Class Berlin festival attracts the films, stars

With all the Oscar buzz about the place, the Berlin Film Festival has found itself fighting for coverage.

With all the Oscar buzz about the place, the Berlin Film Festival has found itself fighting for coverage.

The awarding of the Golden Bear, the top prize, to Paolo and Vittorio Taviani’s Caesar Must Die took many critics by surprise, but all but the most sceptical of observers celebrated the return of two forgotten masters. This is the most conspicuous success for the brothers since their Padre Padrone took the Palme d’Or at Cannes a full 35 years ago.

Caesar Must Die, a quasi-documentary, follows inmates at a high security prison as they seek to stage a production of Julius Caesar.

“We hope that when the film is released to the general public,” said Paolo Taviani, “that cinemagoers will say to themselves or even those around them . . . that even a prisoner with a dreadful sentence, even a life sentence, is and remains a human being.”

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The Grand Jury Prize went to Bence Fliegauf's Just the Wind, about the murder of Romany people in Hungary.

Are they cloning Meryl Streep? As well as attending every awards ceremony on the planet, Streep pottered along to Berlin to pick up a lifetime achievement award. Angelina Jolie, Brad Pitt and Robert Pattinson also turned up to wave at the crowds and soak up the famous Berlinale atmosphere.

The Berlin event may seem a little bit less prominent these days, but it remains the largest publically attended film festival in the world. So there.