include the premiere out of competition of Lone Scherfig's English language debut “Wilber Wants To Kill Himself" following her widely acclaimed “Italian For Beginners." Scherfig is known for the magic she imbues in her remarkably ““human" characters.

The legendary French beauty Anouk Aimeé received a Special Berlin Bear Award for her career in film, along with a retrospective of her work.

As the dust settles in the cold closing night air, Martin Scorsese “Gangs of New York" brings the Festival audiences to their feet one last time… until the next Berlinale in February 2004.

Berlinale 2004

The 2004 Edition of the Berlinale promises to be a revelation, as well. One popular aspect of the Festival is the Kinderfilmfest of youth films. 2004 features a retrospective of works from the Sam Spiegel Film and Television School in Israel in addition to the broad selection from around the world.

The Official Retrospective for 2004 is dedicated not to the work of a single filmmaker, but rather to the collective films by American mavericks from 1967 to 1976 who reshaped Hollywood. Ranging from Arthur Penn's 1967 “Bonny And Clyde" to Martin Scorsese 1976 classic, “Taxi Driver" and from D. A. Pennebaker's 1967 Bob Dylan portrait, “Don't Look Back" and Dennis Hopper's “Easy Rider," the Retrospective will screen 66 films and a book published by Retrospective organizer the Berlin Film Museum.

The 2004 Berlin Official Competition details are not available at press time, but we do know that it will feature Ron Howard's “The Missing”(its European premiere), Spain's master director Manuel Gutiérrez Aragón's new ““Your Next Life," set in the remote rural area of Spain, Valle del Paz and top films from Croatia, Germany, Denmark and several Asian countries.