by Eugene Hernandez/indieWIRE

Peter Mackie Burns' "Milk" was awarded the Golden Bear for Best Short Film at the 2005 Berlinale last night, with jurors Gabriela Tagliavini from Argentina, Marten Rabarts of New Zealand and Susan Korda from the U.S. writing in a statement that they selected the movie, "For its assured portrayal of intimacy regained across the generational divide, with a superb script matched equally in performance and filmic craft."

The jury presented two Silver Bear awards to, in their words, "to two films whose makers examine the human condition with cinematic voices as clear as they are different." The winners were Jay Duplass for "The Intervention" and Izabela Plucinska for "Jam Session". Duplass and his brother Mark were at Sundance last month with their first feature, "The Puffy Chair." A special mention went to Dani Rosenberg for the short film, "Don Khishot BeYerushalaim" (Don Quixote in Jerusalem).

Later Tuesday night, at the annual Panorama bash, held again inside the Berlinale Palast at the club Adagio, Wieland Speck, Margaret von Schiller, and the international jury awarded the prizes for best shorts in the festival's Panorama section.

[After winning the Silver Bear for his short "The Intervention," Jay Duplass poses with his medal at the Panorama Party in Berlin. Photo by Brian Brooks/indieWIRE.]

Warwick Thornton's "Green Bush" was singled out as the best short winner. In the words of their statement, "For excellence in performance and filmic craft the jury honours a film that crackles with the music of politics, humanity, ideas and humour as it tells the story of a man’s daily struggle to sustain his fragmented community and keep the pain at bay."

Taika Waititi, an Oscar nominee this year for his 2004 Berlinale top short film prizewinner "Two Cars, One Night," was awarded a special jury prize for his new short, "Te Whanau a Apanui". Happily kissing each jury member as he made his way to the podium to accept his prize, Waititi joked that he'd be available for kisses with the partygoers after the short awards ceremony.

George Ocashvili, director of the Panorama short, "Zgvis Donidan" (Eye Level) was ebullient after winning the New York Film Academy Scholarship for his short. Bounding up to the stage, he opened his arms wide and belted out loudly and simply, "Thank you!" The full house inside the club erupted in a big cheer.

In other prizes, Claudia Lorena won the Prix UIP Berlin, and its € 2,000 award as well as a nomination for the 2005 European Film Awards, for her short, "Hoi Maya", which in the words of the jury, " celebrates memory, longing and the resilience of the human heart, crafted with precision and sheer delight in the lives of her characters."

Special mentions went to actress Rhee Young-ran for her title role in "Sara Jeanne" by Kim Seong-Sook and to Lasse Persson for the animated short, "Bikini".