Berlin International Film Festival 1957
The 1957 Berlin International Film Festival took place from June 21 to July 2, 1957.
Summary
The motto of the 1957 Berlinale was the film festival in a new Berlin , referring to the current situation in post-war Berlin . Most of the ruins of the war-ravaged city had already been removed. The new festival cinema Zoo Palast was opened and became the new center of the Berlinale.
Another big problem for the festival was the absence of the socialist countries that were already taking part in the Cannes film festival . Further pressure came from the Karlovy Vary film festival in Czechoslovakia , which has meanwhile shown American films. As a festival that was also categorized as an A festival, it threatened to overtake Berlin and ensured that the Berlinale's A festival rank was questioned.
In 1957 the International Association of Film Critics presented the FIPRESCI Award for the first time at a Berlinale . Another innovation was pushed through against the will of festival director Alfred Bauer from the FIAPF producers' association : So far there have been two Golden Bears at the festival. The international jury has awarded this prize since 1956 and a winner of the Golden Bear has been determined by an audience vote since 1952. This did not take place for the first time in 1957, and the Berlinale, which, unlike the other major festivals, had been primarily a public festival since its inception, sacrificed one of its main features to become an A festival.
The festival's prize winner was Sidney Lumet's court drama The Twelve Angry Men in a competition that was generally perceived as weak . A German film was the subject of discussion among the critics: Ottomar Domnicks Jonas, an aesthetically and narrative very idiosyncratic film, overwhelmed many. The screening of the film at the festival was a first sign that the Berlinale's selection policy for German films was bolder. However, the festival management did not believe they could present the film without an explanatory introductory lecture.
International jury
That year the American Jay Carmody was jury president. He chaired the following jury:
- Miguel Aleman Jr. (Mexico),
- Jean de Baroncelli (France),
- Thorsten Eklann (Sweden),
- José Maria Escudero (Spain),
- Fernaldo Di Giammatteo (Italy),
- Bunzaburo Hayashi (Japan),
- Dalpathal Kothari (India),
- Edmund Luft (Germany),
- Ernst Schröder (Germany) and
- John Sutro (Great Britain).
competition
The winning film is highlighted in orange.
Award winners
Golden bear
- The Twelve Angry Man
- Short film: people in the distance (Gente lontana)
- Documentary: Secrets of Life
Silver bear
- Documentary: The Last Paradise (L'ultimo paradiso)
- Director: Mario Monicelli for Fathers and Sons (Padri e figli)
- Actor: Pedro Infante for Tizoc (The prize was awarded posthumously.)
- Actress: Yvonne Mitchell for The woman in a dressing gown (Woman in a Dressing Gown)
- Special award for short film: Big Bill Blues, Plitvice Lakes (Plitvicka jezera) and a thousand small characters
- Special prizes: The Day of the Damned (Amanecer en Puerta Oscura) “for the remarkable cinematic representation of dramatic heightening and the cultural and historical image conveyed”; Ravi Shankar for the best film music in Kabuliwala
FIPRESCI Award
- The Woman in the Dressing Gown by J. Lee Thompson
- Honorable Mention: Be Kind to Me (Ingen tid til kærtegn)
OCIC Award
Sources and web links
- Wolfgang Jacobsen: 50 Years of the Berlinale - International Film Festival 1951–2000
- International Film Festival Berlin 1957 in theInternet Movie Database(English)
- Berlinale annual archive