Berlinale 2017: The winners

"On Body and Soul," an atmospheric love story directed by Ildiko Enyedi, took home the evening's top prize, the Golden Bear. Set in a slaughterhouse in Hungary, the film wowed the jury and beat out 18 other entries in a very tight competition.

Austrian actor Georg Friedrich appeared in two German language films at this year's festival. In "Bright Nights," he plays a father who has lost contact with his teenage son and their attempts to reconnect in Norway during the summer solstice, a role for which Friedrich was awarded the Silver Bear for Best Actor.

A powerful performance by Korean actress Kim Min-hee in "On the Beach at Night Alone," won her the Silver Bear for Best Actress. Shot in Hamburg and South Korea, the film explores the subject of love and loneliness.

Audiences have lavished applause on Finnish director Aki Kaurismaki's "The Other Side of Hope," his first picture in six years. Already known internationally for his works, including "Leningrad Cowboys Go America," he overwhelmed audiences with his film about a Syrian refugee in Helsinki. Before the ceremony, he told interviewers that he would not continue making films.

The Silver Bear for Best Screenplay went to transgender actress Daniela Vega, who played a nightclub singer fighting for the right to attend the funeral of her much older lover after his death in "A Fantastic Woman." On Friday, the picture won the Teddy Award for Best LBGT-Themed Feature. It is one of the first times a trans actor has played a trans character.

Director Raed Andoni was awarded the first Silver Bear for Best Documentary this year with his look inside an Israeli detention center. Recreating the prison, he interviewed former inmates about their experiences while inside, which included torture and humiliation.

Alain Gomis' drama based in the Congo which focuses on a woman's hunt for money to pay for her son's operation after a tragedy, was awarded the Grand Jury Prize, which is different from the Berlinale's Golden Bear for Best Film award.

As one of the largest film festivals in the world, Berlinale also offers a six-day course for emerging professionals in the film industry, like Fateme Ahmadi, a director and screenwriter from Iran. In 2017, more than 250 people from 71 countries were invited as participants under the motto: "Courage: Against All Odds."

A group of seven film professionals, seen here before the awards' ceremony, oversaw the Berlinale's prize competition. They are, from left-to-right: Chinese director Wang Quanan, Tunisian producer Dora Bouchoucha Fourati, Dutch director Paul Verhoeven (president), German actress Julia Jentsch, American actress Maggie Gyllenhaal, Mexican director Diego Luna and Icelandic artist Olafur Eliasson