Child's Pose, a mother-son drama set among post-communist Romania's new ruling class, has won the Golden Bear top prize at the 63rd Berlin International Film Festival.
Director Calin Peter Netzer, a member of Romania's renowned new wave in cinema, tells the story of a wealthy and controlling mother who fights to get her son acquitted after he kills a poor teenager with his car.
'I want to thank the jury for this amazing prize, this wonderful prize,' Netzer told the panel led by Chinese director Wong Kar Wai.
The Berlinale is the first major European film festival of the year and typically its most politically minded.
Child's Pose emerged as an early frontrunner in a particularly strong year for films exposing new fissures in the countries of the former communist bloc.
Lead actress Luminita Gheorghiu, best known for her prize-winning turn in the 2005 dark comedy The Death of Mr Lazarescu, dazzled movie-goers in the role of a manipulative mother who sees the fatal accident as a chance to reconnect with her estranged son.
Producer Ada Solomon, who joined Netzer in accepting the award, said it was getting 'harder and harder' to make quality pictures despite Romania's international reputation as a powerhouse in arthouse cinema.
'If I had to make the same film from today in Romania, it would not be possible to the same level,' she said.
'I think that Romanian politicians should pay much more attention to the ambassador that our cinema is around the world. I want to thank those people who didn't help us and didn't support us and that made us more determined.'