Chinese film 'Tuya's Marriage' wins in Berlin

GERMANY: Chinese movie "Tuya's Marriage", which explores the environmental and human cost of the country's rapid economic growth through the lives of Mongolian herders, won the Berlin film festival's top honour.

The Golden Bear for best picture makes it a pair for Chinese cinema at Europe's top film festivals, after similarly themed "Still Life" won the Golden Lion in Venice in September.

"Tuya's Marriage" is set against the desertification of remote parts of China, which is forcing traditional shepherds into towns and cities, while "Still Life" concerns the upheaval caused by the giant Three Gorges Dam project.

"I think that it is important, particularly in this time when the economy is booming, to ponder and reflect on what we're losing," director Wang Quan'an said of "Tuya's Marriage".

"Once we've lost them (culture and tradition), we'll never be able to get them back," he told reporters after the prize ceremony. "The best films aren't those that solve problems or give answers, but those that simply show things as they are ... that portray life authentically. That means we start to think about the lives of other people."

Tuya, the shepherdess who seeks a new husband after hers falls ill, is played by Yu Nan.

Berlin, Sunday, Reuters