By Hanna Rantala

BERLIN (Reuters) - British actor Tilda Swinton, known for her often eccentric and quirky roles in both independent and blockbuster films, said on Friday that she decided "in a personal moment" to attend the Berlin Film Festival despite boycott calls over the war in Gaza.

At a news conference the morning after collecting the event's honorary Golden Bear award in recognition of her long-running career, Swinton also said she was taking a hiatus from acting for at least the rest of the year.

Asked about calls to boycott this year's festival by the Palestinian-led Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement, Swinton said she had made "a personal judgement call" to travel to the German capital.

"In a way, the most difficult thing that we are all having to cope with right now is this feeling of helplessness, this feeling of powerlessness. And so any powerful action gesture we can make feels like a good option," she said.

"I understand absolutely that boycotting can feel, and very often is, the most powerful thing we can do," she said.

"I decided it was more important for me to come. I was given, thanks to the festival, a platform as I am given today, which I decided, in a personal moment, was potentially more useful to all our causes than me not turning up," Swinton said.

In her acceptance speech at Thursday evening's ceremony, Swinton took aim at U.S. President Donald Trump's stated plans to make Gaza the "Riviera of the Middle East" as well as "greed-addicted" governments that enable war criminals and destruction of the planet.

ACTING HIATUS

Swinton, 64, also said on Friday that she was in need of a break and would take the rest of the year off from movie-making to "think and figure out what the next 40 years are".

"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," she said.

"I want more time. I want time to develop projects that some are for the cinema, some are not, but I need time," she said.

"And as we know, filmmaking is merciless mistress, and I've been under the lash for a while," she added.

Swinton is known for films including "Michael Clayton," for which she received an Oscar, and Venice Film Festival winner "The Room Next Door."

(Reporting by Hanna Rantala, Writing by Miranda Murray, Editing by Nick Zieminski)