Berlinale Wraps Up

The 60th Berlin Film Festival, also known as Berlinale, wrapped up with top awards going to Roman Polanski and Bal, a Turkish film.

Roman Polanski was unable to pick up his prize for Best Director in person as he is currently under house arrest in Switzerland where he is fighting extradition to the US over 1977 charges of unlawful sex with a minor. Polish-French Polanski was awarded the Silver Bear prize for his film "The Ghost Writer" which stars Ewan McGregor and Pierce Brosnan.

Winning the top prize of the Golden Bear for the best film was Turkish drama Bal ("Honey"), the third film in a trilogy directed by Semih Kaplanoglu.

The runner-up Jury Grand Prix Silver Bear was awarded to Romanian film Eu cand vreau sa fluier, fluier ("If I Want to Whistle, I Whistle"). Further Silver Bears were awarded to Shinobu Terajima for Best Actress in Caterpillar, Grigori Dobrygin and Sergei Puskepalis for Best Actor in Kak ya provel etim letom("How I Ended This Summer"), and Wang Quan'an and Na Jin for Best Script in Tuan Yuan ("Apart Together").

This year's jury was headed by German director Werner Herzog.