Cannes Film Festival

Greeted with a standing ovation, the film was favourite for the top prize since its first screening at the festival.

The Grand Prix went to Italian director Matteo Garrone for Reality, a terse and satirical drama about Italy¹s obsession with reality television.

The Jury Prize for Ken Loach¹s The Angel¹s Share was entirely deserved.

Loach used his speech to send out a message of solidarity to those adversely affected by austerity and privatisation. "The characters in the film have no work and the world tells them they have no worth," Loach said. "We are reminded of the situation in Europe where people are told they have to stay out of work. So we are in solidarity with those against austerity. Another world is possible."

The directing prize went to Mexican director Carlos Reygadas for his investigational and cryptic Post Tenebras Lux while the Screenwriting Prize and Best Actress award went to another favourite, Beyond The Hills, from the Romanian director Cristian Mungiu.

Danish actor Mads Mikkelsen carried off the Best Actor award for his outstanding portrayal of a schoolteacher accused of child molesting in Thomas Vinterberg¹s The Hunt.

It was a disappointing night for US hopes, in that none of their five entries in competition won.

But there were much better films that didn¹t make it either such as Leo Carax¹s Holy Motors.

Maybe a reason for this is that festival juries are required to look good for the public as well as for the critics.

The trick is to combine both, especially in an era when it is becoming increasingly difficult to encourage the more experimental film-makers from smaller countries.

With this in mind the International Federation Of Film Critics handed out the FIPRESCI award to the compelling The Fog from the Belarus-born Sergei Loznitsa, shown in the official competition.