The 61st annual Berlin International Film Festival was held from 10 to 20 February 2011, with actress Isabella Rossellini as the president of the jury. The Coen Brothers film True Grit opened the festival. 300,000 tickets were sold in total during the event, to 20,000 attendees from 116 countries, including 3900 members of the press.
The Golden Bear was awarded to the Iranian film A Separation, directed by Asghar Farhadi, which also served as the closing film at the festival. German actor Armin Mueller-Stahl received the Honorary Golden Bear for lifetime achievement.
The following people were announced as being on the jury for the festival:
In addition, the festival held a place open in the jury for the imprisoned Iranian director Jafar Panahi, "to signalize its support for his struggle for freedom".
The following films were selected to be in competition for the Golden Bear and Silver Bear awards:
The following films were screened out of competition at the festival:
The following films were screened in the Main Programme of the Panorama section:
The following films were screened in the Main Programme of the Forum section:
The following films were selected to be in competition for the Golden Bear for Best Short Film:
The following prizes were awarded by the Jury: