On Body and Soul wins Berlin Film Festival Golden Bear award

Berlin Golden Bear winner On Body and Soul

A Hungarian romance set in a slaughterhouse has been awarded the Berlin Film Festival’s highest prize, the Golden Bear.

On Body and Soul (Hungarian title: Testről és lélekről) tells the story of Endre (Geza Morcsanyi), the financial director at a Budapest abattoir, who falls for Maria (Alexandra Borbely), the plant’s new quality control officer. The film, directed by Ildikó Enyedi, was praised by reviewers for its mix of deadpan humour and brutal drama.

Other prize-winners at the 67th edition of the festival included Aki Kaurismäki, who won the Silver Bear for best director for his film The Other Side of Hope, a comedy-drama set in a Helsinki dockyard. Agnieszka Holland, the Polish director of In Darkness, was awarded the Alfred Bauer prize, given to the film that the jury judged had exposed audiences to a new perspective. Her film, Pokot, is an eco-thriller about nature at war with corrupt humanity.

The jury, which was headed this year by Dutch director Paul Verhoeven, gave the festival’s second prize – the Silver Bear Grand Jury prize – to Félicité, a drama about a Kinshasa bar singer. Best actor went to Georg Friedrich for his role in Thomas Arslan’s Bright Nights, while Kim Min-hee, star of On the Beach at Night Alone, won best actress.