At the third edition of Film by the Sea (10-16 Sept) in the Dutch seaside town of Flushing, Katherine Bigelow's The Weight Of The Water picked up the Silver Mermaid award worth Euros 10,000.

The festival's main competition has a theme of literary adaptations, and The Weight Of The Water is based of Anita Shreve's eponymous novel about a murder on the Shoal islands in 1873.

Solas picked up DFL 10,000 from Catholic pubcaster KRO for expressing 'hope as an inspirational force.' A Song For Tibet by Chinese Fifth Generation director Fei Xie won the Audience Award, consisting of a Dutch distribution deal.

Attendance figures (17,600) were up from last year by 2,000, however, due to the attacks on America, the festival cancelled festivities, including Friday's party to celebrate the Dutch premiere of Moulin Rouge.

Festival guests were John Madden, Jan Harlan (Stanley Kubrick, A Life In Pictures) and Stephen Frears, to whom the festival had dedicated a retrospective. After opening the festival, Madden told Screen International he is working on a 'long and arduous project for Miramax'. Apart from denying it is a book adaptation, Madden did not disclose any further details.