The Irish-British film Bloody Sunday has taken the top prize at the Berlin Film Festival yesterday, sharing the Golden Bear with a Japanese animated feature. Derek Scally reports from Berlin
The film, praised for its "extraordinary authenticity", beat more than 20 films, including Iris and French hit 8 Femmes, to scoop the top prize at the prestigious festival.
"Both Derry and Berlin understand what it means to be a divided city. This award is a recognition that democracy is based on rights and not sovereignty," director Paul Greengrass told The Irish Times yesterday.
He got the good news in the middle of his son's fourth birthday party on Saturday afternoon and returned to Berlin yesterday to accept the award.
Actor James Nesbitt, who plays MP Mr Ivan Cooper in the film, said he was "thrilled" by the award. "I wasn't prepared for how my words were taken apart and every sentence analysed, but whatever flak we got, that's insignificant now," he said.
The film was a competition favourite but its victory surprised some journalists who felt the film's television screenings and video release would hinder its chances.
The film was joint winner of the World Cinema Audience Award at the Sundance Film Festival last month and will be released in cinemas in the US in the autumn.
"It makes things easier, but picking up another bauble won't change us or the film. It's not a film that's going to play in every mall in town," said Tristan Whalley, one of the film's executive producers.
The other Golden Bear winner yesterday, the Japanese animated feature Spirited Away, has already grossed $250 million in Japan.
Bloody Sunday received a second award yesterday from an ecumenical jury of the Catholic and Protestant churches. The award recognises films which "sensitise viewers to spiritual human or social values".
"The church award recognises that this was a reconciling project for the two communities," said Don Mullan, whose book Eyewitness Bloody Sunday provided the basis for the film.
"What started as a lonely campaign by them will now be debated worldwide," he said. Silver Bear winners included Halle Berry for her role in Monster's Ball and the female cast of 8 Femmes.