The President of the Berlinale International Jury Darren Aronofsky applauds as Hana Saeidi, the niece of Iranian director Jafar Panahi, accepts the Golden Bear for Best Film trophy in Berlin.

BERLIN: Iranian dissident director Jafar Panahi won the Golden Bear top prize at the 65th Berlin film festival Saturday for “Taxi,” his third movie made in defiance of an official ban.

Panahi, who is outlawed from traveling abroad and was absent from the festival, appears on screen in the film as a Tehran cab driver, swapping stories with the denizens of the city.

A mounted dashboard camera allowed him to film in secret, away — at first — from the prying eyes of the state’s authorities.

The jury president, Hollywood director Darren Aronofsky, said Panahi had overcome restrictions that had the power to “damage the soul of the artist.”

“Instead of allowing his spirit to be crushed and giving up, instead of allowing himself to be filled with anger and frustration, Jafar Panahi created a love letter to cinema,” Aronofsky said.

“His film is filled with love for his art, his community, his country and his audience.”

Panahi was represented on stage by his young niece Hana Saeidi, who appears in the film, and she wept openly as she accepted the statuette.

“I’m not able to say anything, I’m too moved,” she said.

The Silver Bear prizes for acting went to Charlotte Rampling and Tom Courtenay for their performances in the British drama “45 Years.”

Rampling noted that her father Godfrey had won a gold medal at the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin and that she had long dreamed of taking “the baton from him.”

“Well, I think this Bear has done the trick,” she said with a smile.

Courtenay later told reporters he was pleased to make a film featuring an older generation.

“There are lots more old actors than there used to be. We all live longer,” he said.

“There are bound to be films that reflect that.”

The slow-burn drama by Andrew Haigh shows a couple on the eve of their 45th wedding anniversary whose marriage begins to founder when the husband learns the body of his long-dead first love has resurfaced.

Chilean drama “The Club” by Pablo Larrain about defrocked paedophile priests given refuge from justice by the Roman Catholic Church claimed the runner-up jury prize.

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