France's national cinema centre, the CNC, has awarded its prize for best screenwriter of 2003 to Radu Mihaileanu.

The award went to the Romanian writer for his film Va, Vis Et Deviens which was written in collaboration with Alain-Michel Blanc.

Va, Vis Et Deviens is about an Ethiopian child adopted by a Jewish family in Tel Aviv during the height of the food shortage in 1984 and 1985, when the United States and Israel led a special operation to extradite all Jewish children to Israel. Because the child is only posing as Jewish following his mother's wishes, he grows up in fear of the secret being discovered.

The screenwriting prize carries a purse of Euros 5000 euros.

A second Euros 2,500 special prize was awarded to Jocelyne Saab for Dunia. The film follows the story of a young Egyptian woman who dreams of becoming a professional dancer despite cultural mores which traditionally prohibit such dreams from becoming reality.