By Hanna Rantala and Miranda Murray BERLIN, Feb 12 (Reuters) – The Berlin Film Festival 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 set in Kabul shortly before the Taliban took over in 2021 that was 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 recognizable 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. Several attendees used their time before the cameras to make a political statement, with one group holding up sheets that said "Watch out, fascists! We are more!" while another cluster held up signs in support of the Iranian people. 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. (Reporting by Miranda Murray and Hanna RantalaEditing by Nick Zieminski)
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