Bollywood was yet again the big winner at Denmark's NatFilm Festival, which ended its first year as a two nation event on Sunday by handing out the audience award to Sajay Leela Bhansali's Devdas.

With Lagaan winning last year, it is clear that Copenhagen has a taste for Indian cinema which isn't satisfied by the annual dose supplied at the festival.

"We could see it coming from the start," said Kim Foss, "a lot more people have voted for this film on the internet, than the ones who actually saw it at the two packed screenings. But at least the many who tried in vain to get a ticket will get a chance now."

The audience award, which is sponsored by the Danish Film Institute, gives $14,370 (DKR100,000) to the distributor that releases the film in Denmark.

The 10-day festival screened 143 films from 38 countries in Copenhagen and in Lund and Malmoe in Sweden, and a scaled-down programme will tour other major cities in Denmark from April 9 until April 13.

Other films which scored high on the audience chart were Kim Tae-gyun's Volcano High, Burr Steers' Igby Goes Down and Satoshi Kon animated Millenium Actress, making it a top ten dominated by Asian cinema and American independents.

Though the organisers had anticipated a drop in admissions for the festival's 14th edition due to the war, initial estimates indicate that there has actually been an increase of some 2,000 to 38,500.