BERLIN -- Iran’s Reza Naji has won the Silver Bear prize for best actor at the 58th Berlin Film Festival for his role in director Majid Majidi’s “The Song of Sparrows”.

In the film, Naji plays the role of Karim, who is a worker at an ostrich farm in the suburbs of the town of Shahriar. He is quite content with his life and his small house, but he is fired from his job after making a bad mistake. He is thus forced to travel to the big city of Tehran for work, and then several incidents occur which greatly affect his life.
“I would like to express my thanks to the Berliners, who are lovers of art,” Naji said in his acceptance speech after he received the Silver Bear statuette at the closing ceremony of the 2008 Berlinale, AFP reported.
“I am dedicating this prize to my country, which I love, and its cinema.”
“For me, the message is that we shouldn’t keep asking for more and more, or make too many demands which will only lead us to ruin,” Majidi said after a press screening in Berlin.
The film’s screenplay was written by Majidi and Mehran Kashani.
“The Song of Sparrows” also won four awards at the 26th Fajr International Film Festival, which was held in Tehran from February 1 to 11.
At the 2008 Fajr festival, the film won Crystal Simorghs for Best Director (Majid Majidi), Best Editor (Hassan Hassandust), Best Composer (Hossein Alizadeh), and Best Makeup Artist (Saeid Malekan).
Caption: Iranian actor Reza Naji reacts after he receives the Silver Bear award as best actor, during a news conference after the award ceremony at the 58th International Film Festival Berlinale in Berlin, Germany, Saturday, Feb. 16, 2008. Reza Naji was awarded for his performance in Iranian movie “The Song of Sparrows”..