Festival poster | |
| Opening film | Les adieux à la reine |
|---|---|
| Closing film | Caesar Must Die |
| Location | Berlin, Germany |
| Founded | 1951 |
| Awards | Golden Bear: Caesar Must Die |
| Hosted by | Anke Engelke |
| No. of films | 395 films |
| Festival date | 9–19 February 2012 |
| Website | berlinale |
The 62nd annual Berlin International Film Festival was held from 9 to 19 February 2012. British film director Mike Leigh was the president of the jury. [1] The first five films to be screened in the competition were announced on 19 December 2011. [2] American actress Meryl Streep was presented with the Honorary Golden Bear on 14 February. [3] Benoît Jacquot's film Farewell, My Queen was announced as the opening film. [4]
The Golden Bear went to the Italian film Caesar Must Die , directed by Paolo and Vittorio Taviani, which also served as closing night film. [5]
The following people were announced as being on the jury for the festival: [6]
The following films were in competition for the Golden Bear and Silver Bear awards: [7]
| English title | Original title | Director(s) | Production Country |
|---|---|---|---|
| Today | Aujourd'hui | Alain Gomis | France, Senegal |
| Barbara | Christian Petzold | Germany | |
| Caesar Must Die | Cesare deve morire | Paolo Taviani, Vittorio Taviani | Italy |
| Captive | Brillante Mendoza | Philippines, France, Germany, United Kingdom | |
| Childish Games | Dictado | Antonio Chavarrías | Spain |
| Coming Home | À moi seule | Frédéric Videau | France |
| Farewell, My Queen | Les adieux à la reine | Benoît Jacquot | France, Spain |
| Home for the Weekend | Was bleibt | Hans-Christian Schmid | Germany |
| Jayne Mansfield's Car | Billy Bob Thornton | Russia, United States | |
| Just the Wind | Csak a szél | Benedek Fliegauf | Hungary, Germany, France |
| Mercy | Gnade | Matthias Glasner | Germany, Norway |
| Meteora | Metéora | Spiros Stathoulopoulos | Germany, Greece |
| Postcards from the Zoo | Kebun binatang | Edwin | Indonesia, Germany |
| A Royal Affair | En kongelig affære | Nikolaj Arcel | Denmark, Czech Republic, Germany, Sweden |
| Sister | L'enfant d'en haut | Ursula Meier | Switzerland, France |
| Tabu | Miguel Gomes | Portugal, Germany, Brazil, France | |
| War Witch | Rebelle | Kim Nguyen | Canada |
| White Deer Plain | 白鹿原 | Wang Quan'an | China |
| English title | Original title | Director(s) | Country |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bel Ami | — | Declan Donnellan, Nick Ormerod | United Kingdom |
| Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close | — | Stephen Daldry | United States |
| The Flowers of War | 金陵十三钗 | Zhang Yimou | China |
| Flying Swords of Dragon Gate | — | Tsui Hark | Hong Kong, China |
| Shadow Dancer | — | James Marsh | United Kingdom, Ireland |
| Young Adult | — | Jason Reitman | United States |
| English title | Original title | Director(s) | Country |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10+10 | — | Hou Hsiao-hsien, Wang Toon, Wu Nien-jen, Sylvia Chang, Chen Kuo-fu, Wei Te-sheng, Chung Meng-hung, Chang Tso-chi, Arvin Chen, Yang Ya-che | Taiwan |
| Calm at Sea | La mer à l'aube | Volker Schlöndorff | France, Germany |
| Death for Sale | — | Faouzi Bensaïdi | France |
| Dollhouse | — | Kirsten Sheridan | Ireland |
| Elles | — | Małgorzata Szumowska | France, Poland, Germany |
| From Seoul to Varanasi | Varanasi | Jeon Kyu-hwan | South Korea |
| Headshot | ฝนตกขึ้นฟ้า | Pen-Ek Ratanaruang | Thailand, France |
| Indignados | — | Tony Gatlif | France |
| Iron Sky | — | Timo Vuorensola | Finland, Germany, Australia |
| Keep the Lights On | — | Ira Sachs | United States |
| Kuma | — | Umut Dag | Austria |
| Leave It on the Floor | — | Sheldon Larry | United States, Canada |
| L'âge atomique | — | Héléna Klotz | France |
| Lost in Paradise | Hotboy nổi loạn và câu chuyện về thằng Cười, cô gái điếm và con vịt | Vũ Ngọc Đãng | Viet Nam |
| Love | Doze Niu | Taiwan | |
| Mommy Is Coming | — | Cheryl Dunye | Germany |
| My Brother the Devil | — | Sally El Hosaini | United Kingdom |
| My Way | Mai-wei | Kang Je-gyu | South Korea |
| The Parade | Parada | Srđan Dragojević | Serbia, Croatia, Macedonia, Slovenia |
| The Wall | Die Wand | Julian Roman Pölsler | Austria, Germany |
| Wilaya | — | Pedro Pérez Rosado | Spain |
| The Woman Who Brushed Off Her Tears | — | Teona Strugar Mitevska | Macedonia, Germany, Slovenia, Belgium |
| Xingu | — | Cao Hamburger | Brazil |
The following prizes were awarded by the International Jury: [8] The Hollywood Reporter described the outcome as "a major upset". Der Spiegel said it was a "very conservative selection." [9] Der Tagesspiegel criticised the outcome, "The jury shunned almost all the contemporary films that were admired or hotly debated at an otherwise pretty remarkable festival." [10] Paolo Taviani said "We hope that when the film is released to the general public 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". Vittorio Taviani read out the names of the cast. [9]