The top prize at this year's Cannes Film festival in France - the Palme d'Or - was awarded to Thai director Apichatpong Weerasethakul for his film, "Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives."

The film, which took three years to make, tells the story of a dying man who engages in a conversation with an apparition of his late wife and his son who has reappeared in the form of a red-eyed monkey.

The runner up prize - or Grand Prix - went to French filmmaker Xavier Beauvois' "Of Gods and Men," a drama about a group of French monks confronted by terrorists in Northern Africa.

In an unforeseen twist to the evening, Tim Burton's jury named both Javier Bardem and Elio Germano best male performer for their roles in "Biutiful" and "Our Life," respectively.

French star Juliette Binoche was crowned best actress for her performance in Iranian Abbas Kiarostami's "Certified Copy," and appealed for the release of Iran's Jafar Panahi by holding up a sign with the director's name.

Korean Lee Chang-Dong, director of "Poetry," was awarded the prize for best screenplay for his story of an elderly woman challenged to write a poem for the first time in her life.

The prize for best director went to France's Mathieu Amalric for "Tournee," about a former TV producer who tours France with an eccentric group of New Burlesque performers.