It tells the true story of three British Muslims caught in Afghanistan and who end up at the Guantanamo Bay concentration camp.
The film looks set to re-ignite the whole debate about the Guantanamo Bay American concentration camp in Cuba.
The three British Muslims, from Tipton in the Midlands, went to Pakistan to arrange a wedding, travelled to Afghanistan and were transported to Guantanamo Bay.
They were held there without trial for more than two years before charges were dropped and they were released in March 2004.
Dramatised scenes, charting their journey, are interspersed with interviews with the men themselves, who explain what happened to them and how they felt.
"I don't think the film is anti-American because there are plenty of Americans who are against Guantanamo Bay too," says Michael Winterbottom.
"But the very fact that this camp exists is shocking.
"We're not trying to say Americans are bad... What we're saying is that just the fact of Guantanamo's existence is shocking and terrible and it shouldn't be there."
The film script was based on interviews with the so-called "Tipton Three" - Rhuhel Ahmed, Shafiq Rasul and Asif Iqbal - who were inmates at Guantanamo before being released in 2004.
"We are telling the story of these three people so you can imagine yourself what it is like to be in a situation where your rights are taken away from you, you have no contact with your family and no idea when you will be released," he adds.
Winterbottom first came up with the idea of making the film when he met Shafiq Rasul, Asif Iqbal and Ruhal Ahmed two months after they had been released.
He interviewed the men, and turned the resulting 600 pages of transcript into a 95-minute feature.
"If someone had said five years ago that the US would set up a camp, in Cuba of all places, to hold people for four years without trial or charges, then you would have thought he was crazy.
"But the problem is, people have got used to it."
'Hard to sleep'
Shafiq Rasul and Ruhal Ahmed came to Berlin to promote the film and said they were pleased with the film.
"When you are first released it's hard to sleep," says Shafiq Rasul.
"You keep hearing soldiers banging on the cells and you wake up sweating and thinking of soldiers and then you realise you're back home. But as time goes on, you have to move on and live your life."
Winterbottom is no newcomer to Berlin. In 2003 he won the festival's top prize, the Golden Bear, for the documentary-style drama In This World, which followed two Afghan asylum seekers on their journey to the UK.
Luke Harding, Berlin correspondent for The Guardian newspaper, said: "I thought the film was brilliant. You could really feel empathy for them."
Judging from the amount of interest already generated at Berlin, distribution for the film is likely to be widespread.
Winterbottom plans to release the film simultaneously online and on DVD, and on 9 March it will be shown on Channel 4 television in the UK.
Revolution Films, a venture between Winterbottom and film producer Andrew Eaton, are planning to show The Road To Guantanamo in up to 30 cinemas, and as many digital screens as possible.
The project cost £1.5m and was shot in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iran.
Channel 4 decided to finance the film as a TV venture, aware that it would gain the project a great deal of momentum.
Winterbottom's other film credits include 24 Hour Party People, Welcome To Sarajevo and A Cock And Bull Story.
Michael Winterbottom dedicated his award to the three men which inspired his film.
This year's festival appears to have an overtly political theme. The head of the jury, British actress Charlotte Rampling, said this year's films "reflected the mood of the world today."
The Golden Bear award at the 56th Berlin Film Festival was won by a Bosnian film, Grbavica, by director Jasmila Zbanic, which looks at the aftermath of the mass rape of women during the siege of Sarajevo in the Bosnian war.
Two films won the Silver Bear: Offside, by the Iranian director Jafar Panahi, a drama about a girl who has to disguise herself as a boy to watch a football match, and Danish-Swedish film A Soap about a woman's relationship with a transsexual.
Silver Bear awards for best actors went to two Germans - Moritz Bleibtreu for his role in the film Elementary Particles, and Sandra Hueller for her part in Requiem.
Guantanamo actors held at airport
The actors who star in movie The Road to Guantanamo were questioned by police at Luton airport under anti-terrorism legislation, it has emerged.
The men, who play British inmates at the detention camp, were returning from the Berlin Film Festival where the movie won a Silver Bear award.
One of the actors, Rizwan Ahmed, said a police officer asked him if he intended to make any more "political" films.
The men were released quickly and not arrested, said Bedfordshire police.
Inquiry
"Six people were stopped under the Terrorism Act. This is something that happens all the time and obviously at airports and train stations," said a spokeswoman.
"There is a heightened state of security since the London bombings. Public safety is paramount."
Actor Farhad Harun was also questioned, along with Shafiq Rusul and Rhuhel Ahmed, the men whose detention in Guantanamo is chronicled in the film.
Mr Ahmed also alleges that he was verbally abused by a police officer and had his mobile phone taken from him for a short period.
The actor also claims that he was told by police that he could be held for up to 48 hours without access to a lawyer.
He says he was initially questioned at the airport's baggage pick-up area and taken to a separate room when he demanded to know why.
Human rights organisation Reprieve, who Mr Ahmed has asked to speak on his behalf, called Thursday's incident an "ugly farce."
They have called for an urgent government inquiry into what happened while one of the film's producers, Melissa Parmenter, said the detention was outrageous.
Bedfordshire police have said they will issue another statement specifically concerning the allegations made by Mr Ahmed and Reprieve.
The Facts
On Thursday, 16 February 2006, when their plane arrived back at Luton from Berlin, first Shafiq and Rhuhel were detained, and then the actors Rizwan Ahmed and Farhad Harun, who play the two men in the film. The actors were thoroughly shaken by the experience.
Rizwan Ahmed, an Oxford graduate who plays Shafiq, was interrogated by three Special Branch officers. Mr Ahmed was initially questioned at the baggage claim and then, when he demanded to know what this was about, was taken to a small room. The Special Branch insisted on going through his wallet and taking down his financial information, as well as details on business cards he had. When he asked to speak to a lawyer, he was initially told that he could be held for 48 hours without access to anyone at all.
A female officer played the main role. "She asked me whether I intended to do more documentary films, specifically more political ones like The Road to Guant‡namo. She asked 'Did you become an actor mainly to do films like this, to publicise the struggles of Muslims?'"
When the officer left the room, Mr Ahmed called a lawyer to ascertain his legal rights. Upon her return, he was told that he could not call anyone, and he had a telephone wrestled from his hand by a male officer. This officer then went through the numbers on his mobile phone, noting them down, and called him a "fucker."
Ultimately, Mr Ahmed received a call from Clive Stafford Smith, legal director of Reprieve, who arranged for a solicitor from Birnberg, Peirce to call him with legal advice. At this point, he was told he was free to leave. When Mr Ahmed demanded a name and rank, none of the Special Branch officers would provide it.
Copyright 2003-2006 Azlan Adnan Legal Notice
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