A Hungarian love story about two slaughterhouse workers who connect in shared dreams won the top award on Saturday at this year’s Berlin Film Festival.
On Body and Soul by writer-director Ildiko Enyedi contrasts the harsh reality of the abattoir with the magical world of slumber.
Enyedi was previously best-known for her 1989 debut film, My 20th Century, which won the Golden Camera award in Cannes that year.
Photo: AFP Photo
The Golden Bear had been expected to go to the comedy The Other Side of Hope, which instead earned veteran filmmaker Aki Kaurismaki a Silver Bear for best director. The film sees a young Syrian refugee befriending a grouchy Finn, with Kaurismaki’s deadpan humor delivering poignant messages about the horrors of war and the current refugee crisis in Europe.
The jury award went to Felicite, a film by French-Senegalese director Alain Gomis about a singer in a Congolese night club.
South Korea’s Kim Min-hee received the best actress award for her role in On the Beach at Night Alone, about a woman coming to terms with the end of an affair.
Georg Friedrich from Austria was named best actor for Bright Nights, in which he portrays a father trying to reconnect with his teenage son.
A Fantastic Woman by Chilean director Sebastian Lelio received a Silver Bear for best screenplay, shared with Gonzalo Maza. It tells the tale of a transgender woman mourning for her dead lover even as most of those around her remain unwilling to empathize.
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