'Fuocoammare' wins top honors at Berlinale

"Fuocoammare" ("Fire at Sea"), a documentary about Europe's refugee influx - "the greatest tragedy since the Holocaust," according to Italian director Gianfranco Rosi - went home with the top honor. The film highlights the dramatic situation of refugees on the tiny Italian island of Lampedusa. With its selection the jury sent a clear political signal.

Selecting the winners was a difficult task for the international jury, headed by US actress Meryl Streep - "Fuocoammare" was one of 18 movies battling it out for top honors. Other jury members included German actor Lars Eidinger, UK film critic Nick James, French photographer Brigitte Lacombe, British actor Clive Owen, Italian actress Alba Rohrwacher and Polish director Malgorzata Szumowska.

Hollywood star George Clooney and his wife, human rights lawyer Amal, who showed up on the red carpet at the Berlinale Palast, must have approved of the jury's choices with their awards. Last week, Clooney and his wife visited with Chancellor Angela Merkel to discuss the European refugee crisis.

Two short films were also honored for dealing with the global refugee crisis. "A Man Returned" by Mahdi Fleifel (photo) won the Silver Bear for his short focusing on Lebanon's largest refugee camp, while honoree Chiang Wei Liang's "Jin zhi xia mao" ("Anchorage Prohibited") highlights the case of a family of migrants in Taiwan. "Batrachian's Ballad," of Portugal, won the Golden Bear for Best Short.

Oscar-winning Bosnian director Danis Tanovic won the festival's Grand Jury Grand Prize, seen as the festival's second most-prestigious award after the Golden Bear, for "Smrt u Sarajevu" ("Death in Sarajevo"). His film is about the corrosive legacy of the Balkan wars.

Philippine director Lav Diaz deeply impressed the jury with his epic film, the eight-hour-long "Hele sa Hiwagang Hapis" ("A Lullaby to the Sorrowful Mystery") that told the story of his country's struggle against Spanish colonial rule in the 19th century. Diaz was given the Alfred Bauer Prize, an award for a film that opens new perspectives.

Trine Dyrholm , the lead actress in Danish director Thomas Vinterberg's "Kollektivet " ("The Commune") , was delighted to receive the Silver Bear for Best Actress. She called the Berlinale the "best film festival in the world."

Julia Jentsch (right), star of the German drama "24 Wochen" ("24 Weeks") was a favorite to win the Silver Bear for her portrayal of a woman expecting a disabled child. But she went home empty-handed, as did the film.

Majd Mastoura took home the Silver Bear for best actor in the Tunisian film "Inhebbek Hedi." which is set in the wake of the 2011 Arab Spring. The film, which tells the story of a love triangle, is by director Mohamed Ben Attia and was the first Tunisian film shown in international competition in two decades.

Mia Hansen-Love won the Silver Bear for her film "L'avenir" ("Things to Come") which stars Isabelle Huppert as a woman facing the onset of old age after the breakup of her marriage. The French filmmaker thanked jury president Meryl Streep, saying she could "picture nothing better than to receive an award from her."

The Silver Bear for outstanding artistic contribution went to cinematographer Mark Lee Ping-Bing for the poetic Chinese drama "Chang Jiang Tu" ("Crosscurrent"), which highlights a society in upheaval, symbolized by the flow of the Yangtze River. It was directed by Yang Chao.

"Zjednoczone Stany Milosci" ("United States of Love"), by director Tomasz Wasilewski (at left), is set in rural Poland in the 1990s after the fall of communism. The stylized film, with images that recall tinted black-and-white photographs, tells the story of several women living in a typical Eastern European concrete panel building, who dream of romance and a better life.

Earlier Saturday, Israeli filmmakers came out on top in the first round of prizes at the Berlinale. The feature film "Junction 48," which follows two Palestinian musicians living in Israel, battling repression and their own conservative communities, was given the Panorama Audience Award. "Who's Gonna Love Me Now?" (photo), a documentary about a gay Israeli man living with HIV, was also honored.