Other prizes saw British actors Tom Courtenay and Charlotte Rampling wins Silver Bears for their roles in 45 Years.

Taxi

Scroll down for full list of winners

Banned Iranian director Jafar Panahi’s Taxi won the Berlin Film Festival’s Golden Bear on Saturday (Feb 14).

The film captures life in contemporary Iran through interactions with passengers in a Tehran cab. Taxi is Panahi’s third feature since the Iranian authorities banned him from making films at the end of 2010, following This is Not a Film and Closed Curtain, which was in competition in Berlin 2013.

Panahi, who was also banned from travelling and giving interviews in 2010 sentence, was not able to travel to Berlin for the premiere of his film. 

This time around, Panahi has circumvented the ban by turning a yellow cab into a mobile film studio with a camera placed on the dashboard. As the cab drives through the vibrant and colourful streets of Tehran, it picks up a diverse mix of passengers, who speak to the driver, played by Panahi.  

It proved one of the hot sellers for Celluloid Dreams, snapped up by Memento for France and a host of other buyers.

Double win: 45 Years

The Silver Bear for best actor and actress went to Tom Courtenay and Charlotte Rampling, who play husband and wife in British film 45 Years.

Directed by Andrew Haigh, it marks the third film from the British director who broke through in 2011 with gay romance Weekend.

The Silver Bear for best director was shared by Romanian filmmaker Radu Jude for Aferim! and Polish director Malgorzata Szumowska for Body.

Jayro Bustamante’s directorial debut Ixcanul won the Silver Bear Alfred Bauer Prize for a feature film that “opens new perspectives”.

Pablo Larraín’s The Club won the festival’s Silver Bear Grand Jury Prize. It marked the Chilean director’s follow-up to the Oscar-nominated No.

Director Darren Aronofsky headed the international jury, which comprised Mad Men creator Matthew Weiner, actors Daniel Brühl and Audrey Tautou, South Korean director Bong Joon-ho, US producer Martha De Laurentiis and Peruvian writer-director Claudia Llosa.

Berlinale 2015

Golden Bear for Best Film

Taxi
by Jafar Panahi

Silver Bear Grand Jury Prize

El Club (The Club)
by Pablo Larraín

Silver Bear Alfred Bauer Prize

Ixcanul (Ixcanul Volcano)
by Jayro Bustamante

Silver Bear for Best Director

Radu Jude for
Aferim!
Ex aequo

Silver Bear for Best Director

Malgorzata Szumowska for
Body

Silver Bear for Best Actress

Charlotte Rampling in
45 Years

Silver Bear for Best Actor

Tom Courtenay in
45 Years

Silver Bear for Best Script

Patricio Guzmán for
The Pearl Button (El Bóton de Nacár)

Silver Bear for Outstanding Artistic Contribution

Sturla Brandth Grøvlen for the camera in
Victoria

and

Evgeniy Privin and Sergey Mikhalchuk for the camera in
Pod electricheskimi oblakami