Veteran Hollywood leading lady Meryl Streep was honoured with Golden Bear Lifetime Achievement award at the 62<sup>nd Berlin Film Festival on Tuesday.

Streep, who won the Best Actress award at the BAFTAs, for her role as Dame Margaret Thatcher, was given the Golden Bear at the special screening of "The Iron Lady".

While addressing a press conference before the award ceremony, Streep received a bouquet for Valentine's Day from an Austrian journalist, while a Russian journalist gave her a hand-painted matryoshka doll. She described the awards season as an "out of body experience, according to Reuters.

"It's very odd to be in the position where people say to you, 'Oh I think you're going to win something', or, 'Oh I don't think you have a chance this year'," she said.

"And suddenly you feel like you're in a sporting event and you haven't signed up for it. You did some work in a film that you're proud of and you are hoping that people will go and see it, and suddenly you're doing calisthenics for Super Bowl," she added.

When queried on what she thought about her fellow actors, "I do think that the level of acting in general -- everybody talks about the golden age of Hollywood but I really think that the level of acting now is higher, deeper, more daring, more adventurous and (deeply) felt and edgy," AFP quoted her as saying.

The film festival screened six more of Streep's films, including "Kramer vs. Kramer", "Silkwood" and "A Prairie Home Companion".

The film festival will end on Feb. 18 with an awards ceremony.

Meryl Streep Honoured with Golden Bear award
U.S. actress Meryl Streep reacts after she was presented with the Golden Bear award for lifetime achievement during a ceremony at the 62nd Berlinale International Film Festival in Berlin REUTERS/Fabrizio Bensch
Meryl Streep, Director Dieter Kosslick and actor Jake Gyllenhaal
U.S. actress Meryl Streep (C) reacts next to Berlinale festival director Dieter Kosslick (L) and actor and jury member Jake Gyllenhaal after receiving the Golden Bear award for lifetime achievement during a ceremony at the 62nd Berlinale International Film Festival in Berlin REUTERS/Fabrizio Bensch
U.S. actress Meryl Streep
U.S. actress Meryl Streep poses with a matryoshka doll she received as a gift from a Russian journalist during a news conference to promote the movie "The Iron Lady" at the 62nd Berlinale International Film Festival in Berlin. REUTERS/Morris Mac Matzen
Meryl Streep
U.S. actress Meryl Streep (C) reacts next to Berlinale festival director Dieter Kosslick (L) during an award ceremony REUTERS/Fabrizio Bensch
Meryl Streep
U.S. actress Meryl Streep (C) signs autographs as she arrives for the screening of the movie "The Iron Lady" at the 62nd Berlinale International Film Festival REUTERS/Thomas Peter
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