The Berlinale Film Festival concluded on Saturday, Feb. 14, with the festival handing out their annual awards.

The festival is one of the most important events in cinema in the world. A win elevates a film to international appeal, and some of the films become official Oscar selections.

This year the top prize, the Golden Bear, went to Iran's "Taxi" by Jafar Panahi. The film had been hailed as the front-runner after its premiere as critics marveled and audiences were ecstatic about it. Panahi made the film in secret as he was banned from making films in Iran.

The Silver Bear Grand Jury Prize went to Pablo Larrain for his latest film "The Club." Larrain had previously premiered his last film "No" at the Cannes Film Festival and was later nominated for the Oscar. He also showcased his film "Post Mortem" at the Venice Film Festival in 2010. The win for the Chilean director once again showcased the strength in Chilean cinema, and this film is likely to show up at the end of the year during awards season.

Latin Americans also won the Silver Bear Alfred Bauer prize for the Guatemala film "Ixcanul" by Jayro Bustamante. The prize is awarded for a feature that opens new perspectives in cinema. The win is important for Guatelmala as the country has always been underrepresented at international film festivals, and this brings the country's cinema to the forefront.

The Silver Bear for Best Script went to Patricio Guzman for his work on the Chilean and Spanish co-production "El Boton de Nacar." The film was hailed from the start of festival, and most expected the feature to be a contender for the Golden Bear.

One of the other big films to win at the Festival was Andrew Haigh's "45 Years." The film, which received rave reviews, won both the Best Actress and Best Actor prize for Charlotte Rampling and Tom Courtenay, respectively.

There was a tie for the Silver Bear for Best Director. The award was handed to Romania's Radu Jude and Poland's Małgorzata Szumowska for their films "Aferim!" and "Body," respectively

The Silver Bear for Outstanding Artist Contribution also saw a tie as Sturla Brandth Grøvlen won for his work on "Victoria" and Evgeniy Privin and Sergey Mikhalchuk won for their work on "Pod electricheskimi oblakami."

The winners were decided by a jury, which comprised director Darren Aronofsky ("Black Swan"), who was the president of the Jury, Daniel Bruhl ("Rush"), Bong Joon-Ho ("Snowpiercer"), Martha De Laurentiis ("The Bedroom Window"), Claudia Llosa ("The Milk of Sorrow"), Audrey Tatou ("Amelie"), and Matthew Weiner ("Mad Men").

Outside of the main competition Latin Americans also won the Teddy Award. The award is handed to a film that communicates queer themes in cinemas. Chilean director Sebastian Silva won the award for his work on the film "Nasty Baby." The movie, starring Kristen Wiig, had premiered at the Sundance Film Festival to great reviews.

The documentary Teddy award also went to the Latin American film "The New Man" by Aldo Garay.

The Berlin Film Festival was held Feb. 5-15.

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