Global General
Turkish film wins in Berlin, Polanski honoured
(Agencies/Xinhua)
Updated: 2010-02-21 11:25
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 Producer Bettina Brokemper (L), Turkish director Semih Kaplanoglu (C) and producer Johannes Rexin pose with Golden Bear award for Best Film for Kaplanoglu's movie "Bal-- Honey" during a news conference at the 60th Berlinale International Film Festival in Berlin February 20, 2010. [Agencies] |
BERLIN: Turkish drama "Honey" was the surprise winner of the Golden Bear for best picture at the Berlin film festival on Saturday, and Roman Polanski, fighting extradition to the United States, claimed the director prize.
Honey ("Bal") is the final installment of director Semih Kaplanoglu's trilogy which began with "Milk" and "Egg".
Critics praised the powerful simplicity of the tale about six-year-old Yusuf, who wanders into the woods to find his beloved beekeeper father when he goes missing.
The moving father-son drama is shot in lush mountain forests and has no soundtrack, and Bora Altas' performance as Yusuf was singled out.
Altas, 8, stole the show at a press conference for the movie, barely able to see over the top of the rostrum and clutching a teddy bear.
While popular among audiences, the choice of Honey came as a surprise, with several other competition entries considered more likely to take the top honour at the 60th Berlinale.
Among them was Polanski's political thriller "The Ghost Writer", which he completed while in jail and under house arrest.
The movie stars Ewan McGregor as the nameless writer and Pierce Brosnan as a former British prime minister, based on Tony Blair, who is dragged into a scandal when a colleague accuses him of war crimes for supporting US military policies.
Polanski, 76, was arrested in September when travelling to Zurich to receive a lifetime achievement award at a festival. He is still wanted after fleeing the United States on the eve of his 1978 sentencing for having sex with a 13-year-old girl.
Ghost Writer producer Alain Sarde told the awards ceremony how he was "lamenting" with Polanski that the director could not be in Berlin to accept his prize.
He said Polanski replied: "Even if I could I wouldn't go, because the last time I went to a festival to get a prize I ended up in jail."
