Bosnian Film Tops Berlin

A moving drama about Bosnia's post-war trauma and the systematic rape of women by Serb soldiers during the 1992-95 conflict won top honours at the Berlin Film Festival.

Grbavica by Sarajevo director Jasmila Zbanic took the Golden Bear for best film at the conclusion of the 56th Berlin festival.

"War in Bosnia was over some 13 years ago and yet war criminals Radovan Karadzic and Ratko Mladic still live in Europe freely," said Zbanic, 30, whose film spotlights the hushed-up issue rape of 20,000 women during the siege of Sarajevo.

"They've not been captured for organising the rape of 20,000 women in Bosnia (and) killing 100,000. This is Europe and no one is interested in capturing them. I hope that this will change your viewing on Bosnia," she added to warm applause.

Grbavica, is the name of a suburb of Sarajevo but is also a term for "woman with a hump" that refers to raped women. The film tells the story of a Muslim woman who tries to hide the grisly truth of her past in order to protect her teenage daughter.

The best director award went to Britain's Michael Winterbottom and Mat Whitecross for The Road to Guantanamo, a polemic against the U.S. military prison in Cuba, which will screen next month on Channel 4.

"It's a great honour," Winterbottom said. "There are really three people who deserve to get this prize. And they are the three people who lived through this."