Actualités

BERLIN -- Eran Riklis' Lemon Tree has won the Audience Award for best film in the Panorama section of the Berlin Film Festival.

Lemon Tree is the story of a Palestinian woman who inherits a lemon grove that borders on the land of the Israeli defense minister. More than 20,000 Berlin cinemagoers cast ballots for this year's Audience Award.

Second place went to Julian Shaw's documentary Darling! The Pieter-Dirk Uys Story about the famous South African satirist and AIDS activist Pieter-Dirk Uys. Another documentary, Samson Vicent's Erika Rabau -- Puck of Berlin, took third place. The film follows veteran Berlin Film Festival photographer Erika Rabau as she snaps her way through the 2007 event.

The Iranian-French co-production Buddha Collapsed Out of Shame by young Iranian director Hana Makmalbaf has won the Crystal Berlin Bear for best film running in Berlin's Generations sidebar. Set in Afghanistan, Buddha looks at the struggles of a young girl trying to raise the money to go to school. The Generations jury gave a special mention to the Norwegian film The Ten Lives of Titanic the Cat from Grethe Boe.

The Black Balloon from Australian director Elissa Down, a story of dealing with autism, took the best film prize in the Generations 14plus section. Nina Parley's animated feature Sita Sings the Blues, which is based on an Indian folk tale, received special mention from the jury.

The Grand Prize of children's charity association the Deutsche Kinderhilfswerk, went to Oliver Jean-Marie's comic-book adaptation Go West! Lucky Luke Adventure. A special mention went to the coming-of-age story Mutum by Brazilian director Sandra Kogut.

HONG KONG -- Lust, Caution and The Warlords will compete head-to-head at the second annual Asian Film Awards at the Hong Kong International Film Festival in March, organizers announced Thursday.

The Chinese-language blockbusters lead the pack with six nominations each, including best film and best director for Ang Lee (Lust, Caution) and Peter Chan (Warlords), and best actor for Tony Leung Chi-Wai and Jet Li, respectively.

Joining Lust, Caution and Warlords in the best film race are China's The Sun Also Rises, South Korea's Secret Sunshine, Japan's I Just Didn't Do It and Iran's Buddha Collapsed Out of Shame.

The nominations were announced by Wilfred Wong, chairman of the Hong Kong International Film Festival Society.

Following the rise in prominence of Asian cinema in recent years, both in terms of its eminence at major festivals and popularity at the boxoffice, the AFA was inaugurated last year to honor talents in the region.

"AFA's inaugural event last year showed there was tremendous international interest in the celebration of the Asian cinema," Wong said. "Building on that momentum, this year's event promises to be even bigger and better, especially with participation of major creative forces and stars from internationally acclaimed and high-profile films."

The star-studded ceremony will be telecast in Hong Kong and via several pan-Asian satellite broadcasters across the region.

Last year, favorites in the international film festival circuit dominated the winners list. South Korea's The Host was named best film, while China's Jia Zhangke took home the best director statue for Still Life.

Wong said this year would mark a step closer to establishing the AFA "as the most prominent and definitive film awards event for the region."

Awards in 12 categories will be given out March 17 in Hong Kong, coinciding with the opening of the Entertainment Expo Hong Kong and the 32nd Hong Kong International Film Festival.

San Sebastian, Spain -- Wayne Wang's U.S. film A Thousand Years of Good Prayers won the Golden Shell at the 55th San Sebastian International Film Festival, official jury chair Paul Auster said Saturday.

Henry O. took the best actor honor for his portrayal in Prayers, which centers on a Chinese widower who visits his recently divorced only daughter in the U.S. Blanca Portillo picked up the actress prize for her role in Gracia Querejeta's 7 Billiards Tables, from Spain.

Nick Broomfield won best director for his U.K. docudrama The Battle for Haditha, about the war landscape in Iraq.

The 18-year-old Hana Makhmalbaf saw her directorial debut, Buddha Collapsed Out of Shame (Iran-France) -- which centers on a 6-year-old girl's efforts to learn the alphabet in Afghanistan -- take the special jury prize. The jury said the "first feature by a extremely young director impressed the jury with its exquisite cinematography and the remarkable performance by the child actress Nikbakht Noruz."

The jury called Shame "a promising debut by a filmmaker whom we hope will go on to create important works in the future."

Makhmalbaf also won the newly created Other Look Award, sponsored by Spanish pubcaster Television Espanola, which supports the film that best depicts the "female universe" by acquiring Spanish broadcast rights.