British director takes Berlin cinema prize

Plaudits for Winterbottom and Whitecross as film awards circuit moves on to London and the Baftas

The Berlin Film Festival ended last night with a surprise result and a major award for British director Michael Winterbottom. The Silver Bear for Best Director went jointly to Winterbottom and his co-director Mat Whitecross for The Road to Guantanamo, their documentary-style recreation of the events leading to the incarceration of three British Muslims in the US camp in Cuba.

Winterbottom accepted the prize with Whitecross and then welcomed on stage the three men - Ruhel Ahmed, Asif Iqbal and Shafiq Rasul - who tell their own story in the film.

It came as a surprise that The Road to Guantanamo did not win the festival's main prize, the Golden Bear, for which it had been heavily tipped.

Instead, the awards jury, headed by actress Charlotte Rampling, gave the Golden Bear to a film that received mixed critical reactions - Grbavica, a debut fiction feature by Bosnian director Jasmila Zbanic, about a young girl who believes her father is a war hero.

And so the film awards caravan moves on to London, or, to be more precise, Leicester Square, which,for a few hours tonight become as near to Hollywood as anywhere in Britain ever gets.

It's the Baftas, and tonight's awards will put up more than a passable imitation of the Oscars, which take place in a fortnight's time. Charlize Theron, George Clooney, Rachel Weisz and Jake Gyllenhaal are among the nominees who are jetting in to provide the glamour and set the flashbulbs popping.

The fate of The Constant Gardener, the only British movie up for the best film award in a field dominated by US entries, will be eagerly awaited when winners are announced at the ceremony. The adaptation, starring Ralph Fiennes and Rachel Weisz, leads the field with 10 nominations in total for tonight's prizes.

KEY BAFTA NOMINATIONS

Best Film

'Brokeback Mountain'

'Capote'

'The Constant Gardener'

'Crash'

'Good Night, and Good Luck'

Best British Film

'A Cock and Bull Story'

'The Constant Gardener'

'Festival'

'Pride and Prejudice'

'Wallace and Gromit in the Curse of the Were Rabbit'

Best Actor

DAVID STRATHAIRN ('Good Night, and Good Luck')

HEATH LEDGER ('Brokeback Mountain')

JOAQUIN PHOENIX ('Walk the Line')

PHILIP SEYMOUR HOFFMAN ('Capote')

RALPH FIENNES ('The Constant Gardener')

Best Actress

CHARLIZE THERON ('North Country')

JUDI DENCH ('Mrs Henderson Presents')

RACHEL WEISZ ('The Constant Gardener')

REESE WITHERSPOON ('Walk the Line')

ZIYI ZHANG ('Memoirs of a Geisha')

Best Director

ANG LEE ('Brokeback Mountain')

BENNETT MILLER ('Capote')

FERNANDO MEIRELLES ('The Constant Gardener')

PAUL HAGGIS ('Crash')

GEORGE CLOONEY ('Good Night, and Good Luck')