Stars gather in Berlin to celebrate excellence in cinema

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Some of the brightest stars in the film world are in the German capital, Berlin, for the Berlin International Film Festival (the Berlinale), as well as the Asian Brilliant Stars Awards.

At the second Asian Brilliant Stars Awards in Berlin this Wednesday, actors and directors showed up to celebrate excellence in Asian cinema.

China's prominent film director Mr. Feng Xiaogang is one of them, who picked up the Special Jury Award for his much-acclaimed Youth, a wistful coming-of-age story.

Best Actor award went to actor Chang Chen, who recently starred in "Brotherhood of Blades II: The Infernal Battlefield". His past credits include Ang Lee's "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" and Hou Hsiao-hsien's "The Assassin".

Chutimon Chuengcharoensukying received the Best Actress accolade for box office smash "Bad Genius".

While in Berlin, she is also promoting her movie "Die Tomorrow", which is screening at the Berlin International Film Festival.

Among the winners was director Samuel Maoz, for "Foxtrot" – a movie that has already received worldwide acclaim on its release, including being honored with the Grand Jury Prize Silver Lion at the 74th Venice International Film Fest.

This year's Oscar also marks the Israeli entry for the Best Foreign Language Film.

Also on Wednesday, Steven Soderbergh premiered his phone-camera shot thriller 'Unsane' at the Berlinale.

Treading the red carpet alongside the director are leading cast members, Claire Foy and Joshua Leonard.

The film was shot on camera-phones over a few months, a fact that actor Joshua Leonard believes gave the movie more life.

"Also the fact that we made the movie so quickly and on the iPhone, the distance between the impulse to create and actually creating was so short that I think it kept it really alive and fresh. On a lot of film sets you're waiting around for a long time until they're ready to film and in this one we just got to go in and get in the ring and keep going," said Leonard.

The Berlinale will conclude on February 25, where "Unsane" is screening out of competition at the Berlinale.