"Milk of Sorrow" wins Berlin

The mournful story of rape and death wins the top prize in the annual Berlin film festival.

Peruvian film "Milk of Sorrow" took home the coveted Golden Bear for Best Picture at this year's Berlinale.

The movie tells the story of Fausta, whose mother was raped during the wave of violence in Peru in the 1980s and 90s.

The virtually silent woman is determined to bury her mother in their native village but must confront her demons beforehand.

Backstage director Claudia Llosa says she hopes her win will inspire budding filmmakers.

SOUNDBITE: Claudia Llosa, Director Of "Milk Of Sorrow", saying (Spanish):

"It is really hard to do this and I hope it gives strength to a lot of Peruvian American filmmakers and to all those filmmakers who started like I did thinking that this would be really hard. But now I am here, so it is possible."

The runner-up Silver Bear was shared between Uruguayan film "Gigante" and German entry "Everyone Else".

Best Director went to Iran's Asghar Farhadi for "About Elly".

The Berlinale's director says the event has defied the global credit crunch.

SOUNDBITE: Dieter Kosslick, Berlinale-Director, saying (German):

"What more could I want - more people than ever attended the Berlin Film Festival. It was a big fest within the crisis, against the crisis."

Many critics said they were underwhelmed by the selection of films in competition this year.

But that didn't seem to bother the festival -- every show was sold-out -- a first in the event's history.

Cindy Martin, Reuters