Japanese director Isao Yukisada's (pictured) Go has been awarded the top prize, the Golden Star (Etoile d'Or), at the second Marrakech International film festival.

The prize was presented by Emmanuelle Beart on Sunday 22 Sept at the closing night ceremony in a spectacular open air cinema specially created within the ruins of the 16th century Palais El Badil.

The best actor prize was given by French actress Anne Parillaud to Yusuke Kubozuka for his performance in Yukisada's Go, while Clara Khoury was awarded the best actress prize for her work in Hany Abu-Assad's Rana's Wedding.

The prize for best screenplay went to Bangladesh's Tareque Masud and Catherine Masud for Tareque Masud's The Clay Bird (Matir Moina), presented by Irene Jacob. Director Costa Gavras gave Cesar Charlone the best cinematography award for his work on Fernando Mereilles' City Of God (Cidade De Deus).

The special jury prize went to Gurinder Chada's Bend It Like Beckham.

Jeanne Moreau presided over an international jury which included hot Moroccan director Nabil Ayouch, Taiwanese director Edward Yang, Hong Kong actress Karen Mok, French director Josee Dayan, German actor Thomas Kretschmann, US actress Anna Thomson, Venezuelan actress Patricia Velasquez, Moroccan writer and philosopher Abdellatif Laabi and French actor Pascal Greggory.

Other awards included the best short film, won by Ramon Mez de Guzman from the Philippine for his film Batang Trapo, with Sweden's Baker Karim winning the special jury prize for Malcolm.

The TV5 Cinemas du Sud prize was awarded to the Algerian director Yamina Bachir for Rachida. The programme included films from Mali, Palestine, Senegal, Chad, Morocco, Mauritania, Germany, Canada, France, Tunisia, Burkina Faso and Lebanon.