The awards ceremony for the 57th Berlin International Film Festival have just concluded. The Golden Bear went to a film not many people talked about during the fest -- Tuya's Marriage. Below you will find my live blog of the actual show (which was mostly in German, with brief moments in English). Along with the winners in each category, you will find my personal thoughts below:

-- German band Mia opens the show. Charlotte Roche hosts, briefly introduces Berlinale director Peter Kosslick. His entire speech is in German -- sorry, could not translate that fast.

-- Gael Garcia Bernal is introduced and presents The Silver Bear award for outstanding artistic achievement, which goes to ... The Good Shepherd. There's your obligatory American award. Robert De Niro skipped town last week, and was not there to accept the award.

-- Next up, Nansun Shi presents the Silver Bear for best use of music in a film, which goes to David Mackenzie for Hallam Foe ... and for his extremely pop-centric soundtrack.

-- Hiam Abbass presents the Silver Bear for best actor in a film to Julio Chávez for El Otro. I can see why he won, but his performance was a little too vague for me.

-- Mario Adorf steps up to present the award for best actress and -- out of nowhere -- Nina Hoss wins for Yella! Wow, no one -- including Hoss -- saw that coming, as Marion Cotillard and Marianne Faithfull were huge front-runners. She's shocked. Big, big surprise. Yella was the best film, but Cotillard should have won the best actress.

-- Molly Malene Stansgaard presents the best director award to Joseph Cedar for Beaufort. I did not see Beaufort, but from what I heard it was beautifully shot. I guess we knew Petzold was not winning when Hoss took best actress. Oh well. So far all of my picks are wrong. Boo!

-- Willem Dafoe steps up to present the Silver Bear for Grand Jury Prix ... which goes to El Otro. Huh? Man, obviously the jury saw something in this film that a lot of us did not see, as this is the second award tonight for El Otro. Director Ariel Rotter takes forever to deliver his speech, just barely makes it through without breaking down on stage.

-- The somewhat odd German band Mia performs once more after opening the show.

-- Gerhard Meixner introduces the best first feature award. It takes three people to announce this award, which goes to Vanaja. Lots in German, trying to keep up ...

-- Javier Bardem steps up to present the Alfred-Bauer-Prize (in memory of the festival's founder) for particular innovation in filmmaking, which goes to ... I'm a Cyborg, But That's Okay. Hey, I loved this film -- this award is definitely okay with me. Park Chan-Wook accepts ... sorry, no idea what he's saying. All in German.

-- Writer-director Paul Schrader finally finds his way to the stage with fest director Peter Kosslick to present The Golden Bear! And the award (after a terribly long intro) goes to ... Tuya's Marriage. Hmm, very interesting choice ... and a film not many people talked about during the festival. Figures, one of the three I did not see ...

The main awards for the 57th Berlin International Film Festival will be given out tonight during a ceremony at the Berlinale Palast. I will attempt to watch the ceremony on television here (sorting through the language barrier) and let you know who won as soon as possible. In the meantime, here are my picks to win the major awards, as well as who I think should win:

Golden Bear: Audience favs were Irina Palm and Hallam Foe, so I would not be surprised if one of those two films took home the prize. Press I've spoken with fell in love with Yella, and The Counterfeiters slid its way into many conversations toward the latter part of the week. Lost in Beijing would be the surprise underdog win, but don't count out I Served the King of England which also picked up steam in these last few days. Pick to win: Irina Palm. Who should win: Yella

Best Director: Though, overall, it wasn't a dazzling year for films in competition, the one thing they all shared was some fabulous directing. However, we're in Germany, and since I do not think Yella will win the Golden Bear, director Christian Petzold will most likely be given a best director award instead. Pick to win: Christian Petzold. Who should win: Christian Petzold.

Best Actress: By far, this is the toughest category to sort through, as there are plenty of top-notch performances to choose from. The way I see it, this category comes down to four women: Marion Cotillard (La Vie en rose), Marianne Faithfull (Irina Palm), Ramola Garai (Angel) and Fan Bingbing (Lost in Beijing). Cotillard was the early favorite, but Faithfull's performance in Irina Palm as the widowed grandmother working in a sex shop took center stage once that film premiered. Still, there's no denying Cotillard is the true winner here ... even if it does feel like La Vie en rose first screened for press decades ago. Pick to win: Marion Cotillard. Who should win: Marion Cotillard.

Best Actor: A harder category to pick; no real stand-out performances could be found (by me, at least) this year. Lots were raving over young Jamie Bell's extremely Sundance-ish role in Hallam Foe, though I personally was blown away by the performances from both male leads (Tony Dawei, Tony Leung) in Lost in Beijing. Pick to win: Jamie Bell. Who should win: Tony Dawei.