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Summary Director Asghar Farhadi's portrayal of a marriage in crisis, Nader and Simin, A Seperation, was favorite for the coveted award on Saturday (February 19) after winning praise for its subtle exploration of Iran's class divisions and religious conservatism combined with the tension of a crime thriller.
Farhadi paid tribute to fellow Iranian film maker Jafar Panahi, who was unable to accept Berlins invitation to sit on the main jury after being sentenced to six years in jail and banned from making movies or traveling abroad for 20 years. Jafar stands accused of inciting opposition protests in 2009 and making a film without permission, and his sentence has caused an outcry in the movie making world.The runner-up film prize, which comes with a Silver Bear, went to Hungarian director Bela Tarrs black-and-white The Turin Horse, a slow-moving, bleak film about a farmer and his daughters forsaken lives in a windswept, isolated house.
