Berlin International Film Festival 1981

The 1981 Berlin International Film Festival took place from February 13 to 24.

competition

The following films were shown in the official competition:

Movie title	Director	Country of production	Actor (selection)
26 days from the life of Dostoevsky	Alexander Sarchi	Soviet Union	Anatoly Solonitsyn
The old monk	Permphol Cheyaroon	Thailand
The search for the famine	Mrinal Sen	India	Dhritiman Chatterjee , Smita Patil , Dipankar Dey
The boat is full	Markus Imhoof	Switzerland , Germany , Austria	Tina Engel , Hans Diehl , Curt Bois
So-and-so, thank you	László Lugossy	Hungary
The inventor	Kurt Gloor	Germany , Switzerland	Bruno Ganz
fever	Agnieszka Holland	Poland	Barbara Grabowska , Adam Ferency , Bogusław Linda
Friday	Hugo Claus	Belgium , Netherlands
Head on	Michael Grant	Canada	Sally Kellerman , John Huston
Secret trips	Kay Pollak	Sweden
Come back, swallow	Jinggong Fu	People's Republic of China
The truck	Christo Christow	Bulgaria
Come on, speed!	Carlos Saura	Spain
Maravillas	Manuel Gutiérrez Aragón	Spain	Fernando Fernán Gómez
Milka - elokuva tabuista	Rauni Mollberg	Finland
Il minestrone	Sergio Citti	Italy	Roberto Benigni
The Negro Erwin	Herbert Achternbusch	Germany	Josef Bierbichler
A summer in Manhattan	Bob Clark	Canada	Jack Lemmon , Lee Remick
The refusal	Claude Goretta	France , Switzerland	Nathalie Baye , Angela Winkler , Bruno Ganz
The wide country from Alexis Droeven	Jean-Jacques Andrien	Belgium
Gypsy ways	Seijun Suzuki	Japan

International jury

The jury president was the director Jutta Brückner . She presided over the following jury: Peter Bichsel (Switzerland), Denis Héroux (Canada), Astrid Henning-Jensen (Denmark), Antonio Isasi (Spain), Irina Petrovna Kuptschenko (USSR), Jerzy Plazewski (Poland), Prince Chatrichalerm Yukol (Thailand ) and Italo Zingarelli (Italy).

Award winners

Jack Lemmon

• Golden Bear : Come on, speed!
• Silver bears :
  • Anatomy of a Famine (Special Jury Prize)
  • Barbara Grabowska in Fever (Best Actress)
  • Anatoly Solonitsyn in 26 Days of Dostoevsky's Life and Jack Lemmon in A Summer in Manhattan (Best Actor)
  • Markus Imhoof (Outstanding Individual Achievement)

Further prices

In 1981 there was no FIPRESCI award for a competitive film.

• FIPRESCI Prize (Forum): Dialogue with a Woman Departed by Leo Hurwitz and Killer of Sheep by Charles Burnett
• Interfilm Award - Otto Dibelius Prize: Anatomy of a Famine by Mrinal Sen
• Interfilm Award - Otto Dibelius Prize: Aziza by Abdellatif Ben Ammar
• Interfilm Award - for his life's work: Manoel de Oliveira
• Berliner Morgenpost readers' award : Claude Goretta's refusal

International Forum of Young Cinema

Outstanding films in the forum program in 1981 were the films Stalker by Andrei Tarkowski and Save yourself, who can (the life) by Jean-Luc Godard .