Cannes Barley Gold For Ken Loach

Cannes was a European Sweep with the UK, Spain and France leading the way - at the 59th edition of the Cannes Film Festival , where a surprise Palme d'Or went to veteran UK director Ken Loach for his The Wind That Shakes the Barley . Veteran director Loach, fast approaching 70, is already a triple Cannes winner with the Jury Prize in 1990 and 1993 for Hidden Agenda and Raining Stones, respectively, and Best Screenplay for Sweet Sixteen in 2002. The revival of UK cinema at Cannes seems almost confirmed, with the award of the Jury Prize to Andrea Arnold for her debut feature Red Road.

France and Spain also won top honours, with Flanders by Bruno Dumont taking the Grand Prize and the Best Screenplay Award went to Pedro Almodovar for Volver.

In the acting awards France and Spain triumphed with no fewer than 10 awards. The  Best Actress and Best Actor prizes went jointly to the six Spanish actresses (Penelope Cruz, Carmen Maura, Lola Duenas, Blanca Portillo, Yohanna Cobo and Chus Lampreave) in Volver and the four French actors (Jamel Debbouze, Roschdy Zem, Sami Bouajila and Samy Nacéri) of Days of Glory by Rachid Bouchareb, who also produced Dumont's film, Flanders.

The Caméra d'Or went to 12:08 East Bucharest by Romania's Corneliu Porumboiu. The only major prize won by a non-European was the Best Directing Award, which was given to Mexican director Alejandro Gonzales Iñarritu for Babel.

THE CANNES AWARDS IN FULL

Palme d´Or

The Wind That Shakes The Barley by Ken Loach

Grand Prize

Flanders by Bruno Dumont

Best Actress

The cast of Volver

Best Actor

The cast of Indigènes

Best Director

Alejandro Gonzalez Iñarritu - Babel

Best Screenplay

Volver - Pedro Almodóvar

Jury Prize

Red Road by Andrea Arnold

Caméra d´Or

12:08 East Bucharest by Corneliu Porumboiu

Palme d´Or for the Best Short Film

Sniffe by Bobbie Peers