Talk of the town: Berlinale day 10

Before the Golden and Silver Bears are awarded on Saturday night, several important prizes were given out on Friday. Among them, the Prize of the FIPRESCI Jury, the international film critics association, went to German filmmaker Christian Petzold (center) for "Undine," a poetic take on a traditional fairy tale, starring Paula Beer and Franz Rogowski.

The Teddy Awards, known as "the most outstanding queer film prize in the world," was created in 1987. Awarded in different categories, the Teddy for best feature film went to Faraz Shariat (photo) for "No Hard Feelings," which portrays a gay German-Iranian who falls in love with a newcomer living in a refugee shelter. "If It Were Love" won the award for the best documentary.

The last two Berlinale competition films premiere on Friday: "Irradiated," a meditative documentary on war by Cambodian Rithy Panh, and "There is No Evil" by Iranian director Mohammad Rasoulof, which he managed to make despite being banned from filmmaking. His seat was symbolically left empty at the press conference ahead of the premiere, as the filmmaker is not allowed to travel either.

She has portrayed women with strong personalities, most notably Elizabeth II in "The Queen" (2006), for which she won several awards, and more recently as the Czarina "Catherine the Great" (2019). "I count myself as a British person and a European, and will always be so, with or without Brexit," Dame Helen Mirren said to great applause as she opened her award acceptance speech on Thursday.

"Moonlight" star Andre Holland was also in Berlin on Thursday for the premiere of an upcoming Netflix series titled "The Eddy," in which he plays the role of a American in Paris who runs a jazz bar. The series is directed by Damien Chazelle ("La La Land").

Already widely publicized through an immersive exhibition in Paris and a similar event planned for Berlin that was cancelled at the last minute, the premiere of "DAU. Natasha" was highly awaited. Blacklisted as "pornographic propaganda" in Russia, the epic film project also triggered headlines for its allegedly abusive production context. Director Ilya Khrzhanovskiy sees things differently.

Netflix has just acquired the global rights to "Stateless" at the festival's market. The Australian series co-produced by and featuring Cate Blanchett also deals with border control policies and immigrant rights. In Berlin on Wednesday for a special screening of the show, the star said she wanted to reflect the human dimension of a tragedy experienced by millions of refugees worldwide.

In Sally Potter's competition entry "The Roads Not Taken," Salma Hayek and Javier Bardem share scenes in their mother tongue, Spanish. Usually starring in Hollywood films, Hayek told the press on Wednesday that the only other time she was invited to the Berlinale was with a Mexican film in 1995. "And now I get the chance to speak in Spanish again … with my favorite actor in the world!"

Another highly anticipated premiere on Wednesday is Burhan Qurbani's (left) film adaptation of Alfred Döblin's master modernist novel, "Berlin Alexanderplatz." In this highly topical version set in present-day Berlin, the main character, Francis (Welket Bungué, 2nd right), instead of being newly released from prison is a passport-less immigrant from West Africa who struggles to start a new life.

On Monday evening, the screening of "Siberia," the sixth collaboration between US director Abel Ferrara and actor Willem Dafoe (pictured on the red carpet with co-stars Giada Colagrande and Cristina Chiriac), seemed to perplex critics. "A beautiful, unhinged, sometimes hilarious trek into geographical and psychological wilderness that will delight some and mystify many others," wrote Variety.

South Korean filmmaker Hong Sang-soo, who alongside Bong Joon-ho of "Parasite" fame is one of the most revered directors from the far east nation, has debuted his latest film, "The Woman Who Ran" in the Berlinale competition. A sensitive study of a woman's journey of self-discovery as she encounters three friends, the film might continue the success of the Korean new wave.

It's not every day that a politician attracts the most attention at the Berlin International Film Festival. On the fifth day of the Berlinale, former presidential candidate and US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton made her much-anticipated appearance in Berlin to promote, alongside director Nanette Burstein, the four-part docu series "Hillary."

There's usually not much to laugh about in the Golden Bear competition. Serious themes predominate, political cinema triumphs. But on day 5 there was one exception. The Belgian-French directing team of Benoît Delépine and Gustave Kervern debuted the competition entry "Effacer l'historique" (Delete History), an extremely funny contemporary comedy about the brave new social media world.

German arthouse director Christian Petzold's "Undine" is one of the most awaited titles at the Berlinale. He said he wanted to pursue the love story initiated in "Transit" (2018) between the characters portrayed by Paula Beer and Franz Rogowski (photo). To do so, he builds on the mythical figure of "Undine," a water spirit. A broken aquarium and a giant catfish contribute to the atmospheric work.

It's the second time that Italian actor Roberto Benigni, who charmed the world with his Oscar-winning "Life is Beautiful," stars in a film version of "Pinocchio." While he portrayed the puppet in 2002, he's the carpenter Gepetto in the new film by Matteo Garrone ("Gomorrah"). "It was the realization of a dream to be both!" said an enthusiastic Benigni on Sunday, "A sign of destiny if you ask me!"

His name is never mentioned, but the abusive movie mogul in "The Assistant" is inevitably inspired by Harvey Weinstein. He manages to haunt a young office assistant without ever appearing on screen. A single workday offers enough clues that he's a beast — and that everyone goes along with it. Director Kitty Green (left) and actress Julia Garner are in Berlin to present the powerful #MeToo film.

He is currently one of the most sought-after actors in Germany: Lars Eidinger. In the film "Persian Lessons" by Vadim Perelman, Eidinger portrays a brutal SS officer in a Nazi concentration camp. At the press conference ahead of the world premiere on Saturday evening, he choked up discussing today's racism: "I think our society is so poisoned when it comes to hatred and resentment."

Jerry Lewis, who died in 2017, is best known as the "King of Comedy," but he was also the director and star of an unreleased project that dealt with the Holocaust: the drama "The Day the Clown Cried," from 1972. Chris Lewis, Jerry's son, was at the Deutsche Kinemathek on Saturday to donate selected documents from the estate of his father, including material related to the film.

The Berlinale Camera, awarded since 1986, honors creators who've made a special contribution to filmmaking and with whom the festival feels closely connected. This year, the lifetime achievement award was handed out on February 22 to Ulrike Ottinger, one of the most important German filmmakers since the 1970s. Her work as an artist has also been shown at the Venice Biennale and the Documenta.

Looking for stars at the Berlinale? Then keep an eye open for Johnny Depp. He's in town for the premiere of "Minamata," in which he portrays the celebrated US photojournalist W. Eugene Smith, who in the 1970s drew worldwide attention to the devastating effects of mercury poisoning in the Japanese village of Minamata. You can watch his press conference on Facebook and Instagram.