# 49th Berlin International Film Festival

The 49th annual Berlin International Film Festival was held from 10 to 21 February 1999. The festival opened with Aimée & Jaguar by Max Färberböck.
The Golden Bear was awarded to The Thin Red Line directed by Terrence Malick.
The retrospective dedicated to Austrian-American theatre and film director Otto Preminger. 70 mm version of Preminger's 1959 musical film Porgy and Bess served as the closing night film.

## Jury

The following people were announced as being on the jury for the festival:
* Ángela Molina, Spanish actress - Jury President
* Ken Adam, British production designer
* Paulo Branco, Portuguese producer and actor
* Assi Dayan, Israeli actor, filmmaker and producer
* Pierre-Henri Deleau, French actor and producer
* Katja von Garnier, German filmmaker
* Hellmuth Karasek, German journalist, writer and film critic
* Michelle Yeoh, Malaysian actress

## Official Sections
### Main Competition

The following films were in competition for the Golden Bear and Silver Bear awards:
| English title | Original title | Director(s) | Production Country |
| 8mm | 8mm | Joel Schumacher | United States, Germany |
| Aimée & Jaguar | Aimée & Jaguar | Max Färberböck | Germany |
| Between Your Legs | Entre las piernas | Manuel Gómez Pereira | Spain, France |
| Breakfast of Champions | Breakfast of Champions | Alan Rudolph | United States |
| The Color of Lies | Au coeur du mensonge | Claude Chabrol | France |
| Cookie's Fortune | Cookie's Fortune | Robert Altman | United States |
| eXistenZ | eXistenZ | David Cronenberg | Canada, United Kingdom, France |
| The Girl of Your Dreams | La niña de tus ojos | Fernando Trueba | Spain |
| Glória | Glória | Manuela Viegas | Portugal, France, Spain |
| The Hi-Lo Country | The Hi-Lo Country | Stephen Frears | United States, United Kingdom, Germany |
| It All Starts Today | Ça commence aujourd'hui | Bertrand Tavernier | France |
| Journey to the Sun | Güneşe Yolculuk | Yeşim Ustaoğlu | Turkey, Netherlands, Germany |
| Karnaval | Karnaval | Thomas Vincent | France, Germany, Belgium, Switzerland |
| Keiho | 39 刑法第三十九条 | Yoshimitsu Morita | Japan |
| Mifune's Last Song | Mifune | Søren Kragh-Jacobsen | Denmark, Sweden |
| Nightshapes | Nachtgestalten | Andreas Dresen | Germany |
| Ordinary Heroes | 千言萬語 | Ann Hui | Hong Kong, China |
| Playing by Heart | Playing by Heart | Willard Carroll | United States, United Kingdom |
| Set Me Free | Emporte-moi | Léa Pool | Switzerland, Canada, France |
| Shakespeare in Love | Shakespeare in Love | John Madden | United States, United Kingdom |
| Simon Magus | Simon Magus | Ben Hopkins | United States, United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy |
| The Thin Red Line | The Thin Red Line | Terrence Malick | Canada, United States |
| Three Seasons | Ba Mùa | Tony Bui | United States, Vietnam |
| Urban Feel | Kesher Ir | Jonathan Sagall | Israel |
| War in the Highlands | La Guerre dans le Haut Pays | Francis Reusser | Switzerland, France, Belgium |

## Official Awards
### Main Competition

The following prizes were awarded by the Jury:
* Golden Bear: The Thin Red Line by Terrence Malick
* Silver Bear – Special Jury Prize: Mifune by Søren Kragh-Jacobsen
* Silver Bear for Best Director: Stephen Frears for The Hi-Lo Country
* Silver Bear for Best Actress: Maria Schrader and Juliane Köhler for Aimée & Jaguar
* Silver Bear for Best Actor: Michael Gwisdek for Nachtgestalten
* Alfred Bauer Prize: Karnaval by Thomas Vincent
* Silver Bear for an Outstanding Single Achievement: Marc Norman and Tom Stoppard for Shakespeare in Love
* Silver Bear for an Outstanding Artistic Contribution: David Cronenberg for eXistenZ
* Honourable Mention:
** Iben Hjejle for Mifune
** Ça commence aujourd'hui
** John Toll for The Thin Red Line

### Honorary Golden Bear

* Shirley MacLaine

### Berlinale Camera

* Armen Medvedjev
* Meryl Streep
* Robert Rodriguez

## Independent Awards
### Blue Angel Award

* Journey to the Sun by Yeşim Ustaoğlu

### FIPRESCI Award

* It All Starts Today by Bertrand Tavernier

### Teddy Awards

* Best Film: Show Me Love (Fucking Åmål) by Lukas Moodysson
* Best Documentary Film: The Man Who Drove with Mandela by Greta Schiller
* Best Short Film: Liu Awaiting Spring by Andrew Soo
* Jury Award: Aimée & Jaguar by Max Färberböck; Lola and Billy the Kid (Lola und Bilidikid) by Kutluğ Ataman; Gendernauts: A Journey Through Shifting Identities by Monika Treut; Piglets (Ferkel) by Luc Feit; NY'NY 'n Why Not by Michael Brynntrup
* Reader Award: Trick by Jim Fall