A scene from the Spanish-Peruvian movie The Milk of Sorrow (La Teta Asustada) by director Claudia Llosa. The movie was awarded the Golden Bear as the top film at the Berlin film festival. (Berlinale/Associated Press)Peruvian-born director Claudia Llosa's The Milk of Sorrow (La Teta Asustada) has captured the Golden Bear for best film at the Berlin film festival.

"This is beautiful … this is such an honour," Llosa said after receiving the award. "This is for Peru. This is for our country."

Llosa, now based in Spain, says she created the film after hearing about the impact of terrorism on women in the Andes mountain region of South America.

The film focuses on a young native woman who suffers from a mysterious malady believed to be transmitted through the milk of mothers who were raped or physically abused in other ways. The condition is called teta asustada (frightened breast) and affects women who were raped during the insurgency in Peru.Director Claudia Llosa after winning the Golden Bear for The Milk of Sorrow (La Teta Asustada) on Saturday night. (Markus Schreiber/Associated Press)

"This is about how moving ahead with a hard legacy — how to take away this weight looking at the future but without changing what we are. Presently, this is the great dilemma. This also happens in Spain or Germany," Llosa told the Andina news agency.

The festival's jury grand prize, the runner-up trophy, was shared by Argentine director Adrian Biniez's debut feature Gigante and German director Maren Ade's Everyone Else.

Ade's second feature also garnered a best actress accolade for Birgit Minichmayr, who portrays half of a young couple dealing with their disintegrating relationship.

Iranian director wins

Iran's Asghar Farhadi was chosen as best director for About Elly, which circles around a group of middle-class Iranians headed for what results in a disastrous short holiday on the Caspian sea.

Sotigui Kouyate was named best actor for his part in director Rachid Bouchareb's London River, playing a Muslim father searching for his son in the wake of the 2005 London bombings.

Other prizes handed out on Saturday evening included:

• Best screenplay: Oren Moverman and Alessandro Camon for The Messenger.
• Best first feature: Gigante by Adrian Biniez.
• Best short: Please Say Something by David O'Reilly.
• Audience prize: The Yes Men Fix the World by Mike Bonanno, Andy Bichlbaum, Kurt Engfehr.

Canada had 14 entries at the festival, which began Feb. 5, and managed two awards.

John Greyson's Fig Trees documentary captured a Teddy prize. The Teddy honours films with gay or lesbian content.

Greyson's piece uses archival footage of opera and melds that with the true stores of two AIDS activists, one in Toronto and another in South Africa.

The other Canadian win was for Philippe Falardeau's C'est pas moi, je le jure! (It's Not Me, I Swear) in the category for films aimed at children 14 years and older.

The film about a 10-year-old who rebels against his dysfunctional parents received a Crystal Bear trophy.

The jury said Falardeau's film was chosen because of its "wonderful combination of comedy and tragedy."

The 59th annual Berlinale, as it's officially known, hosted many stars including Renee Zellweger, Keanu Reeves, Clive Owen, Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio.