Double victories for Michael Caine and Charlotte Rampling capped a strikingly successful night for the British film industry at the 28th European film awards.

Caine picked up the best actor prize for his portrayal of a retired composer in Paolo Sorrentino’s Youth, as well as an honorary award – the latter he referred to as “a bit like a knighthood”. The 82-year-old actor was emotional as he accepted his trophies at a star-studded night in Berlin.

“Well, there’s a surprise,” he said on stage. “It’s been 50 years and I‘ve never won an award in Europe and I’ve won two in one evening! It’s unbelievable.”

At a press conference following the ceremony, Caine spoke at length about his career, detailing his personal distaste at actors who seek to impart wisdom to younger colleagues.

“I always say to any actor: don’t listen to advice from actors, especially if they’re older than you,” he said. “Because when I was very young, I asked lots of older actors for advice and every single one of them said to me ‘Give it up, you can’t act and you’ve got a rotten accent.’”

Rampling was the recipient of this year’s lifetime achievement award and then went on to win the prize for best actress for her role in Andrew Haigh’s acclaimed drama 45 Years about a marriage in crisis.

“Like Michael, I haven’t really had many prizes,” she said. “It’s not part of what I’ve ever sought for. I’ve just wanted to do the films that I’ve done like 45 Years that have meant the experience of living a life and putting it through film.” She also stressed the importance of European cinema in “creating worlds that we need to see”.

The role of the film industry in maintaining and improving connections between nations was a theme highlighted throughout the evening in what became a surprisingly politically-charged ceremony. The night’s host, German TV presenter and comedian Thomas Hermanns, defined freedom as “being connected to each other” and stated that “there is no art without inclusion”.

The EFA chairwoman, Oscar-nominated Polish director Agnieszka Holland, presented a selection of awards with president Wim Wenders and expressed her “deep concern about Europe” in an emotive speech.

“We must not forget that the films we make cannot be separated from the world that we live in,” she said. “I made several movies about the second world war, a time when Europe was riddled with hate and I don’t want it to return.”

Wenders went on to reminisce about the tyranny of the Berlin wall. “It seems like we’re going back in time and we can’t let this happen,” he said. “We must stand up and remember that nothing good has ever come from fear.”

Rush and Inglourious Basterds star Daniel Brühl came on stage to pay tribute to Oleg Sentsov, the Ukrainian film-maker imprisoned in Russia for “terror offences”, after a trial described by Amnesty International as “redolent of Stalinist-era show trials”. After reading out a powerful statement from Sentsov, Brühl said: “Oleg we will not forget you and we will keep on supporting you and your family.”

There were a number of attempts throughout the show to highlight the diversity of the European film industry and of Berlin itself with Hermanns speaking to various members of the audience about their multicultural background and, in one unlikely segment, dancing through the streets with Berliners of mixed heritage.

The winner of best film, Youth, was cheered as a sign of borderless film-making with producers from Italy, France and the UK. Sorrentino, who also won the award for best director, noted the film’s theme of “perception of freedom” and its importance at a time such as this. The film is the first English-language winner of the award since Melancholia in 2011.

There were also further British success stories with Irish fantasy Song of the Sea winning best animated film and, after being snubbed by the British independent film awards, Asif Kapadia won best documentary for Amy, his controversial portrait of the tragic singer Amy Winehouse.

While Kapadia called the award “an amazing honour” he also saw the film’s success as a bittersweet victory. “The aim was to show people who she really was,” he said. “A lot of people may have known her music but the idea was to show the real girl who had many of the insecurities we all have. Now she’s getting a lot of love and unfortunately she’s not around to see it.”

Other winners included best screenplay to Yorgos Lanthimos and Efthymis Filippou for dystopian dating satire The Lobster and European comedy for Roy Andersson’s surrealist film A Pigeon Sat on a Branch Reflecting on Existence.

The director was keen to stress the genre of the film, claiming that in his home country of Sweden, it was entirely misunderstood.

“It was frustrating but not now,” he said after the ceremony. “It’s now been so appreciated all around the world so Sweden is not that important. Of course, it’s nice to be appreciated in your own country but I think they are not into that kind of humour maybe.”

As a sign of the more offbeat taste of not just the jury but the people who watch and participate in the awards, slow-burn Spanish thriller Marshland beat out Benedict Cumberbatch’s Oscar-winning drama The Imitation Game to win the people’s choice award.

Christoph Waltz was also the recipient of the prize for European contribution to world cinema after Hollywood roles in Inglourious Basterds, Django Unchained and, most recently, as James Bond’s latest adversary in Spectre. He told the audience he was “honoured beyond comprehension” but put his merit in perspective as he claimed it was 100% down to luck.

The European Film Awards – established as an alternative to the Hollywood-dominated Oscars, traditionally deliver odder moments than those witnessed at awards ceremonies in Hollywood. This year was no exception. Pawel Pawlikowski – whose film Ida triumphed last year – delivered seemingly improvised tributes to all of this year’s directing nominees, referring to Roy Andersson as “an out of control, uncontrollable motherfucking genius”. Host Hermanns also delivered a singular brand of comedy, at one point dressing up as Charlotte Rampling, which was met with unfortunately timed reactions from both Waltz and Caine, who both appeared unamused.

While Caine and Rampling missed out on Golden Globe nominations this week, their success at the European film awards does add some extra buzz to their Oscar campaigns. Rampling was recently named best actress by the Boston society of film critics for her role in 45 Years and is seen as a dark horse for an Oscar nomination.