Berlin  - Latin American cinema emerged as the winner from this year's Berlin Film Festival with filmmakers from the region awarded the Berlinale's top honours Saturday, including the prestigious Golden Bear for best picture.

Lima-born director Claudia Llosa's drama about a mysterious illness transmitted to children from the milk of mothers who were raped or abused during Peru's terrorist struggle between 1980 and 2000 took the Berlinale's top prize.

Llosa's La Teda Asustada (The Milk Of Sorrow) was one of 18 films vying for the Berlinale's Golden Bear with Argentina-born director Adrian Biniez receiving three festival prizes, including a special jury prize, for his debut film Gigante.

The 32-year-old Llosa's movie was the first time that a Peruvian movie was selected for the Berlinale competition, which is one of the world's top three film festivals.

"I feel like I am in a dream," said Llosa. Her lead actress Magaly Solier sang a Peruvian song when Llosa was handed the Golden Bear at Saturday's Hollywood-style awards gala.

"We need this kind of prize," said Llosa. "It is important for people to get to know our films," she said praising the Berlinale for helping to promote Latin American cinema.

The prizes underscore the growing recognition of Latin American filmmakers at the world's leading international movie festivals.

It is the second consecutive year that the Berlinale's top prize has gone to a Latin American filmmaker. Brazilian director Jose Padilha won the Golden Bear in 2008 for his fim Tropa de Elite (The Elite Squad).

Also marking the Berlinale jury's emphasis on young filmmakers, 34-year-old Biniez won the best debut film prize for Gigante, which tells the story of a lonely supermarket security guard who develops an obsession for a woman he spots on one of the cameras.

Winning the awards, said Biniez, "opens a lot of doors and means that a lot projects can now be realized."

Mexican director Julian Hernandez received the Berlinale's Teddy Award for gay cinema for his movie Rabioso Sol, Rabioso Cielo (Raging Sun, Raging Sky) about the search for love.

Biniez 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 drama about an older woman whose life is 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.

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

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

The awarding of the prize in Berlin coincided with Farhadi winning a prize for his film in Teheran.

Speaking in Berlin, Farhadi said it was important for him that the film was accepted both internationally and at home. He said he often felt afraid "that people will see the movie and not like it."

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

Mali-born Sotigui Kouyate won a Silver Bear for best actor for his role as a father searching for a son missing in the aftermath of the London terrorist attacks, in Paris-born Rachid Bouchareb's London River.

Israel-born screenwriter-turned-director Oren Moverman and Alessandro Camon won a Silver Bear for script for The Messenger, about two US soldiers who deliver the news to families that their loved ones have been killed in combat.

US actor Ben Foster, who played one of the soldiers, paid tribute to Moverman and Camon Saturday saying they had touched on the side of war that is not conventionally discussed and which was from the soldiers' perspective.

Earlier in the day, Moverman, who also directed The Messenger, won the peace prize for the film.

Gabor Erdelyi and Tamas Szekely won a Silver Bear for sound design for British director Peter Strickland's film Katalin Varga. (dpa)