The fourth BBC World Cinema Award was handed out to Cristi Puiu's The Death Of Mr Lazarescu.

The BBC Four award was given out Jan 25 at London 's National Film Theatre.

Romanian director Cristi Puiu accepted the prize from actress Emily Watson and the awards host Jonathan Ross. Tartan Films handled the local distribution of the dark comedy about a terminally ill man.

Other films that had been shortlisted were Michael Haneke's Hidden, Pedro Almodovar's Volver, Park Chan-Wook's Lady Vengeance, The Dardenne Brothers' L'Enfant, and Jacques Audiard's The Beat That My Heart Skipped.

The awards jury included critics Leslie Felperin and Peter Bradshaw and actor/director Peter Capaldi.