Touch Me Not, an experimental Romanian docudrama exploring sexual intimacy and the fears around it, won the Golden Bear top prize at the Berlin film festival on Saturday. First-time director Adina Pintilie, 38, clutching the trophy after her surprise win, said the movie was intended to "invite you the viewer to dialogue" with its frank portrayals of sex, disability and inhibitions.
US filmmaker Wes Anderson clinched the best director Silver Bear prize for Isle of Dogs, an animated allegory with political bite. Actor Bill Murray, who voices one of the pack of pooches in Anderson's first animated feature since 2009's Fantastic Mr Fox, picked up the award for Anderson, saying, "I never thought that I would go to work as a dog and come home with a bear."
"Ich bin ein Berliner Hund (I am a Berlin dog)," he added, riffing on John F. Kennedy famous speech.
In a big night for female filmmakers, the runner-up Grand Jury Prize went to Polish social satire Mug by Malgorzata Szumowska. The feature tells the story of a man who is shunned by his community when he has a face transplant after a horrific accident, in a plot examining tensions over identity and exclusion in eastern Europe.
"This film which is so important reflected problems not only in my own country but in whole Europe and whole world," Szumowska said, adding, "I am so happy that I am a female director, yeah!"
Here are the winners of the main prizes awarded at the 68th Berlin film festival:
- Golden Bear for best film: Touch Me Not, Adina Pintilie, Romania/Germany/Czech Republic/Bulgaria/France
- Jury Grand Prix Silver Bear: Twarz (Mug), Malgorzata Szumowska, Poland
- Silver Bear for best director: Isle of Dogs, Wes Anderson, Britain/Germany
- Silver Bear for best actress: Ana Brun in Las Herederas (The Heiresses), Marcelo Martinessi, Paraguay/Germany/Uruguay/Norway/ Brazil/France
- Silver Bear for best actor: Anthony Bajon in La Priere (The Prayer), Cedric Kahn, France
- Silver Bear for best screenplay: Manuel Alcala and Alonso Ruizpalacios for Museo (Museum), Mexico
- Silver Bear Alfred Bauer Prize for work that opens new perspectives: Las Herederas (The Heiresses)
- Best documentary: Waldheims Walzer (The Waldheim Waltz), Ruth Beckermann, Austria
- Best first feature film: Touch Me Not
- Golden Bear for best short film: The Men Behind the Wall, Ines Moldavsky, Israel
- Teddy for best feature film with gay or lesbian context: Tinta Bruta (Hard Paint), Marcio Reolon and Filipe Matzembacher, Brazil
- Teddy for best documentary film with gay or lesbian context: Bixa Travesty (Tranny Fag), Claudia Priscilla and Kiko Goifman, Brazil
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