Theron, D.E.B.S among winners in Berlin

Gegen die Wand (Head On), a story of a young Turkish-German woman who marries a man she doesn't love to escape her conservative Islamic family, won the Golden Bear top prize at the 54th annual Berlin Film Festival Saturday. Directed by Fatih Akin--himself a German of Turkish parents--the film chronicles the life of Sibel, played by Sibel Kekilla, who marries a beer-guzzling, middle-aged Turkish-German punk. As the two revel in their party lifestyles and separate sexual affairs, they unwittingly fall in love--a situation that ends when the husband kills one of her lovers in a jealous rage. Born to Turkish parents in Hamburg, Akin said he lives in "loyal opposition" to the traditions of Turkish culture, and the film reflects his version of immigrant life. "I hope that this will finally blow away the label of the exotic immigrant," Akin told reporters. "I think the prize will help that." The sexually explicit and often violent film is sure to spark discussion in Germany's Turkish community as well as among Germans themselves, who have struggled in finding an effective integration policy for the 2 million Turks living in Germany. Another tale of a child from an immigrant family searching for identity, Daniel Burman's El abrazo partido (Lost Embrace) won the runner-up Silver Bear film award. The film follows Ariel, a young Argentinian Jew, whose attempts to gain a Polish passport through his grandmother's original citizenship lead him to explore his father's decision to fight for Israel. The best actor award went to the film's star, Daniel Hendler. Best directing honors went to South Korean director Kim Ki-Duk for Samaria (Samaritan Girl), the tragic account of a teenage girl's sexual exploitation and her father's murderous rampage it triggers. For the second year in a row, the jury recognized more than one actress for leading performance, granting Silver Bears to both Charlize Theron for her role in Monster, and Catalina Sandino Moreno for Maria, llena eres de gracia (Maria Full of Grace). Theron, who is also up for an Oscar for the part, went through a remarkable transformation in the film, putting on 30 pounds and wearing false teeth to portray lesbian multiple murderer Aileen Wuornos. But Theron said it was her research into the executed killer's life that provided the foundation for her performance. "If you do those things without any kind of core, it becomes meaningless," Theron told reporters after the film screened at the festival. "Everything about her physically was a mirror or a map to what she had gone through emotionally." The Teddy Awards, which honor GLBT films at the annual Berlinale, also went to a broad variety of films. Sebastien Lifshitz's Wild Side won the Teddy for Best Narrative Film, while Andrew Horn's The Nomi Song, about out performance artist and singer Klaus Nomi, received the Best Documentary Teddy. Angela Robinson's lesbian-themed spy-girl comedy D.E.B.S. won the Siegessaule reader's prize (an audience award), while Maria Trenor's Con que la lavere? (With What Shall I Wash It?) took the Teddy for best short film.