Tilda Swinton has announced she will be taking a break from ‘merciless’ movie-making.

The Oscar-winner, 64, made the surprise announcement hours after accepting the prestigious Golden Bear lifetime achievement award at the Berlin Film Festival.

Speaking at a press conference on Friday morning, the Scottish actress said she had been looking forward to ‘doing something different’ for the past 15 years.

‘I need a break, and I’m going to have one,’ she told press in Berlin. ‘We all know filmmaking is a merciless mistress and I have been under the lash for a while.’ 

‘I can tell you that when I go home on Monday to Scotland, I’m entering something that I’ve been looking forward to for about 15 years, which is a period of my life when I do something different.

‘I can’t quite say what it is, but I can say I’m not shooting a film for the rest of this year.’

Tilda Swinton has announced she will be taking a break from ‘merciless’ movie-making

The Oscar-winner, 64, made the surprise announcement hours after accepting the prestigious Golden Bear lifetime achievement award at the Berlin Film Festival (pictured) 

She added: ‘I want time to develop projects, some are in cinema, some are not, but I need time.’

The acclaimed actress has been working regularly for more than two decades after making her cinematic debut in Derek Jarman’s 1986 art film Caravaggio.

In 2007 she won an Oscar in the Best Supporting Actress category of her role in Michael Clayton. 

On Thursday night she made an impᴀssioned speech on stage whilst accepting her latest award.

Without ever using the words Gaza or Palestinian, Tilda gave her speech in support of ‘the great independent state of cinema,’ and what she called ‘an unlimited realm, innately inclusive, immune to efforts of occupation, colonization, takeover, ownership or the development of Riviera property.’ 

The Hollywood Reporter revealed that Tilda also told the festival crowd: ‘Here’s one of the best things that can happen to young person curious about the world and how to live a life in it.’

Speaking at a press conference on Friday morning, the Scottish actress said she had been looking forward to ‘doing something different’ for the past 15 years

The Oscar winning actress worked the crowds in Berlin, despite the heavy rain, on Thursday night

‘They can find themselves here at the Berlinale. When I first came to this festival, I was 25 and looking for my life, looking for the world and signs of human life there, how I might take my place among it, on the hunt for amazement, for solidarity and connection, and I can say I found it all right here in one fell swoop.’ 

Tilda has been a regular at the Berlin Film Festival for 30 years, with 26 of her movies screened there, whilst she served as president of its jury in 2009.