CHINESE drama “So Long, My Son” sweeps the acting prizes at the 69th Berlin International Film Festival.

Helmed by director Wang Xiaoshuai (“Beijing Bicycles”), this film looks at the lasting damage caused by an accident, in which one family loses their child and moves to another city to live. Many had picked the three-hour family drama as the Golden Bear winner, but the jury instead handed the film two Silver Bears, honoring its stars Wang Jingchun and Yong Mei, respectively, with the festival’s best actor and best actress awards.

Nadav Lapid’s “Synonyms,” a tale of a former IDF soldier trying to escape his past by immersing himself in the Paris nightlife, has won the Golden Bear for best film.

A critical favorite — “Synonyms” picked up the Fipresci international critics award ahead of Saturday’s Berlinale gala — the film features a star-making performance from newcomer Tom Mercier.

In a year when a record seven films in Berlin’s competition were directed by women, it was fitting that a female hand hoisted this year’s best director Silver Bear.

Veteran Berlin School helmer Angela Schanelec won the prize for “I Was at Home, But...,” a story of a widowed mother whose son runs away from home and lives in the wild for a week. Like most of Schanelec’s works, this film divided critics and audiences, between those who saw a devastating masterpiece and others who perceived pretentious garbage.

Another German film directed by a woman, Nora Fingscheidt’s psychological drama “System Crasher,” won the Alfred Bauer Award, named after the Berlin Film Festival’s founder. Fingscheidt’s first feature looks at an out-of-control child (played by the phenomenal first-timer Helena Zengel) who crashes out of German social services.

Acclaimed French filmmaker Francois Ozon picked up Berlin’s Jury Prize for “By the Grace of God,” a story of abuse in the Catholic Church inspired by a real-life case, currently before the French courts.

Best screenplay went to Claudio Giovannesi’s “Piranhas,” co-written by Giovannesi, Maurizio Braucci and Roberto Saviano, on whose novel the tale of youth gangs in Naples is based.

“Out Stealing Horses,” a contemplative drama from Norwegian director Hans Petter Moland (“Cold Pursuit”) about memory and identity, and the impact of the natural world on both won the Silver Bear for outstanding artistic achievement for cinematographer Rasmus Videbaek and his astounding lensing of the Nordic woods.

(SD-Agencies)