Nagisa Oshima's Taboo (Gohatto) won the top prize, the Golden Griffon, at this year's St Petersburg Festival of Festivals. The audience prize, the Silver Griffon, went to Beautiful People directed by Jasmin Dizdar.

Canal Plus won a Bronze Griffon from the festival's board of directors for its presentation of a programme of French films during the event. The Nicolai Ovsyannikov Prize for support of the arts went to Tim Roth's The War Zone as the best directorial debut.

The festival was compressed into a busy seven days this year (June 23-29) - two days shorter than its usual nine-day run. Set against the backdrop of the city's famous white nights, the event drew a crowd of 700 participants including international professionals and film fans. A total of 80,000 admissions for the programme of 120 films made this one of the most successful turnouts in the festival's history.