# 31st Berlin International Film Festival

The 31st annual Berlin International Film Festival was held from 13 to 24 February 1981. The Golden Bear was awarded to Deprisa, deprisa directed by Carlos Saura.
The retrospective was dedicated to British film producer Michael Balcon, as well a tribute to Turkish film director Yılmaz Güney who was a political prisoner at the time. The guest of the Homage was German film director Peter Pewas.

## Juries

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

### Main Competition

* Jutta Brückner, German director, screenwriter and producer - Jury President
* Denis Héroux, French director and producer
* Astrid Henning-Jensen, Danish director and screenwriter
* Irina Kupchenko, Soviet actress
* Peter Bichsel, Swiss journalist and writer
* Antonio Isasi-Isasmendi, Spanish director, screenwriter, editor and producer
* Chatrichalerm Yukol, Thai director
* Jerzy Płażewski, Polish film critic, writer and film historian
* Italo Zingarelli, Italian producer

## Official Sections
### Main Competition

The following films were in competition for the Golden Bear award:
| English title | Original title | Director(s) | Production Country |
| Akaler Shandhaney | আকালের সন্ধানে | Mrinal Sen | India |
| The Boat Is Full | Das Boot ist voll | Markus Imhoof | Switzerland |
| Children's Island | Barnens ö | Kay Pollak | Sweden |
| Come Back Swallow | 燕归来 | Jinggong Fu | China |
| Deprisa, deprisa | Deprisa, deprisa | Carlos Saura | Spain |
| Der Neger Erwin | Der Neger Erwin | Herbert Achternbusch | West Germany |
| Fever | Gorączka | Agnieszka Holland | Poland |
| Le Grand Paysage d'Alexis Droeven | Le Grand Paysage d'Alexis Droeven | Jean-Jacques Andrien | Belgium |
| Head On | Head On | Michael Grant | Canada |
| History of the World in Three Minutes Flat | History of the World in Three Minutes Flat | Michael Mills | Canada |
| Il minestrone | Il minestrone | Sergio Citti | Italy |
| The Inventor | Der Erfinder | Kurt Gloor | Switzerland |
| Köszönöm, megvagyunk | Köszönöm, megvagyunk | László Lugossy | Hungary |
| Kudrat | कुदरत | Chetan Anand | India |
| Luang Ta | หลวงตา | Permphol Cheyaroon | Thailand |
| Maravillas | Maravillas | Manuel Gutiérrez Aragón | Spain |
| Milka – A Film About Taboos | Milka – elokuva tabuista | Rauni Mollberg | Finland |
| On Land, at Sea and in the Air | Ter land, ter zee en in de lucht | Paul Driessen | Netherlands |
| La provinciale | La provinciale | Claude Goretta | Switzerland |
| Tribute | Tribute | Bob Clark | Canada |
| The Truck | Камионът | Christo Christov | Bulgaria |
| Twenty Six Days from the Life of Dostoyevsky | Двадцать шесть дней из жизни Достоевского | Aleksandr Zarkhi | Soviet Union |
| Zigeunerweisen | ツィゴイネルワイゼン | Seijun Suzuki | Japan |
| Vrijdag | Vrijdag | Hugo Claus | Belgium |

### Out of competition

* Ordinary People, directed by Robert Redford (United States)
* Raging Bull, directed by Martin Scorsese (United States)

### Retrospective

The following films were shown in the retrospective dedicated to Michael Balcon:
| English title | Original title | Director(s) | Production Country |
| Bulldog Jack | Bulldog Jack | Walter Forde | United Kingdom |
| Dead of Night | Dead of Night | Alberto Cavalcanti, Charles Crichton, Basil Dearden and Robert Hamer | United Kingdom |
| Foreign Affaires | Foreign Affaires | Tom Walls | United Kingdom |
| I Was a Spy | I Was a Spy | Victor Saville | United Kingdom |
| Sabotage | Sabotage | Alfred Hitchcock | United Kingdom |
| Secret Agent | Secret Agent | Alfred Hitchcock | United Kingdom |
| The Blue Lamp | The Blue Lamp | Basil Dearden | United Kingdom |
| The Gaunt Stranger | The Gaunt Stranger | Walter Forde | United Kingdom |
| The Man Who Knew Too Much | The Man Who Knew Too Much | Alfred Hitchcock | United Kingdom |
| The Ladykillers | The Ladykillers | Alexander Mackendrick | United Kingdom |
| The Lavender Hill Mob | The Lavender Hill Mob | Charles Crichton | United Kingdom |
| The 39 Steps | The 39 Steps | Alfred Hitchcock | United Kingdom |
The following films were shown in the homage dedicated to Peter Pewas:
| English title | Original title | Director(s) | Country |
| Many Passed By | Viele kamen vorbei | Peter Pewas | West Germany |

## Official Awards

The following prizes were awarded by the Jury:
* Golden Bear: Deprisa, Deprisa by Carlos Saura
* Silver Bear – Special Jury Prize: Akaler Sandhane by Mrinal Sen
* Silver Bear for Best Actress: Barbara Grabowska for Gorączka
* Silver Bear for Best Actor:
** Anatoly Solonitsyn for Dvadtsat shest dney iz zhizni Dostoevskogo
** Jack Lemmon for Tribute
* Silver Bear for an outstanding single achievement: Markus Imhoof for Das Boot ist voll
* Honourable Mention:
** Le Grand Paysage d'Alexis Droeven
** Tsigoineruwaizen