Festival poster | |
| Opening film | Cold Mountain |
|---|---|
| Closing film | 25 Degrees in Winter |
| Location | Berlin, Germany |
| Founded | 1951 |
| Awards | Golden Bear: Head-On |
| Hosted by | Anke Engelke |
| No. of films | 290 films |
| Festival date | 5–15 February 2004 |
| Website | Website |
The 54th annual Berlin International Film Festival was held from 5–15 February 2004. The festival opened with out of competition film Cold Mountain by Anthony Minghella. 25 Degrees in Winter by Stéphane Vuillet served as the closing film.
The Golden Bear was awarded to Head-On directed by Fatih Akın.
The retrospective dedicated to films from 1967 to 1976 titled New Hollywood 1967-1976. Trouble in Wonderland was shown at the festival. It focuses on the films from the period known as New Hollywood or American New Wave, and attended by some of the film-makers and actors of that era including Peter Davis, Peter Fonda, William Greaves, Monte Hellman and Melvin Van Peebles.

The following people were announced as being on the jury for the festival:
The following films were in competition for the Golden Bear and Silver Bear awards:
| English title | Original title | Director(s) | Country |
|---|---|---|---|
| 20 30 40 | Sylvia Chang | Hong Kong, Taiwan, Japan | |
| 25 Degrees in Winter | 25 degrés en hiver | Stéphane Vuillet | Belgium, France, Russia, Spain |
| The Beautiful Country | Hans Petter Moland | United States, Norway | |
| Before Sunset | Richard Linklater | United States | |
| Daybreak | Om jag vänder mig om | Björn Runge | Sweden |
| The Final Cut | Omar Naim | Canada, Germany | |
| First Love | Primo Amore | Matteo Garrone | Italy |
| Head-On | Gegen die Wand | Fatih Akın | Germany, Turkey |
| Intimate Strangers | Confidences trop intimes | Patrice Leconte | France |
| In My Country | John Boorman | UK, Ireland, South Africa | |
| In Your Hands | Forbrydelser | Annette K. Olesen | Denmark |
| Just A Kiss... | Ae Fond Kiss... | Ken Loach | UK, Belgium, Germany, Italy, Spain |
| Lost Embrace | El Abrazo Partido | Daniel Burman | Argentina, France, Italy, Spain |
| Maria Full of Grace | Joshua Marston | United States, Colombia | |
| The Missing | Ron Howard | United States | |
| Monster | Patty Jenkins | United States, Germany | |
| Nightsongs | Die Nacht singt ihre Lieder | Romuald Karmakar | Germany |
| Red Lights | Feux rouges | Cédric Kahn | France |
| Samaritan Girl | 사마리아 | Kim Ki-duk | South Korea |
| Triple Agent | Éric Rohmer | France, Spain, Italy, Greece, Russia | |
| Trilogy: The Weeping Meadow | Τριλογία: Το λιβάδι που δακρύζει | Theodoros Angelopoulos | Greece, Germany, France, Italy |
| Witnesses | Svjedoci | Vinko Brešan | Croatia |
| Your Next Life | La vida que te espera | Manuel Gutiérrez Aragón | Spain |
The following short films were selected:
| English title | Original title | Director(s) | Country |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bugs | Käfer | Igor Ivanov Izi | Macedonia |
| Cigarettes and Coffee | Un cartus de kent si un pachet de cafea | Cristi Puiu | Romania |
| Dajo | Hanro Smitsman | Netherlands | |
| Goodbye, Cruel World | Vito Rocco | United States | |
| Great! | Vet! | Karin Junger, Brigit Hillenius | Netherlands |
| Little Man | Little Man | Martin Brierley | UK, South Africa |
| Ola's Box of Clovers | Genevieve Anderson | United States | |
| Public/Private | Christoph Behl | Argentina | |
| The Rules of Flying | De regels van het vliegen | Eugenie Jansen | Netherlands |
| The Russell Tribunal | Russelltribunalen | Staffan Lamm | Sweden |
| Sapiens | Сапиенс | Aleksandr Rogozhkin | Russia |
| The Scree | Paul McDermott | Australia | |
| The Soul Hunter | Christine Rebet | Germany | |
| True | Tom Tykwer | Germany, France | |
| Le vilain petit poussin | Rachid Bouchareb | France | |
| With What Shall I Wash It? | Con qué la lavaré? | María Trénor | Spain |
| A Woman's Place | Kvinnans Plats | Ewa Cederstam | Sweden |

The following prizes were awarded by the Jury: