 Festival poster | |
| Location | West Berlin, Germany |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1951 |
| Awards | Golden Bear: Hobson's Choice |
| Festival date | 18–29 June 1954 |
| Website | www |
The 4th annual Berlin International Film Festival was held from 18 to 29 June 1954. [1] This year's festival did not give any official jury prizes, instead awards were given by audience voting. This continued until the FIAPF granted Berlin "A-Status" in 1956. [2]
David Lean won the Golden Bear by the audience voting for his film Hobson's Choice . [3]
The following films were in competition for the Golden Bear award: [4]
| English title | Original title | Director(s) | Country |
|---|---|---|---|
| 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea | Richard Fleischer | United States | |
| Bread, Love and Dreams | Pane, amore e fantasia | Luigi Comencini | Italy |
| Circus of Love | Rummelplatz der Liebe | Kurt Neumann | West Germany, United States |
| Gate of Hell | 地獄門 | Teinosuke Kinugasa | Japan |
| The Golden Age of Flemish Painting | Een gouden eeuw-de kunst der Vlaamse primitieven | Paul Haesaerts | Belgium |
| The Great Adventure | Det stora äventyret | Arne Sucksdorff | Sweden |
| Hobson's Choice | David Lean | United Kingdom | |
| Ikiru | 生きる | Akira Kurosawa | Japan |
| The Landowner's Daughter | Sinhá Moça | Tom Payne and Oswaldo Sampaio | Brazil |
| The Living Desert | James Algar | United States | |
| Magnificent Obsession | Douglas Sirk | ||
| No Way Back | Weg ohne Umkehr | Victor Vicas | West Germany |
| Submarine Attack | La grande speranza | Duilio Coletti | Italy |
| The Unfrocked One | Le Défroqué | Léo Joannon | France |
The following prizes were awarded by audience votes: [3]
The Berlin International Film Festival, usually called the Berlinale, is a major international film festival held annually in Berlin, Germany. Founded in 1951 and originally run in June, the festival has been held every February since 1978 and is one of Europe's "Big Three" film festivals alongside the Venice Film Festival held in Italy and the Cannes Film Festival held in France. Furthermore, it is one of the "Big Five", the most prestigious film festivals in the world. The festival regularly draws tens of thousands of visitors each year.
The 59th Berlin International Film Festival was held from 5 February to 15 February 2009. The opening film of the festival was Tom Tykwer’s The International, screened out of competition. Costa-Gavras's Eden Is West served as the closing night film at the festival. The festival's jury president was the British actress Tilda Swinton.
The Golden Bear is the highest prize awarded for the best film at the Berlin International Film Festival. The bear is the heraldic animal of Berlin, featured on both the coat of arms and flag of Berlin.
The 1st annual Berlin International Film Festival was held from 6 to 17 June 1951 at the Titiana-Palast cinema. The opening film was Alfred Hitchcock's Rebecca.
The 2nd annual Berlin International Film Festival was held from 12 to 25 June 1952.
The 3rd annual Berlin International Film Festival was held from 18 to 28 June 1953.
The 5th annual Berlin International Film Festival was held from 24 June to 5 July 1955. This year's festival did not give any official jury prizes, instead awards were given by audience voting. This continued until the FIAPF granted Berlin "A-Status" in 1956.
The 6th annual Berlin International Film Festival was held from 22 June to 3 July 1956. The FIAPF granted the festival the "A status" during this year, which was previously only reserved for Cannes and Venice. The awards for the first time, were given by an international jury.
The 7th annual Berlin International Film Festival was held from 21 June to 2 July 1957. The International Federation of Film Critics awarded FIPRESCI Award for the first time this year. The Golden Bear was awarded to the American film 12 Angry Men directed by Sidney Lumet.
The 8th annual Berlin International Film Festival was held from 27 June to 8 July 1958 with the Zoo Palast as the main venue. The festival was opened by then West Berlin's newly elected mayor Willy Brandt. The Golden Bear was awarded to the Swedish film Smultronstället directed by Ingmar Bergman.
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The 10th annual Berlin International Film Festival was held from 24 June to 5 July 1960. The Golden Bear was awarded to the Spanish film El Lazarillo de Tormes directed by César Fernández Ardavín.
The 11th annual Berlin International Film Festival was held from 23 June to 4 July 1961. The Golden Bear was awarded to the Italian film La notte directed by Michelangelo Antonioni.
The 12th annual Berlin International Film Festival was held from 22 June – 3 July 1962. The Golden Bear was awarded to the British film A Kind of Loving directed by John Schlesinger.
The 13th annual Berlin International Film Festival was held from 21 June to 2 July 1963. The Golden Bear was awarded ex aequo to the Italian film Il diavolo directed by Gian Luigi Polidoro and Japanese film Bushidô zankoku monogatari directed by Tadashi Imai.
The 14th annual Berlin International Film Festival was held from 26 June to 7 July 1964.
The 58th annual Berlin International Film Festival was held from February 7 to February 17, 2008. The festival opened with Martin Scorsese's documentary film Shine a Light. Be Kind Rewind by Michel Gondry served as the closing film. Greek filmmaker Costa Gavras, was selected to serve as the Jury President for the main competition.
The 61st annual Berlin International Film Festival was held from 10 to 20 February 2011, with actress Isabella Rossellini as the president of the jury. The Coen Brothers film True Grit opened the festival. 300,000 tickets were sold in total during the event, to 20,000 attendees from 116 countries, including 3900 members of the press.
The 66th Berlin International Film Festival was held from 11 to 21 February 2016, with American actress Meryl Streep as the president of the jury. The Honorary Golden Bear for lifetime achievement was presented to German cinematographer Michael Ballhaus.
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