Winners of Berlin film festival's Golden Bear since 1993

BERLIN: The 63rd Berlinale kicks off Thursday with 19 films in competition for the Golden and Silver Bear top prizes, with Chinese director Wong Kar Wai chairing the international jury.

Here are the winners since 1993 of the Golden Bear at the event, one of the world's top cinema showcases and the first major European film festival of the year.

- 1993: Tie between "Xian Hun Nu" (The Woman from the Lake of Scented Souls) by Xie Fei (China) and "Hsi Yen" (The Wedding Banquet) by Ang Lee (Taiwan)

- 1994: "In the Name of the Father" by Jim Sheridan (Ireland/Britain)

- 1995: "L'appat" (Fresh Bait) by Bertrand Tavernier (France)

- 1996: "Sense and Sensibility" by Ang Lee (US)

- 1997: "The People vs. Larry Flynt" by Milos Forman (US)

- 1998: "Central do Brasil" (Central Station) by Walter Salles (Brazil)

- 1999: "The Thin Red Line" by Terrence Malick (US)

- 2000: "Magnolia" by Paul Thomas Anderson (US)

- 2001: "Intimacy" by Patrice Chereau (France)

- 2002: "Bloody Sunday" by Paul Greengrass (Britain/Ireland) and "Sen To Chihiro No Kamikakushi" (Spirited Away) by Hayao Miyazaki (Japan)

- 2003: "In This World" by Michael Winterbottom (Britain)

- 2004: "Gegen die Wand" (Head-On) by Fatih Akin (Germany/Turkey)

- 2005: "U-Carmen eKhayelitsha" (Carmen In Khayelitsha) by Mark Dornford-May (South Africa)

- 2006: "Grbavica" by Jasmila Zbanic (Bosnia-Hercegovina)

- 2007: "Tuya De Hunshi" (Tuya's Marriage) by Wang Quan'an (China)

- 2008: "Tropa de Elite" (Elite Squad) by Jose Padilha (Brazil/Argentina)

- 2009: "La teta asustada" (The Milk of Sorrow) by Claudia Llosa (Spain/Peru)

- 2010: "Bal" (Honey) by Semih Kaplanoglu (Turkey/Germany)

- 2011: "Jodaeiye Nader Az Simin" (A Separation) by Asghar Farhadi (Iran)

- 2012: "Caesar Must Die" (Cesare deve morire) by Paolo and Vittorio Taviani (Italy).