BANNED Iranian director Jafar Panahi’s “Taxi,” which shows a cabby driving an odd assortment of people around Tehran but is really a condemnation of censorship, won the Golden Bear for best film Saturday at the Berlin International Film Festival.

    The award, which the director was not in Berlin to accept, was hailed by German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier in a statement as “an important sign for the freedom of art.”

    On an Instagram account said to be Panahi’s, Iranian journalists at a post-awards news conference said he had posted a message in Farsi saying: “This is an important artistic and political acknowledgment of the film that makes me very proud.”

    At the news conference, the Golden Bear was placed on its own for cameras, with no one holding it.

    The apparently whimsical but ultimately profound look at life and filmmaking in Iran, shot from the interior of a taxi with the director at the wheel, was shown despite Tehran’s ban on Panahi.

    “He created a love letter to cinema, his film is filled with love for his art, his community, his country and his audience,” director Darren Aronofsky, head of the prize jury, said in presenting the award.

    It was accepted on Panahi’s behalf at the awards ceremony by a girl identified on the Berlin festival’s website as Hana Saeidi, who cried as she stood in front of the glittering audience.

    Saeidi appears in the film and, according to the website, is Panahi’s niece.

    Other films by Panahi have been shown at the festival since 2010, when he was banned from making films for 20 years and sentenced to six years in prison. He was later released into house arrest but still banned from leaving the country, shooting films or scriptwriting.

    Two other films with political messages also received top prizes. The Chilean film “The Club” directed by Pablo Larrain, about defrocked Roman Catholic priests, won the Silver Bear Grand Jury Prize.

    “Ixcanul” (“Volcano”), a Guatemalan film directed by Jayro Bustamente about the hard life of Mayan coffee growers, won the Silver Bear Alfred Bauer Prize.

    The award for best director was shared by Radu Jude of Romania for “Aferim!” and Polish director Malgorzata Szumowksa for “Body.”

    (SD-Agencies)