South African Film Wins Top Berlin Award

'U-Carmen eKhayelitsha' is named best film at the Berlinale, while a film about a World War II heroine also does well.

Feb 21 2005

A South African version of 'Carmen' was the surprise winner of the Golden Bear at the 2005 Berlin International Film Festival this weekend.

'U-Carmen eKhayelitsha' which transports Bizet's opera to the township of Khayelitsha and translates the words into the click language of Xhosa, charmed the International Jury which was led by 'Independence Day' director Roland Emmerich.

It is also the first South African film in the history of the Berlinale to receive the festival's top award.

'It is a great day for Khayelitsha,' said Mark Dornford-May, the British opera director who made his feature debut with the film. 'To say that we are ecstatic would be an understatement. The idea of setting and filming the world's most popular opera in Xhosa in a South African township seemed mad at the time – it still seems mad now – but it was an amazing experience for everyone involved and it is a delight beyond words to know that an international audience can appreciate what is for us such a very personal and local triumph.'

Elsewhere at the festival 'Sophie Scholl – The Final Days', a film about a real-life German heroine who resisted Hitler's Gestapo during World War II, was another big winner.

Marc Rothemund took home the best director award for the movie, while Julia Jentsch won best actress for her remarkable performance in the lead.

Hany Abu-Assad's controversial 'Paradise Now', about two Palestinians who become suicide bombers, also did well, winning the Blue Angel Award for European film, the Amnesty International Film Prize and the Berliner Morgenpost Readers' Prize.

Meanwhile the only American winner of the night was Lou Taylor Pucci for his performance in Mike Mills comedy-drama 'Thumbsucker'.