The feature-length film, which participated in the event's competition section, attracted international audiences with its dramatic depiction of love.
Farhadi's latest production competes with numerous international productions including French filmmaker Bertrand Tavernier's In the Electric Mist.
About Elli highlights the relations between Iranian men and women in a manner that touches the hearts of international audiences.
"I wanted to make a story that was universal -- one that everyone could connect with, not just contemporary Iranians," AFP quoted Farhadi as saying.
"To my mind, these kinds of problems can be found everywhere. I've tried to go below the tip of the iceberg, beneath the surface of the water to see where they are coming from," he said.
Farhadi said his film was based on the life of one of his friends living in Hamburg and his unhappy marriage.
The Golden Bear will be awarded on Feb. 14, 2009, one day before the 59th Berlinale's closure.
Iranian screenwriter and director Asghar Farhadi began filmmaking with Dancing in the Dust in 2003.
His fourth film, Fireworks Wednesday won him the Gold Hugo Award of the 2006 Chicago International Film Festival and the Best Director Award of the 13th Rabat Film Festival in Morocco.
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