56th Berlin International Film Festival

The 56th Berlin International Film Festival was held from 9 to 19 February 2006. The festival opened with Snow Cake by Marc Evans. Digitally restored version of Sam Peckinpah's 1972 film Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid served as the closing film. British actress Charlotte Rampling was selected as the head of the jury.

The Golden Bear was awarded to Grbavica: The Land of My Dreams directed by Jasmila Žbanić.

The retrospective was dedicated to the film actresses of 1950s, titled ''Dream Girls. Film Stars in the 1950s'' was shown at the festival. More than 186,000 tickets were sold at the festival with visitors from 120 countries, including 3,800 journalists, attended the festival.

Juries
The following people were announced as being on the jury for the festival:

Main Competition

 * Charlotte Rampling, British actress - Jury President
 * Matthew Barney, American director and artist
 * Yash Chopra, Indian director and producer
 * Marleen Gorris, Dutch filmmaker
 * Janusz Kamiński, Polish director of photography
 * Armin Mueller-Stahl, German actor
 * Fred Roos, American producer
 * Lee Young-ae, South Korean actress

Best First Feature Award

 * Valentina Cervi, Italian actress
 * Goran Paskaljević, Serbian director
 * Hans Weingartner, Austrian director and producer

Short Films Competition

 * Mariela Besuievsky, Spanish producer
 * Florian Gallenberger, German director and screenwriter
 * Jung-Wan Oh, South Korean producer

Main Competition
The following films were selected for the main competition:

Main Competition
The following prizes were awarded by the Jury:
 * Golden Bear: Grbavica: The Land of My Dreams by Jasmila Žbanić
 * Silver Bear for Best Actor: Moritz Bleibtreu for The Elementary Particles
 * Silver Bear for Best Actress: Sandra Hüller for Requiem
 * Silver Bear for Best Director: Michael Winterbottom & Mat Whitecross for The Road to Guantanamo
 * Silver Bear for Outstanding Artistic Contribution: Jürgen Vogel for The Free Will
 * Silver Bear for Jury Grand Prix: En soap by Pernille Fischer Christensen
 * Silver Bear for Best Film Music: Isabella by Peter Kam
 * Alfred Bauer Prize: Rodrigo Moreno for The Minder

Honorary Golden Bear

 * Andrzej Wajda
 * Ian McKellen

Golden Bear for Best Short Film

 * Never Like the First Time! by Jonas Odell
 * Honorable Mention: Maryam Keshavarz for El día que morí

Berlinale Camera

 * Michael Ballhaus
 * Jürgen Böttcher
 * Laurence Kardish
 * Peter B. Schumann
 * Hans Helmut Prinzler

Best First Feature

 * En soap by Pernille Fischer Christensen (director) & Lars Bredo Rahbek (producer)

Panorama Audience Award

 * Tomer Heymann for Paper Dolls
 * Short Film: Talya Lavie for The Substitute

Crystal Bear

 * Best Short Film: Cameron B. Alyasin for Never an Absolution
 * Special Mention: Irina Boiko for The Thief
 * Best Feature Film: Niels Arden Oplev for We Shall Overcome
 * Special Mention: Auraeus Solito for The Blossoming of Maximo Oliveros
 * 14Plus Best Feature Film: Henry Meyer for Four Weeks in June
 * Special Mention: Claude Gagnon for Kamataki

Deutsches Kinderhilfswerk Grand Prix

 * The Blossoming of Maximo Oliveros by Auraeus Solito
 * Special Award: A Fish with a Smile by C. Jay Shih
 * Special Mention:
 * Best Short Film: Vika by Tsivia Barkai
 * Best Feature Film: I Am by Dorota Kędzierzawska

Teddy

 * Best Short Film: El día que morí by Maryam Keshavarz
 * Best Documentary Film: Beyond Hatred by Olivier Meyrou
 * Best Feature Film: The Blossoming of Maximo Oliveros by Auraeus Solito
 * Jury Award: Patrick Carpentier for Combat

FIPRSECI Prize

 * Competition: Requiem by Hans-Christian Schmid
 * Forum of New Cinema: So Yong Kim for In Between Days
 * Panorama: Knallhart by Detlev Buck

Prize of the Ecumenical Jury

 * Competition: Grbavica by Jasmila Žbanić
 * Forum of New Cinema: Conversations on a Sunday Afternoon by Khalo Matabane
 * Panorama: The Collector by Feliks Falk

C.I.C.A.E. Award

 * Forum of New Cinema: Close to Home by Dalia Hager
 * Panorama: Zhang Yuan for Little Red Flowers

Netpac Award

 * Dear Pyongyang by Yong-hi Yang

Prix UIP Berlin

 * The Fence by Ricardo Íscar

Label Europa Cinemas

 * Detlev Buck for Knallhart

Caligari Film Award

 * Ben Hopkins for 37 Uses for a Dead Sheep

DIALOGUE en Perspective

 * Bülent Akinci for Running on Empty
 * Special Mention: Florian Gaag for Wholetrain

Talent Movie of the Week

 * Phillip Van for High Maintenance

Berlin Today Award

 * Anna Azevedo for BerlinBall

Score Competition

 * Alasdair Reid

Manfred Salzgeber Award

 * Tomer Heymann for Paper Dolls

DAAD Short Film Award

 * Rony Sasson for Swanettes

Peace Film Award

 * Jasmila Žbanić for Grbavica

Amnesty International Film Prize

 * Masoud Arif Salih for Narcissus Blossom

Wolfgang Staudte Award

 * Tizza Covi for Babooska

Prize of the Guild of German Art House Cinemas

 * Matthias Glasner for The Free Will

Femina-Film-Prize

 * Yasmin Khalifa for Bye Bye Berlusconi!

Reader Jury of the "Berliner Morgenpost"

 * Robert Altman for A Prairie Home Companion

Reader Jury of the "Berliner Zeitung"

 * Shion Sono for Strange Circus

Reader Jury of the "Siegessäule"

 * Tomer Heymann for Paper Dolls