Berlin Film Festival kicks off with a nod to new voices from Michelle Yeoh

The Berlin Film Festival has opened on Thursday night with the message that new voices matter as Hollywood legend Michelle Yeoh recalled how the festival supported her early in her career.

"When I was still searching for where I belonged, Berlin welcomed me. That early welcome mattered," said Yeoh as she accepted an Honorary Golden Bear for lifetime achievement.

"It said there was space for voices from the edges, refused to behave, for artists still becoming themselves," she said, clutching the prize to her chest during her speech.

That message was further driven home with the opening film, No Good Men, a political romantic comedy directed by the 35-year-old Iran-born Afghan filmmaker Sharhbanoo Sadat.

"We could choose something really obvious, something from a filmmaker people have heard of, or with recognisable stars," festival director Tricia Tuttle said on the red carpet.

"But this is a film that made us laugh and made us cry."

RED CARPET

Actors including Bella Ramsey, Neil Patrick Harris, Daniel Bruehl and Lars Eidinger assembled on the rainy carpet ahead of the ceremony.

German director Wim Wenders, who is heading this year's international jury, said that the films he has already watched reminded him why he loved Berlin.

"It's so varied, and it's really about issues more than - well, I love glamour, don't get me wrong, but sometimes it's good to scratch a little bit," Wenders said ahead of the ceremony.

Wenders and the six other jury members will hand out the top Golden Bear prize at the festival's closing ceremony on February 21.

NO SMALL PROJECT FOR YEOH

Anora director Sean Baker was also at the festival for the first time to present Yeoh with the lifetime achievement award.

Baker, who recently worked with Yeoh on a short film called Sandiwara about life in Malaysia, admitted he had been a fan of the Oscar winner since watching bootleg VHS tapes from her Hong Kong years that he found in New York City's Chinatown.

"There's no small project for Michelle Yeoh. There's only the question: how do we make this honest? How do we make this alive?" said Baker.