Actresses Theron, Moreno honored at Berlin Film Fest

For the second year in a row, the Berlin Film Festival 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, went through a remarkable transformation in the film, putting on 30 pounds and wearing false teeth to portray Florida serial killer 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.”

“Gegen die Wand” (Head On), the story of a young Turkish-German woman who marries a man she doesn’t love to escape her conservative Islamic family, was named best film.

Another tale of a child from an immigrant family, Daniel Burman’s “El abrazo partido” (Lost Embrace) won the runner-up Silver Bear film award.

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 episodic film “Om Jag Vaender Mig Om” (Daybreak) by Swedish director Bjoern Runge received the Blue Angel award for best European film.

From Associated Press