Norwegian drama "Dreams" won the top prize at the Berlin film festival on Saturday, while Australia's Rose Byrne clinched the Best Performance award, with both movies focused on women's experiences.

With Germany set to go to the polls on Sunday and Donald Trump making waves at the start of his second term as US president, many directors made openly political statements at Saturday's glitzy ceremony.

"Dreams" is a playful coming-of-age story, set in Oslo, that centres on Johanne, a 17-year-old pupil who develops a crush on her female teacher.

Hailed by critics, it is the third film in a trilogy that includes "Sex" and "Love" and is a first major international prize for director Dag Johan Haugerud, 60.

"This was beyond my wildest dreams," he said after being handed the Golden Bear award from jury president and independent US director Todd Haynes.

Byrne, best known for her roles in the "Damages" TV series and "X Men" films, plays an exhausted therapist and mother whose life spirals out of control in "If I Had Legs I'd Kick You".

The claustrophobic US-made drama, written and directed by Mary Bronstein, premiered last month at the Sundance festival where speculation began that Byrne might be in with a shot at the Oscars next year.

"Thank you so much, I'm so flattered to even be here," she told the ceremony.

It was one of the more star-heavy entries at this year's Berlinale festival, with former late-night TV host Conan O'Brien and rapper A$AP Rocky in supporting roles.

Women in film

"We were so impressed by the fact that among the competition films, there were so many films where women were behind and in front of the camera telling stories about women's lives and their experiences," Haynes told the ceremony.

Earlier, he had noted that the 75th Berlinale had taken place at a time of "tremendous seriousness".

Romanian director Radu Jude, who picked up the best screenplay award, joked that next year's festival might be opened with a projection of a film by infamous Nazi propagandist Leni Riefenstahl.

That appeared to be a swipe at the far-right AfD party which polls suggest could emerge as one of the biggest parties in Germany's election on Sunday.

"I hope the International Criminal Court in Hague will pursue its job against all these murderous bastards," he added, referring to the court's charges against Hamas and Israeli leaders.

Meryam Joobeur, a member of the jury that awarded the secondary Panorama prize, urged the audience to remember the "sacred duty to children" in a speech that appeared to refer to Israel's war in Gaza.

"We've seen the annihilation of thousands of children dismissed as mere collateral damage by political and journalistic forces," she said.

The 2024 Berlin festival was overshadowed by a row about Israel's bombardment of Gaza after several directors spoke out against the war, leading to accusations of bias from German politicians.