"Don't Touch Me" Wins Golden Bear at Berlin Film Festival

The Golden Bear for Best Film at the 68th Berlin Film Festival was awarded to the film "Don't Touch Me," a co-production from Romania, the Czech Republic, Germany, and Bulgaria. This debut film by young director Edina Pintilie, who previously made several short films in Romania, is an experimental work addressing the challenges of gender representation in cinema. The film was deemed worthy of the Best Film title by the jury, chaired by renowned German filmmaker Tom Tykwer, among 18 other competitors. It also won the Best First Film award, effectively making it the main winner of this Berlin edition. Among the notable filmmakers present at this year's Berlin Festival, American director Wes Anderson received the Silver Bear for Best Director for his animation "Isle of Dogs," while the Special Jury Award went to the Polish film "The Face" by prominent female filmmaker Malgorzata Szumowska, who won the Best Director award at Berlin three years ago with her film "Body." The Best Actor and Best Screenplay awards went to works from France and Mexico, and a film from Paraguay won the Best Actress award. Despite the presence of four Iranian films in various sections of this year's Berlin Festival, Iran's cinema only received a special mention in one of the side sections. The film "Darsaj" by Pouya Badkoubeh, which participated in the "Generation" section of the recent Berlinale, received special recognition from the jury of that section. The "Generation" section showcases films with themes related to teenagers and youth, and "Darsaj" tells the story of a teenage girl in a city near Tehran who refuses to back down from a decision she has made despite the insistence of her friends and family. However, the film "Pig" by Mani Haghighi, which had a chance to win the Golden Bear in the competition section, did not receive any awards. Nonetheless, it made headlines due to critical remarks made by its actress Leila Hatami, who criticized the Iranian government's treatment of protesters during the film's press conference. "Pig" features actors such as Hassan Majouni, Leila Hatami, Parinaz Izadyar, and Leili Rashidi, and humorously narrates the story of a well-known director named Hassan Kasmaei who has been banned from working, while the simultaneous occurrence of serial murders of several prominent directors exacerbates his situation. Reactions to this film, which has not yet been publicly screened in Iran, have been widespread due to the sensitive nature of its content and the statements made by its creators. Other Iranian films present in the Panorama and Generation sections of this year's Berlin Festival, such as "Invasion" by Shahram Mokri and "Indian Hormuz" by Abbas Amini, did not receive any awards from these sections.