Top prize goes to ‘Child’s Pose’

Calin Peter Netzer’s look at denizens of Romania’s upper class wins a Golden Bear.

BERLIN — The 63rd Berlin International Film Festival awarded its top prize, the Golden Bear for best film, to “Child’s Pose,” a Romanian family drama and corruption tale.

An unflinching look at life among the country’s entitled and well-connected upper class, “Child’s Pose” follows a controlling mother’s attempt to use bribes to buy freedom for her ungrateful son after he kills a child from a poor family in a traffic accident. The film was directed by Calin Peter Netzer.

Speaking from the winner’s podium, producer Ada Solomon addressed the dwindling support for film in her country, declaring, “Romanian politicians should pay much more attention to the kind of ambassador Romanian cinema is for our country around the world.”

The festival jury was headed by Hong Kong filmmaker Wong Kar-wai and included actor Tim Robbins, Greek director Athina Rachel Tsangari and Iranian adirector Shirin Neshat.

The Silver Bear went to Bosnian Danis Tanovic’s “An Episode in the Life of an Iron Picker,” a docudrama re-creating the institutional abuse and neglect of a Roma family in need, with family members playing themselves. “Sometimes good things can come out of anger,” Tanovic said.

The film also garnered best actor for Nazif Mujic. At a news conference, Mujic said he still collects scrap metal to support his family, even though his experiences have made him a well-known activist at home.

The actress prize went to Paulina García for her role in “Gloria” as a 58-year-old divorcée looking for love. Rights for the Chilean film, from Sebastián Lelio, sold quickly in Berlin, with Roadside Attractions picking up distribution in the U.S.

The award for best script went to Iran’s Jafar Panahi and Kamboziya Partovi for “Pardé” (“Closed Curtain”), a poetic documentation of Panahi’s artistic isolation and desolation. He is prohibited by Iranian authorities from traveling or making movies because of his involvement in election protests in 2009.

David Gordon Green won a Silver Bear for best director for “Prince Avalanche,” which stars Paul Rudd and Emile Hirsch as odd-couple Texas road workers. Onstage to receive his prize, Green reminisced about his first time at the festival 13 years ago, which also marked the first festival screening of his first film, “George Washington.”