Berlin - Peruvian director Claudia Llosa's film La Teda Asustada (The Milk Of Sorrow) was the surprise winner on Saturday at the Berlin Film Festival's prestigious Golden Bear prize.

The movie, about an illness transmitted to children via milk they are fed by mothers who have been raped or mistreated during their pregnancy, was one of 18 films competing for the Berlinale's Golden Bear.

Argentina-born director Adrian Biniez received three prizes, including a special jury prize, for his film Gigante, about a lonely security guard who works at a supermarket and develops an obsession for a woman he spots on one of the cameras.

German director Maren Ade was also awarded a special jury prize for Alle Anderen (Everyone Else) about a young couple on vacation that find their relationship is put to the test.

The Berlinale's best director award went to Iranian director Asghar Farhadi's Darbareye Elly (About Elly), which explores the fine line between truth and lies in middle-class Iranian society after a young woman suddenly vanishes.

With strong stories about women a major focus of this year's Berlinale, the festival's seven-member international jury, headed up by Academy Award-winning British actress Tilda Swinton, awarded the silver bear for best actress to Germany's Birgit Minichmayr for her role in Alle Anderen.

Sotigui Kouyate from Burkina Faso won a silver bear for best actor for his role as a father searching for a son who goes missing in the aftermath of London's July 7, 2005 terrorist attacks in Paris- born Rachid Bouchareb's London River.

Israel-born screenwriter-turned-director Oren Moverman won a silver bear for scriptwriting for The Messenger, about two US soldiers who deliver the message to families that their loved ones have been killed in combat. Moverman co-wrote the script with Alessandro Camon.

In addition to the prize for best debut and a special jury prize, Biniez also shared the Alfred Bauer prize for opening up new perspectives in cinema with veteran Polish director Andrzej Wajda, who was honoured for his movie Sweet Rush (Tatarak).

Sweet Rush is a deeply personal story about an older woman whose life in turned upside down by a younger man, who drowns.

But intertwined in Sweet Rush is also the story about the death of the acclaimed Polish cinematographer Edward Klosinski, who was the husband of the movie's main actress Krystyna Janda and who died during the film's shooting. (dpa)