“There Is No Evil” explores the moral dilemma of those who carry out executions and the consequences of defiance for them and those around them.

Director Mohammad Rasoulof, whose film shows that there are costs to bravery and cowardice, was not allowed to leave Iran to snatch the prize: he faces propaganda charges over his earlier films.

His daughter Baran, who starred in one episode of the four-part film, won the award on his behalf in the German capital and later caught up with the smartphone cameras where the director addressed a news conference via video call.

“This movie is about people taking responsibility,” he said. “I wanted to talk about people pushing responsibility away from themselves and saying that the decision is made by higher powers. But they can say no really, and that’s their strength.”

Each of the film’s episodes depicts a man chosen to carry out an execution: some refuse, some obey. But whatever path they choose, the consequences, good and bad, for them and their loved ones, echo the decades.

Shot inside, in the evenings, or in remote rural locations to avoid catching the attention of authorities, the film had risks to cast and crew who had made a decision to “put their lives at risk to make the film” this, “says producer Farzad Pak.

Jury president, British actor Jeremy Irons, noted how the film showed “on the web an authoritarian regime weaves into ordinary people, drawing them towards inhumanity,” noting that the film’s lessons about individual responsibility go far beyond Iran.

Rights groups say Iran committed at least 227 people in 2019. Capital crimes include “insulting the Prophet”, same-sex relations, adultery and non-violent drug crimes, according to Human Rights Watch.

Asked for suggestions circulating on Iranian social media that the film was favored for its political message, producer Kaveh Farnam said: “Every time an independent Iranian film wins an award the regime says it all worthless, they say we’re taking advantage of the situation in the west. ”

The Silver Bear went second to Eliza Hittman’s “Never Rarely Sometimes”, the story of two teenagers from rural United States challenging anti-abortion activists, poverty, physical and mental harassment, and expensive healthcare to get a pregnancy termination.

Hong Sangsoo from Korea won best director Silver Bear for “The Woman Who Ran,” a miniature about female friendship, loneliness, introverted men, and a cat who, while filming washing himself and yawning, left audiences in stitches of laughter.

Here is the full speech:

Hello. What’s up? Hello. God, I’m so full of gratitude right now and I don’t feel elevated above any of my fellow nominees or anyone in this room, because we share the same love, love film and this kind of expression has given the most wonderful life.

I don’t know what I would be without it. But I think the greatest gift she has given me, and many of us in this room, is the opportunity to use our voice for the voiceless.

I’ve been thinking a lot about some of the distressing issues we face together and I think at times we feel or are made to feel we are ‘ n promote different causes. But for me, I see mediocrity.

I think whether we’re talking about gender inequality or racism or queer rights or innate rights or animal rights, we’re talking about the fight against injustice. We talk about the fight against the belief that one nation, one people, one race, one gender or one species has the right to dominate, control and use and exploit another without compulsion.

I believe that we have become very disconnected from the natural world and many of us, what we are guilty of is an egocentric worldview, the belief that we are the center of the universe. We go into the natural world and we rob it for its resources. We feel that we have the right to artificially fertilize a cow and when she gives birth, we steal her baby, even though her cry of agony is unmistakable.

And then we take her milk intended for her calf and we put it in our coffee and cereal. And I think we’re scared of the idea of ​​personal change because we think we have to sacrifice something to give up.

But human beings, at our best, are so inventive and creative and resourceful that I believe that when we use love and compassion as our guiding principles, we can create, develop and implement systems of change that benefit all sentient beings and the Environment .

Now, I’ve been – I’ve been a scoundrel all my life. I’ve been selfish, I’ve been cruel at times, hard to work with and I’m grateful, but so many of you in this room have given me a second chance and I think that’s when we are at our best, when we support each other.

Not when we cancel each other for past mistakes, but when we help each other grow, when we educate each other, when we guide each other toward redemption. That is the best of humanity. I just – I want to – when you are – when he was 17, my brother wrote this lyric. He said, “Running to the rescue with love and peace will follow.” Thank you.

c.2020 The New York Times Company

Duffy, 35, who had big hits with 2008’s “Mercy” single and her debut album “Rockferry,” wrote in a post on Instagram that she was “fine and safe now” but said she had taken her time to heal from the suffering.

The Welsh soul singer won a 2009 Grammy for “Rockferry” and three Brit Awards but largely disassociated herself with the release of her second, less successful album in 2010. She performed in an Edith Piaf tribute concert in New York in 2013 and took the role of a small film in the 2015 British crime film “Legend” but has rarely been heard or heard since.

“Many of you wonder what happened to me, where I disappeared and why,” he wrote. “The truth is, and please trust me that I am fine and safe now, I was raped and drugged and confined over a few days. Of course I survived. The recovery took time.”

He did not say who had detained him or when but said he would post an audio interview in the coming weeks where he would answer any questions.

“You wonder why I didn’t choose to use my voice to express my pain? I didn’t want to show the world the sadness in my eyes. I asked myself, how can I sing from the heart if is it broken? And slow and steady, “he added.

Duffy’s representatives from 2010 did not return a request for comment Tuesday on the posting.