A SCOTTISH short film about a granny in a bath has won a Golden Bear award at the 2005 Berlin Film Festival.

Milk, written and directed by 37-year-old Glaswegian Peter Mackie Burns and played by Brenda Fricker and Kathleen McDermott, has been awarded the Golden Bear for Best International Short Film. The Golden Bear is the festival's highest accolade for both short and feature-length films.

Ten minutes long and made for pounds-10,000, Milk tells the story of a girl bathing her grandmother and the relationship that arises out of their intimate encounter. The film was turned down by the Tartan Shorts scheme last year before wowing judges at Berlin.

In Germany, Mackie Burns said: "I'm terrified. This is only the second film I've made, and Berlin is the first festival I've been to outside Edinburgh.

"It's a really simple story, very character driven. Nan, played by Brenda Fricker, is based on my own grandmother. Every word she says is something my granny has said to me. One of my friend's sisters was moaning to me one day about having to go and bath her granny - she had a hangover and wasn't looking forward to the prospect. So I thought of putting the two ideas together, and just watching what happened."

Mackie Burns is already reaping the benefits of winning the Golden Bear - a London company has asked him to direct one of their films, and his first feature-length script is being read by 10 companies.

For now, he is concentrating on his next project, a Tartan Short called Brighter Later, which will premiere at the Edinburgh International Film Festival in September.

Milk was commissioned and funded by Cineworks, a Glasgow-based scheme financed by the UK Film Council, Scottish Screen and BBC Scotland. Cineworks's coordinator and the film's executive producer, David Smith, said: "We commissioned Milk because Peter's attitude really impressed us. The script leapt out and the casting was superb.

This is a major European prize.

At least it shows that we are doing something right."

Marie Olesen, the film's producer, said: "I was really worried the audience wouldn't understand it, as we had made a decision for the actors to speak in their own accents, and the screenings weren't subtitled. But their reaction was just fantastic, they really got the film's simplicity and beauty."

Kathleen McDermott, best known as the star of Morvern Callar, said: "I am so glad Milk has been recognised. Brenda and I got on really well, which was just as well, as she had to spend all day in the bath."

Festival jury member Susan Korda described the film as "superbly written and performed" and "an obvious choice for the Golden Bear".

David Mackenzie, the Scotstrained director of Young Adam, was in competition in the feature film category with psychological drama Asylum, but lost out on a Golden Bear to the South African film Carmen In Khayelitsha.