This year's $35,000 (DM 80,000) main prize at the Munich Filmfest was awarded to Benjamin Quabeck for his graduation film Nichts Bereuen (No Regrets).

Commenting on the 'HypoVereinsbank' Director's Support Prize the jury noted that the Filmakademie Baden-Wuerttemberg graduate had produced a clever, entertaining film of deep humanity: a young directorial talent has made a very mature film".

No Regrets is set to be the first release by the new distribution company being launched this autumn by former Senator Entertainment executive board member Christoph Ott.

Munich's 19th Filmfest closed on Saturday with the presentation of the $22,000 (DM 50,000) High Hopes Award for the best newcomer film in the festival's international programme to Korean filmmaker Bong Joon-Ho's Flanders Eu Gae which screened in the Young Asian Cinema sidebar.

Meanwhile, other budding filmmakers were in the spotlight at the award ceremony of the 21st International Festival of Film Schools which was held parallel to the Filmfest from June 27 to July 5. Among the prize-winners were Lodz Film School student Slawomir Fabicki (A Man Thing), Jens Jonsson from Stockholm's Dramatic Institute for Film, Radio, Television & Theatre (Reparation), Hungarian student Kornel Mundruczo (Day After Day), and the Danish Film School's Nicolaj Arcel (Woyzeck's Last Symphony).

The Award for the most interesting school programme went to Bucharest's UATC, while ProSieben's Young Director's Award went to Jan Thuering's Terminal: Paradise and this year's German Film School Prizes were presented to Iain Dilthey (I Promise You A Rose Garden), Florian Mischa Boeder (Go To Go) and Wolfgang Dinslage (Quak).