Chinese film Tuya's Marriage on Saturday won the Golden Bear for best film, the top prize of the Berlin International Film festival.

This is the first time a Chinese film won such a prize in the festival since 1993 when Xianghunnu, or Women from the Lake of Scented Souls, directed by Xie Fei, got the prize.

The film, directed by Chinese director Wang Quan'an, tells the story of Tuya, a woman in Inner Mongolia in north China, forced to confront the necessity of finding a new husband who can take care of both her family and her partially disabled ex-husband.

When awarded the prize, Wang said that he cannot imagine a better gift for Chinese Lunar New Year than such a prize. "When I started making films, my teacher said film should show people's dreams. This film made my dreams come true."

The event, which started on February 8, came to a close Saturday. A total of 22 films competed for the festival's top honors.

The festival's Silver Bear for outstanding artistic achievement was awarded to the cast of Robert de Niro's The Good Shepherd.

The best actor award went to Argentina's Julio Chavez for his role in El Otro (The Other) as Juan, a man who decided to take on a new identity amid a family crisis.

Germany's Nina Hoss claimed the best actress award for her role in director Christian Petzold's Yella.

US-born Israeli director Joseph Cedor was crowned the best director for Beaufort, a film depicting the fear and futility felt by soldiers guarding a military outpost in southern Lebanon before Israel's withdrawal from Lebanon in 2000.

Scottish director David Mackenzie's Hallam Foe won the best music award. South Korean director Park Chan-wook's I'm A Cyborg, But That's OK was honored as a work of particular innovation.

The festival, also called the "Berlinale," has been regarded as one of the world's most prestigious film festivals.

Starting in 1951, the festival is held annually in February. The jury places special emphasis on representing films from all over the world. The awards are called the Golden and Silver Bears just because bear is the symbol of Berlin.
 
(Xinhua News Agency February 18, 2007)