Romanian film 4 Months, 3 Weeks And 2 Days won the Cannes Film Festival Palme d'Or, last night.
The film, about the horrors of back-street abortion in Communist Romania, is directed by Cristian Mungiu and beat the other 21 films in competition to the coveted prize.
Speaking at the festival's closing ceremony at the Grand Theatre Lumiere, Mungiu said: "This story, in which we believe so much, is going to reach lots of people now."
"I also hope that this award that I am getting tonight is going to be good news for small film-makers from small countries because it looks like you don't necessarily need a big budget and a lot of stars."
Also winning directorial awards were Naomi Kawase, who scooped the Grand Prix for The Mourning Forest (Mogari no mori)about an unlikely relationship that develops between a care home resident and a carer, and Stephen Schnabel, who won the best director gong for his adaptation of The Diving Bell And The Butterfly (Le Scaphandre et le papillon)- the true story of Jean-Dominique Bauby's battle against paralysis.
Gus Van Sant also received a special prize in honour of the festival's 60th birthday for his film Paranoid Park, about a skateboarder with a dark secret.
Best screenplay went to Fatih Akin for Turkish film The Edge Of Heaven (Yasamin kiyisinda).
During the winners' press conference, Akin said: "I’ve always dreamed about coming here and have a film in competition. To be in competition is so hard, this is madness, but once you’re here, you really get addicted to it. I can’t wait to have another film here in competition…I hope two or three years if everything works well."
The acting awards went to South Korean actress Jeon Do-yeon for her portrayal of a grieving widow in Secret Sunshine, while Russia's Konstantin Lavronenko took the best actor nod for his role in dark Russian drama The Banishment.
Mexico's Silent Light, by Carlos Reygadas, and animated Iranian film Persepolis, from Marjane Satrapi and France's Vincent Paronnaud shared the Jury Prize.
Actress Jane Fonda won a surprise lifetime achievement award - which has only been awarded three times in the past, each time to French talent, directors Alain Resnais and Gerard Oury and the actress Jeanne Moreau. Fonda said she was "overwhelmed".
The best short film Palme d'Or went to Ver Llover (Watching it Rain) by Elisa Miller, with Ah Ma (Grandma) by Anthony Chen and Run by Mark Albiston both receiving special mentions.
There were no British films in competition this year.
