<div><b><span style="font-size: 1rem;">The 73rd Berlinale film festival awards its top prizes on Saturday, including the Golden Bear for best picture, after a star-studded edition that highlighted freedom struggles in Ukraine and Iran.</span><br></b></div><div><br></div><div>After two years of a reduced format due to pandemic restrictions, the 11-day festival was back in full swing this year, with A-listers such as Cate Blanchett, Helen Mirren and Steven Spielberg walking on the red carpet.</div><div><br></div><div>"The Berlinale has come back with a vengeance, and added something that it wasn't especially known for in its pre-pandemic days: star power," said Variety magazine.</div><div><br></div><div>The festival reached peak celebrity on Tuesday when U2 frontman Bono – in town to premiere the documentary "Kiss the Future" -- presented Spielberg with an honorary Golden Bear for lifetime achievement.</div><div><br></div><div>The Berlinale, which ranks along with Cannes and Venice among Europe's top cinema showcases, marked the first anniversary of Russia's invasion of Ukraine with a focus on Ukrainian cinema.</div><div><br></div><div>President Volodymyr Zelensky, who is the subject of a documentary premiered at the event by two-time Oscar winner Sean Penn, addressed the opening ceremony via video link.</div><div><br></div><div>The festival, which traditionally has the strongest political focus of the three big European cinema showcases, also highlighted anti-government protests in Iran with new feature films and documentaries.</div><div><br></div><div>- Continent-spanning love story -</div><div><br></div><div>There are 19 films from around the world vying for this year's Golden Bear, which will be awarded at a gala ceremony by a jury led by Hollywood star Kristen Stewart, at 32 the youngest president in the festival's history.</div><div><br></div><div>Several films from Asian directors are among the top contenders, including "Past Lives", a continent-spanning love story by Korean-Canadian first-time filmmaker Celine Song.</div><div><br></div><div>Critics lavished praise on the film, already a breakout hit at last month's US film festival Sundance.</div><div><br></div><div>The Hollywood Reporter called it a "remarkably assured debut", while Deadline said Song had created "an elegant and unexpectedly mesmerising character piece that speaks profoundly to the concept of love in the modern age".</div><div><br></div><div>Also in the running is Makoto Shinkai's "Suzume", the first Japanese anime to compete for the Golden Bear since Hayao Miyazaki's "Spirited Away" won the prize in 2002.</div><div><br></div><div>It follows 17-year-old schoolgirl Suzume as she finds herself caught up in a mission to close a series of magical doors in a bid to prevent earthquakes.</div><div><br></div><div>"Although one might feel weary in advance to hear 'Suzume' is yet another anime in which a young person is enlisted into a struggle to save their family/hometown/Japan/the world, this one's a keeper," the Hollywood Reporter said.</div><div><br></div><div>- 'Joyous and exhausting' -</div><div><br></div><div>Chinese director Liu Jian also premiered an animated film at the festival, the semi-autobiographical "Art College 1994".</div><div><br></div><div>Screen Daily said it "evokes a specific time and a place so vividly that you can almost taste the stale cigarette smoke and cheap beer".</div><div><br></div><div>Critics were also impressed by "20,000 Species of Bees", the fictional feature debut from Spanish director Estibaliz Urresola Solaguren which tells the story of an eight-year-old transgender girl.</div><div><br></div><div>"Arthouse audiences worldwide should respond to the pathos, breadth and humanity of a film that takes a while to build but, when it does, never loses its grip," said Screen Daily.</div><div><br></div><div>Another Spanish-language family drama, Mexican director Lila Aviles' "Totem", also emerged as a highlight.</div><div><br></div><div>The Hollywood Reporter said it was as "noisy, joyous and as exhausting as the multi-generational bash at the heart of its story".</div><div><br></div><div>"Afire" from German director Christian Petzold, about a group of friends whose holiday retreat to the Baltic coast goes horribly wrong, also won praise.</div><div><br></div><div>Variety called it "wincingly well-observed and acidly funny", while the Hollywood Reporter said it was "a deceptively simple and straightforward but emotionally layered film".</div><div><br></div><div>Last year, Spanish director Carla Simon won the Golden Bear for "Alcarras", a Catalan drama about a family of peach farmers. - AFP</div><div><br></div><div>bnbd24/fas</div>