Berlin International Film Festival 1962
The 1962 Berlin International Film Festival took place from June 22nd to July 3rd, 1962.
The first Berlinale in a divided city. Shortly after the Berlinale 1961 , the GDR erected the Berlin Wall on August 13, 1961 , which led to considerations to cancel the Berlinale for 1962. The preparations nevertheless continued and on June 22nd, Mayor Franz Amrehn opened the festival on behalf of Governing Mayor Willy Brandt . The festival was then far less political than the real situation in the city. The critics criticized the quality of the films, the organizers the lack of money to organize a better festival. The cabaret artist Wolfgang Neuss delivered the counter-event to the Berlinale in a cinema on Kurfürstendamm and showed his film Comrade Münchhausen . Neuss commented on the quality of the 1962 festival as follows: “If I am told that I would infiltrate the film festival. Well, I ask you, the level is so low, you can't get under it. "
However, salvation for the artistic quality of the Berlinale of the future was in sight. A sign came from the West German provinces: at the Oberhausen Short Film Festival on February 28, 1962, 26 German auteur filmmakers signed the Oberhausen Manifesto . The day is considered to be the birth of the New German Cinema.
competition
The following films were shown in the official competition this year:
International jury
This year the American director King Vidor was president of the following jury: Dolores del Río (Mexico), Max Gammeter (Switzerland), Hideo Kikumori (Japan), André Michel (France), Emeric Pressburger (Great Britain), Jürgen Schildt (Sweden), Günther Stapenhorst (Germany) and Bruno E. Werner (Germany).
Award winners
- Golden Bear : Just a touch of bliss
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Silver bears :
- Francesco Rosi (Best Director)
- Rita Gam and Viveca Lindfors in No Exit (Best Actress)
- James Stewart in Mr. Hobbs Vacation (Best Actor)
- Pierre Brice in Los Atracadores (Best Supporting Actor)
- Jon Young Sun in Until the Last Day (Special Rate)
- Heinz Sielmann (Best Documentary)
Further prices
- Youth film award: the short film Zoo by Bert Haanstra
- FIPRESCI Prize : also the short film Zoo by Bert Haanstra
Remarks
The until then almost unknown French actor Pierre Brice is discovered at the festival by German producer Horst Wendlandt for the role of Apache chief Winnetou . The first film, The Treasure in Silbersee , triggered the extremely successful wave of Karl May films after its premiere in Germany. The last film in the series was finally shot in 1968.
Sources and web links
- International Film Festival Berlin 1962 in theInternet Movie Database(English)
- 50 Years of the Berlinale - International Film Festival 1951–2000 by Wolfgang Jacobsen
- Berlinale annual archive