"4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days" won the Palme d'Or at the star-studded 60th edition of the world's premiere filmfest, beating out previous Palme winners, the Coen brothers, Gus Van Sant, Quentin Tarantino and Serbian director Emir Kusturica.

"This is the ultimate recognition that you are really a filmmaker," Cristian Mungiu, 39, told reporters after a glittering awards ceremony where he accepted the golden trophy from veteran Hollywood actress Jane Fonda.

His small-budget film, his second feature, evokes big themes of personal freedom and alienation in a wrenching story about a girl's back-alley abortion in communist-era Romania. It was an early favourite at the 12-day festival.

Cannes' artistic director Thierry Fremaux, who chose the 22 films in competition, said the jury favoured the cutting edge of contemporary filmmaking. "The winners reflect our intention when selecting the films to look to the future," he told reporters. "By rewarding Romania, Mexico and South Korea, the jury highlighted three of the most stimulating countries in international cinema in recent years."

The runner-up Grand Prix trophy went to "The Mourning Forest," a slow-moving spiritual tale of two grief-stricken people by Japanese director Naomi Kawase.

Kawase, who won the Camera d'Or at Cannes for best first film 10 years ago, fought back tears as she clutched the prize. "In life there are many difficulties, many things that make you suffer and hesitate along the way," she said. "At such moments, one finds strength not in money, cars or clothing but in something intangible."

Her picture beat fare from top directors including Joel and Ethan Coen, with an existential cowboy film called "No Country for Old Men," Van Sant, who returned to teenage blues in "Paranoid Park," Tarantino, with an ode to trashy drive-in movies in "Death Proof," and Kusturica's Balkan romp "Promise Me This."

Third placed Jury Prize was shared by "Persepolis," French-Iranian debut director Marjane Satrapi's autobiographical animation on life under the ayatollahs which has angered Tehran, and "Silent Light," a Mexican movie about love, death and faith, by Carlos Reygadas.

Julian Schnabel, the accomplished US painter and sculptor, picked up Best Director for "The Diving Bell and the Butterfly," about a French magazine editor who managed to write a book after suffering a debilitating stroke.

"In my wildest dreams I would never believe I was here because basically I'm just a movie fan -- I never thought I was going to be a movie director," he said.

Akin wins prize for best script

German-Turkish director Fatih Akin's "The Edge of Heaven" scooped the prize for Best Script. Picking up the prize, the 33-year-old film-maker said he was addressing a message to Turkey -- "We must remain united or we will fall."

He spoke after Turkey's mass pro-secular demonstrations against the Islamist-rooted government which have triggered political turmoil.

His film scooped a first cinematic honour on Saturday, when the Ecumenical Jury Award handed its small but prestigious Cannes prize to his movie for its power in bringing home a tragedy about two families bridging the East-West divide.

Hanna Schygulla, perhaps best known as the muse to legendary German director Rainer Fassbinder, heads a remarkable cast of Germans and Turks.

It is Akin's second film in a trilogy that began with "Head On," the international art-house hit that brought him his first major success.

The movie confronts death in a convincing tale of loss and forgiveness that moved many to tears at its premiere.

Big Hollywood names miss out in acting awards

For the acting prizes, the jury also skipped stars such as Javier Bardem in "No Country for Old Men," Jude Law in Hong Kong director Wong Kar-wai's romance "My Blueberry Nights," Jake Gyllenhaal and Robert Downey Jr in serial killer flick "Zodiac" and Schygulla in Akin's "The Edge of Heaven."

Instead Best Actor went to Konstantin Lavronenko, the lead of a bleak Russian look at broken families, "The Banishment" (the prize collected by the film's director Andrei Zviaguintsev, right, on his behalf), while South Korea's Jeon Do-yeon, playing a grief-struck woman wrestling with tragedy and faith in "Secret Sunshine", picked up Best Actress.

"There are many fabulous actresses here at the festival and I would like to represent them all here tonight. It is a great honour for me to have this prize," said 34-year-old Jeon.

A special prize for the filmfest's 60th went to Van Sant, who won the Palme four years ago for "Elephant."

The Cannes jury this year was headed by British director Stephen Frears ("The Queen"), and included actresses Maggie Cheung of Hong Kong, Toni Colette of Australia, and Turkey's Nobel prize-winning author Orhan Pamuk.

They -- and many of the 15,000 festival-goers -- sat through a program dominated by dark themes.

Outside of the competition, politics came to Cannes.

Michael Moore's new documentary "Sicko" tackled the deficiencies of the US health system and "A Mighty Heart" starring Angelina Jolie as the widow of Daniel Pearl, remembered the Wall Street Journal reporter decapitated by Islamic extremists in 2002.